The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-12-10
A SPECIMEN.

One or these recited at length the fact
tnat Sheriff Smith had butchered in cold
blood some of the best citizens of Birming
ham by an act as unprovoked as unneces-
sary and asked Gov. Seay to Immediately
relieve him of his duty as sheriff. Another
petition side by side reads, This is to hang
MN, and was signed by thousands of
passers by.
FUNERAL PROCESSION.
Great excitement was caused by the
funeral cortege through the principal high
way of one of the victims of last nights
ahray The lengthy procession was headed
by brass band playing solemn dirges
The postofice building is draped in
mourning and makes mute appeal to
every passer by.
The military were called upon to arrest
Sheriff Smith and others implicated, but
TINS was refused, aud finally at about 5
| o'clock this afternoon a citizen went before
justice of the peace and swore out a war
rant for the arrest Of Sheriff Smith
and his deputies on charge of murder.
lhls was served by the corner, who found
Sheriff Smith in the jail, and the coroner
himself took charge of the jail, and in his
custody that institution is at present
REMOVAL ADVISED.
During the day Capt. Peyton Bibb, who
is in charge of the Montgomery Blues, ad-
vised that the military take Sheriff Smith
and Halves out Of the Jail and carry t EN-
to Montgomery, away from the scenes of
riot and for safe keeping. This Yves not
acceded to by the officers in charge, there
being no civil steps to that end advised.
During the afternoon a rumor became
widespread that / 500 miners from the Pratt
mines, about five miles from Birmingham,
would, after dark march to the city, armed
| with guns, pistols and dynamite cartridges,
and with the increase of their ranks that
was expected, assault the soldiers, and, with
dynamite, blow to atoms the Jail That
! such will be attempted is expected even by
the military, though a SUCCESSFUL final is
not anticipated
STRENGTH OF THE MILITARY.
"There are already ten military com
panies under command of Col. Jones, and
five others will arrive on special trains by
midnight; the Montgomery Greys, True
command of Hon. A. A. Wiley, and an
artillery company in charge of a Gatling
gun from the Capital City. Besides these
come companies from Tuscaloosa, Ope-
| lika, Greenville, Admission and other
Alabama cities. One precaution against
undue excitement and consequent violence
was taken this morning by the city council,
| who, IN special session, ordered that all
| saloons and drug stores be closed until
| further notice.
AN ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC.
The following address was issued this
morning by meeting of citizens:
To the Citizens of Birmingham:
The horrible murder of Mrs. Hawes and her
children, one of the most atrocious crimes ever
known, and the subsequent loss of the lives of
some of our best citizens has deeply stirred the
public mind, and enlisted the tenderest sympa-
| thies of every righted- minded person. There
are some things as sacred as life itself, and one
| Of them is the maintenance of the law made
| to protect life and honor and virtue. Without
orderly observance of the laws of the land no
man, nor woman, nor child is safe. Public in
dignation at atrocious crime is natural, but at
the same time the law alone should visit the
righteous penalty. 1t must not be said that in
the great city of Birmingham q criminal can
not be arrested and have a fair trial Some
good citizens think the prisoner should have
been removed TO some other county. With a
great population of business men and worthy
mechanics and artisans and laborers here, the
pride of our city, is 1t possible that we must
call on Montgomery and Mobile to protect
| criminals from the illegal assaults of our own
people? Are we not now strong enough to
maintain the law without calling on other towns
TO do that for US. None can deplore more
| than we, the unfortunate killings last night.
| The victims were our friends and associates.
| We do not propose to discuss now or hear this
| question as to whether the officers erred in the
manner of the discharge OF their duty or as to
| whether they were hasty in the discharge of it.
| We do know that they had no sympathy
| for the man they were defending but acted as
| indicators of the law. We address ourselves
| to the future, and not to the past. and we ap-
peal TO every good citizen to commend law, or
der aud peace, to repress all attempts to excite
| popular Indignation and to refrain from as
| sembliDg on the streets. The good name OF our
city your own security, and that of your wives
| and children, counsel most strongly strict OBJ
servance of the law. The governor of Ala
bama and his military staff and the companies
of soldiers from other cities with field
rifles and GatliDg guns, are seen on