New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-05-04
TILE P0CKEEPISTOL EVIL.

Ii is much to DO feared that the action of the
IIarrodsburg Grand Jury in indicling Congress
man Thompson for murder will "casL gloom
over the State of Kentucky. TO Mr.. Thompson
the Jury Is action must have been a painful sur
prise. He has been led by the press OF the
State to think that in shooting down his sup
posed enemy like dog he performed an heroic
action. The Courier journal told him on the
day following the shooting that "be could
have done no less, aud should have done no
lessr and assured him that he would have
I" with him in this dire bereavement the heart OF
aeyery man, woman and child in the common
awealth.r In this generous pledge of sympathy
The Courier-Journal forgot to exclude the wife
and family of the murdered man. and forgotalso
TO mention that perhaps their bereavement might
be as q dire" as that of Mr.. Thompson. The
Grand Jury has been less sympathetic and has
not hestated to call the bereavement" by the
harsh name OF murder. Their action is likely
to interrupt the business of converting Mr..
Thompson into hero under the title of Little
PHIL which was going brislIy forward in the
ne wspapers, and in which Senator Voorhees,,
Congressman Finley and other statesmen were
assisting by sending kilograms justifyiDg the
deed The statesmen and newspapers APP
pear to have spoken before they examined the
evidence on the other side. The Grand Jury fol-
loved the more old fashioned course of hearing
both sides before forming an opinion.
Looking at the case from this distance it is
di1icul. to see how any person of Judicial mind
could read the Thompson side of the case alone
and not have grave doubts about the guilt of
the man who was killed. The main witness
against him is woman whose own life is
clouded with n scandal which separated her
from her husband, and whose story OF Mrs.
Thompson. guilt bears upon its face many evil
dences of improbability. Her motives are far
from being beyond suspicion, and the freedom
and even eagerDess with which she talks about
the affair for publication are calculated to ex-
cite doubts about the truthfulncss of what che
says. BY her own confession she was the first
to tell Thompson of the alleged improper con-
duct of his wife, aud she was in such haste to
communicate the intelligence that she did not
wait to see him but wrote the news to him i'm
mediately. Thompson evidently believed her
implicitly his wife says lie was eager to be-
leve her, rs he had been looking for an excuse
to get rid of her. Be that rs it may, ho not
only believed tho story of his wife's guilt, but
he refused to believe his wife's instant an d EN-
phatic denial or to hold anything like a
thorough investigation of the case. The al
legged offence was committed in November last,
and the woman who told Thompson of it says
she only told him Of a part of it at that time.
He went to see her on April "a, and then she
told him all she knew. The full effect of the
revelation was demonstrated when Thompson
Immediately sought out his supposed enemy
and shot him. Whether rightly or wrongly, the
woman had completed her work. Now she
sits in an easy chair-an ideal of Southern
beauty" dressed in erich brown walking suit
trimmed with brocaded velvet to match and
Russian sable, with golden crescen!s studded
"with diamonds depending from her ears" and
unfolds to the reporter awithout hesitation the
particulars of the frightful tragedy and the sad
story of her own life" We are pleased to OBJ
serve that the Grand jury have withstood the
pathos Of this unfolding much better than the
reporter did.
Mr.. Thompson in tho meantime is going
about with an indictment for murder hanging
over him. He viii now begin the investigation
which he ought to have begun before he armed
himself and sought Davis. IL may be shown
by the trial that he has killed an innocent
man, and 1t may be shown that his victim was
guilty. But how much better it would have
been to hold tho investigation first. Yet this
is precisely the thing that the man with pistol