Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-08-11
BUCHANAN DENOUNCED
TenneSSee'S Governor ASSailed in Un-
measured Terms for
COMMITTING THE SENTENCE OF
H. Clay King, the Murderer or
Lawyer Posten-The Murderer
Spirited Away to the Peniten-
tiary-Threats TO Lynch Him
Hurry His Removal-Strong Ed
itorial Utterances.

MEMPHIS, Tenn, August l0.-The city
was thrown into state OF intense excite
ment when the announcement appeared ia
this mornings papers that Governor Bu-
chanan had commuted the sentence OF Col.
II. CLAY King, who was TO have been hung
on the 18th inst, for the murder OF ID. II.
Poston. This mornings Appeal. AUoidnchs
in discussing the subject said;
"rhe Governors power in the matter IS
absolute and exclusive. The responsl-
bility is his alone He is not required 20
give reasons. He may yield 20 any passing
caprice, TO an appeal 10 his sympaties, To
prejudice, and yet his authority remains
undlsputable and supreme. III bis deter
mlnation Of the King case Is TO be taken as
precedent, then we sec no reason why
any other criminal should ever oe
hanged in Tennessee. King, in cold
blood. after careful dellberation,
shot down David H. Preston.
unarmed and unsuspecting. II was
highway assassination, in which the victim
was given no chance TO defend himself.
There could not have been a murder moro
heinous. When the trial was had, the
murderer himself, with the most extraor-
dinary assurance, protested against the In
PRODUCTION OF the insanity plea"
The Erening Sctmtdr yehemenuy de-
uounces the Governor in sensational
editorial abounding in such sentences as
these:
"He has spit upon the courts OF the State
and nation, and held ont his hand 10 save
an assassin in whose person was centered,
and upon whose fate depended the ques'
tion whether money aud influence In the
South was sufficient 10 make distinction
between persons CONVICTED OF cold-blooded
murder.
THE rescue OF II. Clay King from the
gallows 10 which all Of the courts OF tho
country after careful review OF the evil
dence had condemned him, was a crime
more damnable even than the murder or
Poston.
ale has risen above all law, all rights
and all Justice What King did rs Clti-
zen. he mas done as the chief executive or
the State. He has taken the law into his
hands. He has justified the murder I
Poston. He has saved the assassin. lie
has taken the smoking pistol from Kings
hands, stepped into his shoes, dipped his
hands in the blood OF his victim and
trampled upon the already outraged law.
He has turned deaf ear 10 the pleadings
OF the victims family for justice. He
made the Governor OF the State the cham
piou OF murderers.h
These publications aroused intcp'e @ feel-
ing. A mass meeting was arranged I0r CO.
night, at which Governor Buchanan was
20 have been hung in eflgy. 10 was given
out that the Jail would be attacked and the
notorious prisoner lynched. So great was
the anxiety that Criminal Court Judge j..
J. Dubose issued the following order iats
this evening:
at appearing 10 the court that there is
now undue excitement in the public mind
because Of the cOmmutatiun OF the sentence
Of n. Clay King, who WIS by the Supreme
Court sentenced 10 be hung on tho 18th daT
OF August, 1892, and IL further appearing
that because OF threatened mob violence, ~
is not safe 10 longer keep said King
in the county jail Of Shelby county; IL is
therefore ordered by the count that the
Sheriff OF Shelby county, without
delay take said King and deliver him 10
the Penitentiary at Nashville, In pursu-
ance 10 an order as made Dy tho Governor
committing his sentence 10 life imprison-
ment In the Penitentiary Of the Stete.
(Signed) u. j. DuBosE.
Attest JAMES +. HUSrEE, ID. c.
King was spirited away this evening and
may escape mob violence. The whole
country is aroused. Telegrams from
Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee arc
pouring in protesting with fiery iDdigna-
tlon against the action OF the Governor.