The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-08-11

| ment appeared in this mornings papers
that Governor Buchanan had committed
the sentence of Col. H. Clay King, who
was to have been hanged on the 18th
instant for the murder of MIR. Poston.
This mornings Appeal said:
III the Governors power in the mat
ter Is absolute and conclusi We, the res
possibility is his alone. He is not re.
quired to give his reasons. He may
yield to any passing caprice, to the ap-
peal of his sYmpathies, to the pre-
iudice and yet his authority remains
undisputable and supreme. lfhis deter.
mination of the King case is to be taken
as precedent, then we see no reason
why any other criminal should ever be
hanged in Tennessee.
King, in cold blood, after careful
elaboration, shot down David 81.
Poston, unarmed and unsuspecting. It
was highway assassination in which
the victim was given no chance 10 de.
fend himself. There could not have
| been murder more heinous. When
the trial was had the nc urderer himself.
with the most extraordinary assurance,
| protested against the introduction of the
insanity plea"
Discussing the review of the case by the
supreme court the Appeal valanche
continues: Tho opinion was welcomed
by all lovers of law and order. Its eff.
| feet was not confined to Tennessee. 1t
was felt throughout tho whole United
States, and the supreme court of Tenn.
essee was entitled to enduring honor for
advancing civilization to that degree.
The court did not overlook any phase
OF the case; it considered oven the
excuses King made for his act. But the
Governor has brought all this to naught.
Having greater power to save he has
met the courts power to condemn and
has whistled the latters' Judgment down
! the wind.
with stroke of his pen he has
given hope to every murderer in the
jails of Tennessee. He has rebuked the
jury and made light of the States high
est tribunal OF justice. 1t were in
fnitely better II the jury of the trial
court had babe King 60 free We now
wish sincerely that it had done so. 1t
were even better II the Governor had
granted an absolute pardon. He has
acted without the SUPP ort of the trial
Judge, jury or prosecutor, usually an
essential perquisite to gubernatorial
clemency, and it now remains for Kings
attorney to solve the question of his
freedom
the Evening Scimetar vehementlv
denounces the Governor in q ensational
editorial Astounding in such sentences
as these: He has spit on the courts
OF the State and nation and held out
his hand to save an assassin in whose
rate depended the question whether
influence in the South was sufficient to
make the distinction between persons
convicted of cold blooded murder
The rescue of H. Clay King from the
gallows, to which all the courts of the
country, after careful review OF the
evidence, had condemned him, was n
crime more damnable even than the
murder of Poston.'
HE has risen above all law, all right
and all justice. What King did as a
citizen, he has done as the chief execu-
tive of the State. He has taken the law
into his own hands; he has justified the
murder of Poston; he has saved the
assassin; no has taken the smoking
pistol from Kings hand, stepped into
his shoes, dipped his hands in the blood
OF his victim and tramped upon the
already outraged law. He has turned
deaf ear to the pleadings OF the victims
family for Justice; he has made the
governor of the State the champion OF
murderers.
1.-The governors conduct tears the
bandage from the eyes Of justice. tpulls
down the pillars of the temple. 1t par
| alYzes the strong arm of the law; it
STILES the cry OF the widow and orphan,
makes OF the court a sham. 1t shakes
the very foundation of society and
makes every man a law unto himself
III Buchanan should be shot down
from behind pillar on the portico of
the capital to-day; If King should be
slain on his way to the penitentiary,
who shall say that the Rallows would
bear fruit?"
Ihese publications aroused intense
feeling. A mass.meeting was arranged
for tonight at which Governor Buch.
ansn was to have been hung in effigy.
1t was given out that the jail would be
attacked and the notorious prisoner
| would be lynched. SO great was the
anxiety that the criminal court Judge,
| j. j. Dubose, issued the following order
late this evening:
ut appearing to the court that there
Is now undue excitement in the public
| mind because of the Communication OF the
sentence Of H. Clay King. who was by
| the supreme court sentencenced to hang
on the 18th day Of August, 1892; and it
further appearing that. because of
threatened mob violence, it Is not safe
to longer keep said King in the county
jail OF Shelby county: 1t is therefore or
| dered by the court that tho sheriff of
Shelby county, without delay, take said
King and deliver him to the keeper of
the penitentiary at Nashville, in pur
suance OF an order as made by the gov