The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-07-17
THE NEWS And COURIER.
THAT PAPER REpELs A MALICIOUS CHARGE

A Disnified and Well Expressed An.
swcr---EhciCourse which Command
ed Public Respect in South Caro-
lima. Furnishes the Occasion for
Northern Calumny.
Nc,rs and Courier.
Twelve incentive white men and seven
nesroes--acting as n jury Of his peers found
DIR. Mellow not guilty OF the murder of Capt.
Dawson. He cannot be tried again. Under
the law he is Il free man. He will not be re-
auired 10 expiate his crime upon the gallows,
and the halter of the hangman will not be
drawn around his neck. The demands of the
law have been satisfied in form, but the Court
of public opinion, to which the case was a?-
pealed. has reversed the verdict The eyi.
dence given before the Court of Sessions in
Charleston, and upon which the jury were
bound by solemn oath to base their verdict,
Is the evidence upon which DR.. mellow has
and uron which he has been convicted by the
cold, dispassionate Judgment OF tho country.
In the larger Court there was lacking some
thing OF the machinery which led TO the ac-
the dead, political and race antipathies, fam
lily considerations. ignorance and weakness
but the facts of the tragedy OF the 18th OF
March, the brutal confession Of the crime, the
speeches OF the lawyer and the charge OF the
Judge were before both juries-the jury of DR..
McDow's peers and the jury of public opln-
lon. He was acquitted in one.Court; he has
been condemned by thciother.
We had not intended to comment upon the
case ourselves until all other comment was
exhausted, and would not depart.from TINS
purpose now but for the fact that the protract-
ed silence Of the Ne,CS and Courier has been
misconstrued by some as the silence of ac.
quiescence in this monstrouS .perversion OF
justice or as the silence OF fear. Weshall not
rest quietly under either imputatlon. Did
we fail to denounce the murder Of Capt. Daw.
nc n hrntDl nnnr0v0ke1.
and inhuman crime. we should be false 10
his memory. Did we fail to hold up the per,
petrator Of this deed to the eXecration OF all
honest and law-ablding men, we should be
putting q premium upon the insolence of
crime and permitting the voice OF the lnde-
pendent Press to be stitled.
The NcW York Worli published the follow
ing editorial paragraph on July 3:
"Some idea of the nature of Journalism in
the South may be gathered from the fact that
the Charleston Ne,os OF last Sunday mad no ed
itorial reference TO the verdict In the mellow
case. The fact was quietly announced under
this heading. '0n Trial for his Life. DR.. Nc
Dow Acquitted of the Murder of Capt. Daw-
son. Here was newspaper, whose edlloT
and proprietor has been foully assassinated
and his slayer pronounced innocent, absolute
ly afraid to lift up its voice to protest against
the injustice. And yet DR.. Mellow is threat
ening to take his shotgun and administer
not treated him with the respect due his posi-
ton despite his indiscretions."
In a review OF the result of the trial on
July 6, the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette
says: o.... co,.
Dawson's paper, properly made no expression
before or during the trial. At It's conclusion
IL was just as silent, except that 1t boosted Oh
its silence, and believed the people would In
its course in falling to defend the memory ,oi
its brilliant editor, and striking with a mail
ed hand the jury that vindicated his murder,
er anu the people who applauded the act ana
covered McDow with adulation! What, the
editorial columns of the paper Capt Dawson
had built up and presided over with such dis
tinguished success silent when jury In
shouting multitude sets free the man who
killed him when he was endeavoring to pro-
tect the virtue Of young girl from liber-
tine Silent-not a word to say-when this
great outrage was perpetrated! Is this South
Carolina chivalry? Well, then, was itan out
rage?, Was Capt. Dawson engaged in the
Court organized not only to acquit, but to
conceal the real facls in the cnsey The sil.
ence OF Capt. Dawson's paper will certainly
be made significant among the people and an
injury 10 his memory"
Surely these expressions OF opinion from
distant newspapers make 1t necessary that
we should break, without further waiting, the
well considered silence which the Ne,os and
Courier has preserved for more than three
months.
The verdict which was rendered in the
Charleston Court House on June ~ does not
in the least concern Capt. Dawson. He is
beyond the reach of human tribunals, OF
jury commissioners, of the machinery Of
Courts, of the petty rerenges OF personal
enemies, OF the bitter hatred OF false friends
But 1t is q verdict that affects every man,
woman and child in Charleston and South
Carolina. 1t concerns the very civilization
OF the State. 1t threatens the fair and i'm
partial administration Of Justice. If 1t mean
anything, 1t means that the .gunshop is the
supreme court in this State; that the law is
the plaything O + prejudice and passion; that
the Courts are established for the protection
Of criminals, not for the punishment OF
crime; that lust is q high moral attribute
and that the shedding of blood is a virtue.
The cold, and what under other clrcum.
stances we should consider the heartless,
comments of the press Of the country upon
tho result of the Mellow trial are sufficient
cause for serious reflection. The indictment
of the entire people OF the State for the fall.
ure OF the jury in the Mellow case, to dis.
charge their duty according to the law and
the evidence is fagrantly unjust, howsocver
much good men may feel that they are in q
measure responsible for such condition oi
society as made the verdict Of the jury in
this case possible. The oft repeated charge
that any large part of the respectable or law:
biading people of this city or State approved
the verdict of the Mellow jury Is without
foundation. All true citizens of the State
regret that even as many as five white men
could have been found in this community
who would consent to such q verdict.
The severe criticism of the manner in which
the prosecution OF the case was conducted
has not been warranted by the facts. We
doubt that the verdict would have been diff
ferent If Capt. Dawson bad been shot in the
very presence of the Court, and, after the
frenzy of three hours waiting with his silent
guest, the defendant had with moistened
Towel tcnderly wiped away from the cold
still face the whtewash and mould from the
grave in the closet underne neath the stairs
We doubt that, under the circumstances, the
result would have been different If i'll his con
fession DIR. Mellow had admitted that he shot
his victim In the back as he was leaving the
office. In view OF the result OF the trial the
defendants attorneys might have saveu the
State the unutterablc shame of this judicial
traveSty had they moved to QuaSh the indict-
inenL for murder upon the ground that there
was no statute of South Carolina providing
that the killing or f. W. Dawson was Il pun.
ishable offence.
The NerrS and Courier kept silent after the
murder Of Capt. Dawson and before the trial
of his slayer, because it did not intend that
there should be the slightest ground for the
charge that it had attempted in any way To
shape the course of public. opinion. The
Nears and Courier has Kept silent since the
trial because it was well aware that. whatever
views it expressed would be attributed to per.
sonal feeling and individual prejudice. 1t has
preferred to await the Judgment Of the coun-
try and to set up against the verdict Of the
Jury in the Court Of Sessions, the verdict Of
the larger jury of the country.
We have puhllShed during the past week
the views Of newspapers In all parts OF the
United States. There Is substantial unanimi.
ty of opinion in regard to the result Of the
Mellow trial. Good men everywhere, with
out regard to sectional lines or political bias,
have been shocked by the outcome of this
case. Upon no subject of public interest has
there ever been manifested SO deep and wide
spread Indignation. No verdict ever rendered
In Cour, or justice has been subjected to so
Just and whitening rehuke. Doubtless, there
are some in this community who approve OF
the verdict, just as there were some who re-
joiced ut the murder Of Capt. Dawson: but
the large majority of the thought, intelligent,
God-lcaring, law-abiding people of Charleston