Asheville daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1890-1900, 1892-08-11
4 MOB OUT FOR II. c, KING
III: ia 1AEI; IN TENNESSEE's
I'5:NITENTIAEY

The sheriff Took the Memphis
Murderer Around Through Ken
tucky. and FOued the would
he T.ynchers.
MEMrIlls, Tenn, Aug. 1.-THE
city was thrown into state OF intense
excitement when the announcement ap-
pcarcd that Governor buchanan had
committed the sentence of Col. H. Clay
King.
The Appeal-Avalauchc said: If the
governors determination of Kings case
is to be taken as a precedent, then we
sec no reason why any other criminal
should ever be hanged in Tennessee"
The Scimter said: What King did
as a citizen the governor has done as the
chief executive of the state. lie has
taken the law in his own hands; lie has
justified the murder of Poston; he has
saved the assassin, lie has taken the
smoking pistol from Kings hands, step
ped into his shoes, dipped his hands in
the blood of his victim and trampled
upon the already outraged law. He
has made the governor of the
state the champion Of murderers.
"If Buchanan should be shot downtrom
behind pillar on the portico of the capi-
tol today il King should be slain on his
way to the penitentiary, who shall say
that the gallows would bear fruit"
These publications aroused intense feel
ing. A mass meeting was arranged for
last night, at which Governor Buch-
anan was hung i'll effigy.
1t was given out during the mass meet
ing that the jail would be attacked and
the notorious prisoner would be
lynched. So great was the anxiety that
Criminal Court Judge J. J. Dubose issued
an order commanding the sheriff to take
King to Nashville at once.
MEMPHIS, Tenn, Aug. 11.-Tele-
grams from Mckenzie, Tenn, at 3:15 a.
m, state that no signs of the mob,
which it was said was out after III. Clay
King. was visible. Sheriff McClendon
was not on the train with his prisoner,
II. Clay King, and is evidently i'll hiding
in Kentucky, to avoid the mob Of forty
armed men, who are said to be looking
for him. The suspense and anxiety was
intense.
NASHVILLE, Aug. 11.-H. Clay King,
the Memphis murderer, arrived at an
early hour this morning and was at once
conveyed to the state prison by Sheriff
McLendon. The sheriff brought the
prisoner via Nortonsvilc, Ky. Their
journey was quiet one.
Among the documents filed with Cow
ernor Buchanan in reference to the King
case is the following from Grover
Cleveland, dated Gray Gables, Buzzard's
Bay, Mass, July 81, and addressed to
Mrs. L. X. White:
II sympathise with you deeply and sim
ccrely in the conviction OF your uncle.
know but little of the facts in his case,
but confess that my slight information
on the subject led me to suppose that
enough of mitigation would be show
upon his trial to reduce the grade of OF.
fence below that of the highest known to
our law. | have been so moved by your
appeal that have seriously considered
whether there was not something l
might do to he lp you. am forced to the
conclusion, however, that ought not to
interfere by applying to the governor for
mitigation of the sentence pronounced
upon your uncle. Such an APP
plication on my part would be based
on sympathy which | feel for you ard
my experience teaches me that
such a consideration ought not to con-
troll executive action in cases OF this kind.
Notwithstanding this feel that there
are circumstances in your uncle's case
which ought to appeal strongly to the
pardoning power, and | earnestly hope
such representations may be made to
your governor as will avert the exccu-
ton of the death sentence"