Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-04-22
THE BISHOP TRIAL.
TWO NOTABLE N NEWSP.
PER OPINIONS OF TIE RESULT
from the Lincoln. n. c.. Press

From the Lincoln, n. e., Press
The trial of Bob Bishop, the murderer
and outlaw, who killed Arthur N. Turner,
at Blacks, S. c., on the 23rd of November
last week, and the sentence was three years
in the penitentiary, being convicted of man.
slaughter. 1t has been said that a white
man cannot be hung in York, S. G. How
far this statement is correct we do not know,
yet in reading the testimony of the witness
es we think Bishop guilty of the murder
of Turner, and the gallows should AVE been
his fate instead of the penitentiary for only
three years. We can only expect to hear of
"moblaw" in South Carolina and elsewhere,
when the guilty so often escape. If Bishop
was guilty, and the prevailing opinion says
so, he deserved the just punishment OF a
righteous law, if he was not, he should have
been ''set at liberty" and not have been
held in the State p~enitentiary only to serve
out a short period of captivity, after which
his recent escape will encourage him to
deeds of a deeper dye and crimes Of a more
heinous character. While justice sits en-
throned her dictates should be obeyed and
the technicalities of the law should not af-
ford a means of escape where the stain or
guilt is so dark as the case of Bishop. We
do not desire the death of any man, yet
when he lifts his arm in bold defiance OF
the law and strikes his fellowman to the
ground inficting a deadly wound, then the
shackles that check an unruly spirit should
hold him fast until the law has taken its
proper course.
GFrom the Abbeville Press and Banner.]
We copy from the YoRKvILLE ENQUIR-
Err, q most interesting account OF the trial OF
Bishop, charged with murder III the killing
of a town marshal who had followed him
up and approached him in a threatening
manner While Bishop was not entirely
blameless;; from a careful reading of the tes-
have been acquitted. 1t seems plain to US
that the town marshal was the aggressor
and had followed Bishop up after having
been frequently warned not to do so, and
finally when he approached him with pis-
tol in hand he shot him as we think he
ought to have done. Because Turner was
marshal of the little town of Blacks, he
was not authorized to shoot and kill whom
soever he pleased, and if the testimony is to
be believed he certainly intended to Kill
Bishop. Before the killing, the gravest
drinking, and had talked cloud" This by
the States own witnesses, while the defend
ants witnesses saw no m~iSbehavior which
would warrant his arrest. Bishop thought
the Intendant had previously Wronged him,
and it seems that two members of the coun-
Gil concurred in that belief. The r~ecollec-
ton of this supposed wrong, together with
the whiskey which he drank infamed his
brain, and caused him to talk indiscretely,
and for this, Turner evidently meant to hu-
initiate him, or to exercise a terrible pow
er which he supposed his little office gave
him. The fact is, the town council had no
authority to order or to permit the town
marshal to shoot anybody. The presump-
ton is that the town marshal is a peace
officer, and not an individual to walk around
town with a pistol in hand to follow up, ag-
gravate and irritate injured citizens with a
view to killing them. Does anybody doubt
that Turner meant to kill Bishop? Can
anybody see a s~cintilla Of evidence to war
rant him in pursuing Bishop, or in arrest
ing him? Did any human being ever before
hear of the 1ntendant of a town ordering
the marshal to shoot a retreating mans
horse? Did any man ever hear of an In
tendant telling a marshal to do "his duty"
in such a way, and with such a meaning, as
that sentence evidently had?
Whisky was the prime cause OF the whole
affair. The temperance people may draw
their own conclusion from this case as to
the propriety of little towns selling whisky
to inflame men to indiscretion and then
arming men with bludgeon and pistol to
shoot and kill. If the town had not per-
United the whisky to be sold does any
body doubt that any of this trouble would
have arisen? .
It might be we'll to rescind the charter of
all the little towns that furnish liquor and
armed marshals to promote disturbances
and authorize the brutal abuse or the kill
ing of unfortunate citizens who may par
take of the towns mean whisky.