The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1889-10-07
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Where Are We Drifting7

II - IedsOHdDle W ITeSule TIA
the numerous ARRAYS which Occur
in this county are reported to tn,
foreign press. If, for the sake o.
the county, the local newspaper
should suppress all accounts Of
lawlessness the city papers would
get the news, often greatly distorted
and magnified. Hence we en-
deavor to give fairly and with as lit
tie comment as possible an account
of the crimes so often occurring in
this section. But we are sorry
that our columns are of late so full
of this unwholesome news. Just
go back a short time, say to the
Hulett cutting affray at Fuller's
station. This was speedily follow
elk by the shooting of Sparks on
Blaine. Then came the shooting
of JEFF Milan by the negro laborer.
In less than two weeks two negroes
nearly killed a third on the disrep-
utabIe shanty boat near the lock.
One week from that date Samp
Smith found another victim on
Cats Fork, and seven days there
after John Bryant was shot in a
blind tiger near Peach Orchard.
Is not this rather bad com mentary
on the state of affairs in Lawrence
county?
There are two questions which a
consideration of this state of things
cause a thinking man to ask:
What is the cause, and what is the
cure. Concerning the cause we ask
the citizen, and he says the courts
are to blame. Criminals with up
lifted hand swear they are not
ready for trial because some man
who has an existence only in the
mind of the defendant, or who has
been bribed TO flee the country,
will swear that the poor, innocent
accused had been first assaulted, is
"absent without his procurement or
consent" and he cannot try with
out him. a continuance is grant
ed. The next term the same-shall
we call it faree?-is repeated, and
so on till the death of SOMEBODY
makes it impossible for. the COM
monwealth to try and the criminal
escapes.
We 90 the judges, and ask the
reason, and they say the courts of
last resort are to blame, and indeed
We are inclined to lay at their doors
,he blame for this sad state of af-
fairs. 1t is very well known that
some district judges have refused
to grant continuances because they
believed the alleged cause was a
trumped up>thing, and forced the
defense to try. Because of this re-
fusal the cases have been appealed,
and they wore reversed because
the appellate bench presumed to
know more of thu cases than did
the Judge who tried them.
The thoughtful citizen also knows
where we are drifting. During the
last gear or two of the war, and for
nearly two years thereafter, law
lessness was rampant in this coun-
ty. The courts were either silent
or impOtent, and matters went from
bad to worse until they eliminated
in the murder of George Archer i'll
June '66. The murderers were
captured and lodged in Jail, but
justice had too often miscarried,
and so about two hundred good
people, not a mob of roughs, mind
YOU, came to town one fine morn
ing, and shortly after their arrival
three carcasses dangled by the
neck. 1t was desperate remedy,
one which we as law abiding peo-
pie should and do deplore. 1t is
not only desperate remedy but a
one. Judge Lynch los
es his head sometimes, and then
the innocent suffer. But the Judge
in this instance purified the moral
of Lawrence and no
innocent man was hurt.
What we want is to say some
thing that will cause our people to
seriously ponder the grave issues
before us. As we have said, all this
is reported abroad and
it does us and our country infinite
harm. We ask capital to come and
help US develop our great resourc-
es, and capital says it declines to
90 when crime is rampant and
criminals go unwhipped.
1t is only few of the weak-kneed
and insincere Democrats Of the dis
trict who are CRYING out that Hazel