Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1886-04-17
CIRCUIT COURT PROCEEDINGS.

than ever entitled itself to all the at
tributes of justice, and to the respect
and cooperation of the people over
whom it presides. The law is the on
ly safeguard men have for their
lives, their property and the pursuit
of happiness, the very foundation of
society : without this there can be no
government, no order, no security. If
the violation of the law is committed
by any set of men, good or bad, and
left go unpublished, it is but the first
step to revolutionary measures that
are bound to follow sooner or later.
GENTLEMEN In addition to the various
classes of crime to which your attention has
been called, II becomes my painful duty TO
direct you to specially enquire touching a
grave and serious offence committed within
the jurisdiction of this court, since the last
regular term. An offence, which-if am cor
rectly informed from common rumor-was
participated in by a large body of citizens of
this State, among whom, IL has been currently
reported, were to be found men who had been
regarded by the community as citizens of
sound Judgment. of elevated character, and of
unquestioned integrity. This may or may not
be true, and allude to the reported fact, SIM
ply for the purpose of observing, that, wheth-
er il is true or false, these facts should have no
influence upon your conclusions in any inves-
tigation you may make, as to the occurrence
to which l shall direct your attention for if
the possession of such elements Of character
have won the confidence of their fellow citi-
Zens in the past, they cannot hold them up be-
fore a Court of impartial justice, as shield to
protect them from the Indictment and punish
ment. should they have so far forgotten their
obligations to society as to set at defiance the
officers of the law, and trampled under foot the
declared Will of the people, embodied in their
" MN fN..oa f,,x.l
mental principles of liberty that "No person
shall be held to answer for treason felony or
other crime not cognizable by justice, unless
on presentment or indictment by q Grand
Jury that No person shall be deprived of
life, liberty or property without due process
OF law, and the Judgment his peers, and to
carry out more fully these provisions, it furth-
er provides that an accused shall be confront
ed with the witnesses against him, shall have
time to prepare his Defense" TO secure to the
citizen the principles announced in our Bill of
Rights, and to preserve them after they were
once recognized against the encroachment of
despotic power, has tested more severely than
all else, the Independent and liberty loving
characteristics of the English-speaking race !;
but when the people of this Republic and of
this commonwealth, engrafted these princip-
les on their organic law as a charter right of
the citizen, it was not to protect him from
klngly power, or the brute force that could be
welded by the executive department; but it
was guarantee against the power of a tempo
rary majority to control the destiny, the life,
surrender by the people-voluntarily made
of the right to try, convict and sentence ex-
cept by due process Of law" one charged
with criminal offense. This is the expression
ofthe viii ofthe people-the declared compact
on which the foundation of organized society
in this state rests, and its guarantees can only
pc annulled by the people in the manner and
in the form prescribed by that instrument.
Notwithstanding, gentlemen, that upon the
maintenance of these principles and the en-
1orcement OF these personal rights, depends
the security of your life, the preservation of
your liberty, and the protection of your prop
erty, the startling fact confronts US. that at
midnight on the 10Th of February, 1856, an or
ganized body of citizens marched into the
County Seat ofyour County, guarded with arm
ed men us streets, surrounded the County Jail,
and inviolation ofthese principles, took there
from one held by warrant of law, charged with
q. heinous felony, and constituting themselves
ceeded to carry that judgment into execution
by hanging him until dead.
There may have been periods in the history
OF the past, when the agencies provided by
law for the punishment of crime had become
so corrupt and Indifferent, that the people
found 1t necessary to preserve the very
rights guaranteed by these provsions to rise
in their power, and upon the principles of
preservation, take into their hands the
administration of justice. If the pen of the
historian has recorded circumstances which
Justiheds such action, the fact cannot be appeal
ed to as q Justification for the acts done at
midnight on the 18th of February. The Legis-
lature, recognizing the will of the people, had
IN 1882, affixed to the crime of which the accus-
ed stood charged, the punishment of death -
or IN the discretion Of the jury !" Imprisonment
penalty which would follow q conviction for
Willful, deliberate, and premeditated murder
No plausible attempt has, or could have been
made TO excuse such lawlessness upon the plea
Improbable miscarriage of justice. The records
of this curt furnish evidence of the fact that
crime in this county has been promptly and
sternly punished. IT, gentlemen, such viola
lions of plain principles of law can be success
fully done in this county by one hundred and
fifty or two hundred citizens, and the partici-
pants not be pun ished, what security has any
citizen for his life, liberty or property If one
organized band, actuated by one motive. can
assume to administer the law to carry out
particular policy, why may not another band
of citizens unite for the purpose of carry ing
out its policy, (Which may be in direct conflict
with the views OF those who first assumed to
administer the law carry out their views and
policy by force? The result of such n condi-
ton of things would be absolute anarchy;
might would then make right; the strong
would dominate the weak, and the rich,
through the golden sinews ofaggression, would
trample the rights of the poor.
Pause for a moment gentlemen, and consid-
er the effect upon the public mind, when
body OF citizens successfully, and with impun-
ity, take upon themselves the execution of the
law, In direct violation fits mandate. The
more respectable the individuals participating,
in proportion are the results more serious and
far-reaching which flow from this disregard of
the obligation resting upon the citizen; Does
1t not tend to educate the people to disregard
the securities and protection which the Law
throws around tne Individual Does it not
encourage the vicious elements of society to
rebel against the restraint which the proper
enforcement of the Law imposes upon their
actions? Would it not present an anomaly in
the enforcement ofcriminal penalties, toindite
and punish an individual citizen for carrying
dangerous weapon about his person, and
yet sanction by acquiesence at least, the right
of a body of citizens in the execution ofan I'M
lawful object, to arm themselves with revolv-
ers, ride through the streets of your town, and
on the public highways of your County firing
them off indiscriminately If such acts are
not to be punished because participated in by
respectable citizens, and committed by an ag
gregation of individuals, 1 must say to you
frankly, gentlemen that / cannot appreciate
the reasoning which would justify an indict-
ment on your part against quiet and peace
able citizen, who is seen upon your streets
with such a deadly weapon, and yet, from my
personal observation, feel justified in saying
that know of no legislation which in its prac-
teal operation has worked more advanta-
geously to the community than the law which
prohibits the carrying of deadly weapons By
served, and the lives of the citizens of the
community have been protected. You will
nave before you for investigation, q case which
viii practically demonstrate to you the evil
effects which follow such acts of violation of
law. 1t will be claimed by the State that per-
sonal enemies, approaching the feeling of in
security in the community, and actuated by
malice, have endeavored TO black-mail your
citizens and to libel their characters with a
view of driving them from the County through
the terror inspired by lynch law.
Familiarize the public mind with the idea
that these acts of violence may be done with
impunity, and you produce a condition of
things which leaves the officers of the Law
powerless and the life, liberty and property of
the citizen unprotected from the passions. the
prejudices or the Will of any organized body
of men, sufficiently strong to overcome there
sstance which at the time can be offered.
AS the recognized formation of all investi-
CATION relating to the violations of the crimi-
nal laws of the State, you, and You alone can
be held responsible for the peace and good
order of the community. and for the preserva-
&c n
anteed the citizen by the Law. You should
stand as the bulwark of the citizens rights,
against the wild passions of the moment fol-
lowing in the footsteps of the Grand Juries of
the past. who stood unawed against the tyran-
ny and dictation of kingly power and judicial
subservieDcy. None are too high, or too low
TO be reached by your investigations. The
conduct of the Judge upon this bench, of the
officers and their deputies having the custody
of the prisoner, as well as those who partici-
pated in the violation of Law, are answerable
TO the people through Won. for q Millfnl faiI-