The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-12-18
MILAN EXCHANGE
THURSDAY, DEC. IS, 1879.
fer sELF-DEFENsE.

30 many cascs maze occurred OF late
years where men who have been gull
~ Of very trivial offenses, in making
efforts to escape arrest, have been
fired upon by officers and killed, that
we think it calls for the notice of the
press. According TO our laws, it is
a felony, for any citizen to carry con-
ceaied weapons, and yet the same law
arms its officials with deadly weapons,
besides a hugh stick, and these officers
parade The country. ready to shoot, on
every occasion, any one who, actuated
by lauJable desire to escape the dis
grace of an arrest, will run, 1t makes
no difference in the case whether the
man offers opposition or not. If a
eountryman visits city, aud having
unfortunately been overcome with
liquor, 10y possibly meeting many old
friends, falls in the way of one of these
armed conservators Of tue peace,
naturally enough he does not wish to
he carried to the lookup and have his
name paraded in the papers, and so
when he is approached, deprived of
his usual caution by his condition, he
runs. fnste.ld of catching him, as he
easily could, the officer sends bullet
liz his back. Such case occurred in
Jackson just a few days ago. Is it
tair to arm one man and deprive an
other OF The means of defending him.
self, We ask? Is it right to send an
official, braced with pistols, on our
streets, ready to shoot any man who,
in his Judgment, merits 7 They say
it is for self defense. We ask if
mace il not defense enough against
AN unarmed man? just 50 long as
men are armed by law, other men,
instigatel by All example, will arm
themselves. There are some occasions
when, on a perilous enterprise, it may
he necessary to carry deadly weapons,
but those cases are rare and excep,
tional, and we contend that no man,
officer or citizen, should go on the
streets with pistols, and so long as the
practice continues, just so long Wilt
be impossible to,keep other men from
preparing for them. The laws of
self defense, if not of the country,
permit it. If CUR law makers want
10 stop the miserable habit of carrying
pistols they must set the example.
The l1Y says it is better that ninety
aud nine guilty men escape than one
Innocent man should suffer. But in
practice it says it is better that ninety
and nine innocent men suffer than
that ehe guilty man escape. Let the
commissioners and the courts employ
men whose physical ability sufices for
their protection, Or let men fleet Of
foot be selected to catch criminals, so
that bullets viii be unnecessary. 1t
is Just as much a murder for a man TO
be killed by an officer tor attempting
to escape as it is for any other man to
kill fleeing man, and yet one IS
passed over with IMMUNITY, and the
other is called a murder in tile first
degree. 1t is a shame upon our civi>
lization, and if we were q lawyer we
would defend without fee any man
who shot an officer who was shooting
ut him. 1t is his right, and We may
exnect men to defend themselves from
an assassin, whether he wears brass
buttons or cloth ones. 1t is a dis
tinction without difference TO the man
who was killed. We have these legal
murders almost every month some
where in Tennessee. In Sparta We
read of two by one man, and both Of
them unarmed. Here in Nashville it
has been no uncommon thing for a
man TO be fred at to get him to round
to. This thing ought to be and must be
stopped. Thepeople will notmuch Ion
tolerate it Not a village in the State
that can sport policeman but what
he must have 2 brace of pistols swung
around him, as If the place WAS in n
state Of siege, and the officer was the
assailant. What great danger besets
an officer that he should go armed,
anyway? No one wishes to kill him.
lie can generally, you may say Away,
get such assistance as he requires.
The very fact Of his being armed in
stigates an arrogance Ae would not
show if he was unarmed. He often
l,rovokes breach of the peace, when
he is the very man who should do
everything in his power to preserve
it. This thing can only he stopped |
by public opinion. The law against
pistols is made more and !