Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1891-09-26
Murderer Lehman.

Murderer Lehman.
The sentencing Of John B. Lehman,
by Judge Thomas, last Monday morn
ing, would indicate that his case, 80 long
before the people, is at last to be settled
in most proper manner, that justice so
long delayed, will at last be done. and
the laws of the state be vindicated.
Lehman's solitary hope for life during
the two years since he murdered James
Burns in cold blood, has been in his plea
of insanity. and at all times when he has
been on trial he has attempted to i'm
press the court and people by his Pc
culiar manner and eccentricity. He is
consummate actor, but very few who
have observed him closely, and who are
acquainted with the details of the
tragedy Of two years ago, and the skill
ful escape Of the murderer, have been in
any degree deceived by his acting in the
role of the maniac. Monday morning
after sentence had been pronounced, he
betrayed his realization fhis extremity
and was visibly affected. At all other
times when in public, with but one ex-
ception, he has preserved the same
stolid indifference. That exception was
when the verdict Of the jury was an
nounced after his second trial year
ago. Then he dropped the mask OF
carelessness, the color forsook his face,
hn tu.; al, nj sa
watered. Lehman has been tried twice,
and as often been found guilty of muir
der in the first degree. That the second
trial OF the case was in every respect
fair and impartial is proven by the
ready affirmation of its re ult by the
supreme court. The interference of the
governor has been sought and denied,
and the last legal step that can be taken
in his behalf will be motion argued
before the Judge Of the Circuit court. for
the appointment of jury to test the
sanity of the condemned man, and this
step will be taken by his attorneys in
the near future. The result of this
move cannot Of course be actually fore
seen, but the CHRONICLE ventures the
prediction that it will not interfere with
the execution Of the sentence on the 4th
| of November next Ben Lehman has
been tried impartially twice, and if the
question of his sanity is raised he will
receive another fair hearing, but the
people will not be imposed upon, nor he
carried away 10y sickly sentimentality.
The legal taking Of mans life is Il
serious matter, but we have law which
requires that that shall be done, and oc-
cassionally case arises, the nature Of
which is such that there is left no alter.
alive. The circumstances and facts con-
nected with this case place it among that
class, and for that reason the people of
Custer county believe that Lehman
should expiate his crime with his life,
believe that in no other way justice can
be done.
One of the daily publications of Rapid
City, in commenting on Lchman's fate,
| speaks Of the pronounced local prejudice
against the murderer. There is some.
thing significant In statement made in
the Minnekahta Herald when taken in
connection with the above from the
Rapid paper. The Herald says, "it will
be the first legal hanging to ever occur
in the Hills" The Herald is mistaken,
for there was one in Deadwood in 1877.
but that is not the point. There have
been murders and hangings in the Hills
before. Cold blooded murderers like
the one who now holds public attention
have met swift retribution. not legally"
as the Herald puts it, but at the hands
Of an incensed people. That is the his
tory of the past, and in such cases "local
prejudices" might be referred to with
good grace. But not so in this one.
The citizens of Custer county have
watched with patience the proceedings
of this case for two years or more, never
once offering to interfere, asking only
that the law be allowed to take its
course. Such has been and is their at
titude. The Hills have passed that
period when the people as a whole act
as judge, jurors, and executioners. With
the increase of population, and the more
extensive development of the country
legal forms and processes, have taken
the place of frontier justice. But if the
laws of the state and nation are to COM
lnand the respect and receive the sane
tion of the populace, they must not be
abortive.