Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-08-18
Hostility to National Authority.

Hostility to National Authority.
New York TribuneI
Even at this late day, more than fifteen
years after the rebellion ceased, it is diff
ficult for the people of the South to real
ize that they are citizens of the United
States, and just as amenable to the Ma
tional authority as the people of the
North. They are still disposed to look
| upon the Federal Government as no affair
of theirs, but as foreign power which
has conquered them. and persists in med
ding with their concerns. This DISPOSE
ton is particularly shown in the pOpu-
lar sentiment manifested in many parts
of the South toward the officers of the
revenue In the North such officers are
regarded as the peoples police, enforcing
the peoples laws for the common good.
At the South they are looked upon as
emissaries of tyranical power, and the
fellow who hides in ambush and shoots
at them as they pass along a road is usu-
ally regarded by his neighbors as brave
and worthy citizen. Ii the officers return
the fire and kill the hushwhacker, public
indignation is aroused, and the local
prints denounce them as murderers.
A Gaze in point occurred in Georgia
lately. Red Oak neighborhood, in Camp
U6Il OOuulyg AuO Odu ICput6llQu IOT H.
licit distilling, and for violent behavior
toward revenue officers. Last April
party of officers destroyed two stills. and
then had to fly before an armed mob of
forty men. In May deputy collector was
fred on while Selling a still, by men con-
cealed in the woods. Early in June the
same officer, after standing as a target for
six shots from T." Moonshiner's" repeat
ing rifle, fell into an ambush and narrow.
ly escaped with his life. Later in June
posse of thirteen officers was sent to Red
Oak to 60 on with the work of breaking
up the stills. While proceeding along q
high road they encountered suspicious
fellow, armed with a repeating rifle and
we'll supplied with ammunition. They
took this man into custody. Soon after.
ward they were twice fired upon from the
bushes by the roadside. They returned
the fire, aiming at the points in the
thicket where they saw the smoke of their
sssailant's guns. Their fire wounded one
of the bushwackers slightly and another
fatally. Soon atterward the officers were
arrested on a charge of murder, and might
have been tried and hanged had 1t not
been for Federal statute authorizing the
transfer of such cases to the United
States Courts.
Judge Woods, of the United States Cir
cult Court before whom the case recently
came, reviewed the evidence with thor.
oughness and impartiality, and dis
charged the accused on the ground that
they only acted in self.defence when as.
sailed in the performance of their duty as
revenue officers. Thereupon the Demo
cratic press of Georgia denounced Judge
Woods, misrepresented the facts in the
case, and blamed him for not taking the
testimony of the captured "moonshiners"
as conclusive instead of that of the thir-
teen revenue officers. Even the Atlanta
Constitution joins the minor Democratic
sheets in the attack upon the Judge, and
says that his decision Is San advertisement
to Government officials that they are safe
in pursuing citizens to death, and that
they Will be spared even the modification
of trial by jury"
Judge Woods is a thoroughly reputable
jurist. He was the Democratic Speaker
Of the Ohio House of Representatives in
1858. When the war broke out he enter
ed the army. and after its close settled in
the South and was appointed to the Fed
eral bench. He has never displayed poll
tical craftsmanship upon the bench. When
the vacancy in the Supreme Court of the
United States occurred, which was filled
was Endorsed for the position by the bar
of his circuit, without regard to party
Now, because he performs his plain duty
in saving from trial for murder these
officers who killed bushwhacker in self
defense, after they had been twice fired
upon by the rascal and his comrades, the
Georgia papers charge him with inten-
tional untairness. The Constitution says,
in concluding its article: 1--WE present the
matter to the attention OF the people of the
North in order that they may appreciate
the scope given to those who pursue and
Cypress ou- people under color of the
Federal authority" We, too, present the
matter to the people of the North. They
will not take the Georgia view of it, how
ever. They will be likely to look on the
affair as a fresh evidence of the hostility
of the South toward the National authori-
ty and Its sympathy with persons resist
ing that authority, no matter in how cow.
ardly and murderous fashion