The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-08-12
A GREAT OUTRAGE.

Governor Buchanan, of Tennessee, has
committed great outrage in his commu-
tation of the death sentence of Colonel III.
Clay King to imprisonment for life. King
deliberately murdered ID. II. Poston. Of
his guilt there was not the slightest doubt;
he was convicted; there were no extenuat-
ing circumstances connected with his
crime. A man Of brilliant legal talents
and superior education, he shot his victim
to death in cold blood from motives Of
revenge. There was not the slightest
ground for clemencv. If he had been
negro he would have been lynched with
out trial; if he had been q white man of
no distinction, no social influence, Gov
ernor Buchanan would never have COM
muted his sentence. King has escaped
simply because the governor has yielded
to the powerful social and political sn1u-
ence that King was able to bring to bear
upon the executive.
It is pity that Governor Buchanan had
not been of the quality of the governor of
Massachusetts under whose administra-
ton Professor John w. Webster, of Har-
ward college, was hung for the murder of
DR.. Parkman in 1850. Professor Webster
was man ofhigh distinction as scientist;
he was professor of chemistry and
mineralogy; and was an accom-.
plished scholar in all the natural
sciences. He was highly connected by
marriage: his wife and daughter moved
in the first circles of Boston society. DR..
Parkman was VIGOROUSLY offensive man
in his manners; a close, avaricious money
lender who never failed to dun a
debtor in most insulting language.
Webster owed Parkman q few
hundred dollars, but he had nothing
to gain by Parkman's death. Webster
had passionate temper, which Parkman
reused to fury by his insulting speech, and
Webster struck him q fatal blow with q
grapevine root which he picked up from
among the curiosities that filed tho
shelves OF his cabinet. If Webster had
delivered himself up and told the whole
story he would only have been convicted
of manslaughter, for his character and
high position, coupled with Parkman's
odious manner, would have obtained gen.
eral credence for his story; but Webster
dreaded the disgrace of public trial for
granddaughter and sentence to the peni-
Tertiary. so he attempted to dispose of the
body by burning it in the furnace Of his
laboratory and by dissolving it with acids.
He was detected, tried for murder, con.
victed, and hung in the Jail yard of Bos-
ton. While there was little moral doubt
that Webster was merely guilty Of man.
slaughter nevertheless his attempt at con-
cealing his crime convicted him of muir
der. and the governor refused to set aside
the verdict of the law. Professor Webster
was the most distinguished man that was
ever executed for murder by cur courts in
America.
John G. Colt. brother of Colonel Samuel
Colt, the famous inventor of Colts revolt
yer, was convicted of murder in New York
city, but committed suicide in prison.
The outrage committed by Governor
Buchanan in saving Colonel King from
the gallows would be impossible if the
law distinctly said that the governors
power of pardon or Communication was q
public trust, not mere personal preroga-
tive; that no pardon or Communication Of
sentence should be granted save to right
some clear error of legal justice. pointed
out and urged by the court and the prose-
cutting officer convicting the prisoner.
That is, If there was no legal doubt that
the prisoner had been fairly tried and
justly convicted, the governor could not
interfere on mere personal, sentimental
grounds, to save the neck of the convict.
Il aunuauxx 10 IIxaitoI cAa4na