Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-08-11
GOV. BUCHANAN DENOUNCED.

His Exercise u Mercy In the King Case Tn.
spsrinxly Criticised in the south.
Memphis was thrown into state of intense
excitement whom the announcement appeared
yesterday morning that Gov. Buchanan had
commuted the sentence Of Col. II. Clay Kina.
who was 70 have been hung tomorrow for the
murder of D. H. Poston. The Appeal A raiancAs,
in discussing the subject, said:
''The governors power In the matter n abso-
lutte aud eIcludve. The responsibility Is his
alone. He IL not required to give reasons. He
may yield to any passing caprice to appeal 10
his sympsthies, to prejudice, and yet his an
thority remains indisputable and supreme. II
his determination Of the King case 10 to be
taken q precedent, then we see no reason Why
any other criminal should ever be hanged in
Tennessee. King, In cold blood, after careful
deliberation, shot down David H. Poston, UNI
armed and unsuspecting. 1t was highway as
sassination, in which the victim was given no
been . murder more heinous. When the trial
was had the murderer 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-A ralaache con-
tinues: "The opinion WIS welcomed by all
lovers of law and order. It's effect was not con-
fined to Tennessee. 1t was felt throughout the
whole United States. and the supreme court Of
Tennessee gained enduring honor Of advancing
civilization to that degree. The court did not
overlook any phase Of the case. 1t considered
even the excuses King made for his act But
the governor has brought all this to naught
Having the greater power TO save, he has met
the courts power to condemn and has whistled
the iatter's Judgment down the wind. With
a stroke Of his pen he has given hope to every
murderer in the jails of Tennessee. He has re-
buked the jury and made light Of the states
highest tribunal OF justice. 1t we're infinitely
better If the jury Of the trial court had bade
King 60 free. We now wish sincerely that it
had done so. 1t were better IL the governor
had granted an absolute pardon. He has acted
without the support OF the trial judge, the jury
or the prosecutor. usually an essential perqui-
site in gubernatorial clemency, and it now re-
mains for Kings art to solve the question Of
his freedom"
The evening Scimiier vehemently denounces
the governor in a sensational editorial abound
ing 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
person was conferred, but upon whose fate de-
pended, the question whether money and in
fusnce in the south was sufficient to make q
distinction between persons convicted Of cold
bIooded murder.
"The rescue of Fl. Clay King from the gal
lows, to which all of the courts of the country,
after careful review of the evidence, had CON
demned him. was q 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 executive Of the state. He
has taken law into his hands. He has justified
the murder OF Poston. He has saved the as
sassin. He has taken the smoking pistol from
Kings hand, stepped into his shoes. dipped his
hands in the blood of his victim and trampled
upon the already outraged law. He has turned
a deaf ear to the pleadings of the victims
family for justice. He has made the governor
of the state the champion Of murderers.
THE governors conduct tears the bandase
from the eyes of justice: 1t pulls, down the
arm of the law. Ii stiles the cry Of the widow
and orphans; makes of the court sham. 1t
shakes the very foundation OF society, and
makes every man law unto himself.
IF Buchanan should be shot down from be-
hind pillar on the portico Of the capitol to-
day, if King should be slain on his way to the
renitentiary, who shall say that the gallows
would bear fruit?'
KING TRANSFERRED.
These publications aroused intense feeling.
mass meeting was arranged for, last night, at
which Gov. Buchanan was to have been hung
in effigy. 1t was given out that the Jail would
be attacked and the notorious prisoner lynched.
so great was the anxiety that Criminal Court
Judge J. ]. Dubose issued the following order
late last evening:
II. appearing 10 the court that there ia now
undue excitement in the public mind on account
OF the communication Of the sentence of H. Clay
King. who was by the supreme court sentenced to
hang or the 18th day of August, 1892 and it
further appearing that, because of threatened
mob violence, 1t is not safe to longer keep said
King in the county Jail of Shelby county. 1t is
ordered by the court that the sheriff
of Shelby county, without delay, take said King
and deliver him to the keeper of the peniten-
tiary at Nashville, in pursuance to the order as
made by the governor committing his sentence
to life imprisonment In the penitentiary of the
statr. ]. j. DUBosE.
- Attest: JAMES F. HUNTER, d. G.
A crowd Of people assembled at the corner of
Main and Madison streets. the most central
point in the city, and after hanging in efigy
Gov. Buchanan to telegraph pole set the
dummy on fire and watched it burn. There
WAS no speaking INDUCED in.
kilograms from Mississippi, Arkansas and
Tennessee are pouring in protesting with fiery
Indignation against the action of the governor.
sheriff McLendenen took Col King from the
Jail last evening and out of the city on the
Chesapeake and Ohio railroad to Nashville.
The sheriff is one-legged and unaccompanied
Kings son was with the party.