The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-25
Those Whitecap Gases.


The action of Governor Northen in
granting pardons to the persons convict
ed as so-caued whitecaps in Carroll
county has given rise to good deal OF
criticism in papers outside of Georgia,
| and. in fact, in some Of our home papers,
where the facts in the case are not clearly
| underst God.
Governor Northen has refused TO say
nything about the matter, as he did not
| care to enter into any newspaper discus
sion, but yesterday Judge Harris who
tried the persons in question and through
whose efforts, principally, the pardons
were secured, wGs in the city and spoke
| freely in defense of the governors act.
mo one" said he, who understands
| the full facts in the case, will, L am sure,
! condemn the governor for his act of JUS
| tice and of humanity in pardoning these
men. l strongly urged that he should
| grant them the clemency which was
asked for by practically all of the citi-
zens Of Carroll county, wherein the crime
J was committed, and l believe he did
! right in granting the pardons.
In the first place." continued the
| judge, 1.-The ofense of which these men
were convicted was that of riot, which,
| under our law, is misdemeanOr. They
were convicted last April term IN my
| court. They are farmers, men who earn
| their bread by the sweat of their brow.
| This is the first instance in which any
| one of them has ever been charged with
| any violation of law. They have always
! been regarded as honest, Woodworking,
! industrious and law-abiding citizens. l
| doubt whether they realized the magni-
| tude Of the crime of which they were
really guilty They claimed that the
| people whom they assaulted kept a dis
reputable house, that it was reproach to
! their. community, and they took it upon
| themselves to rid the county of their
| presence.
! AFTER they We're convicted, however, l
/ think they fully realized the magnitude
! of the wrong they had done and were sin
| cerely sorry for it, They bore without
| murmur the verdict of the jury and the
! Judgment of the court, made no effort to
carry the case anywhere, and submitted
| without word. They were sentenced to
| Fulton county Chain-gang for twelve
months. For six months they underwent
all there is meant by punishment by i'm
prisonment in the chain-gang, and while
! do not care to say what that was-l have
| no desire to reflect upon the authorities
! at all when | say that | heard from en-
tirely disinterested parties reports of
| their punishment, and l was convinced
| that they had been punished enough.
The keepers say that they never had peo-
pie in their charge who gave them so little
| trouble and there was not a word Of COM
/ plant against them.
In addition to this Imprisonment they
| lost the crops upon which they have to
| depend for livelihood. Then again the
| people who were assaulted claimed that
one of the motives that led to the assault
was that some of the parties who got
| whipped had acted as informers upon the
| persons guilty of violations of the inter
nal revenue laws. They have been in
dicted by the federal court and the mo-
meut they were discharged by the order
| of the governor they We're turned over TO
the United States marshal on the charge
/ of intimidatlng witnesses. OF course
| don't know whether they will be con-
| victed or not. but do know that they are
| poor men, and the expense of the trial
they will have to undergo will be itself no
| slight punishment.
CHOW, with men in these circum-
stances and considering all the facts in
the case, the question that presented
itself to me, and was presented by me to
the governor, was whether or not they
had been sufficiently punished. thought
they had. My opinion in the matter was
supported by very strong letter from
Solicitor General Thomas A. Atkinson,
the prosecuting officer, who is very eff
Gent, conscientious man. Over 1900 of
the people of my county-and the very
best PEOPLE of the County-signed the
petition TO the governor for pardon. In
addition TO that general petition. there
was petition signed by every member of
the jury that convicted the men; every
leading business man in Carrolton asked
that they be pardoned; so did every one
OF the county officers; so did every mem
Der OF the last grand jury of the county,
and, in addition to all these, the people
who had been assaulted themselves
united in the petition.
1.-Two questions presented themselves
to me when | was considering the matter:
First, had they been punished enough ?
second, what would be the effect on the
public mind if the governor pardoued
them,
Bear in mind the petitions were from
the law-abidlng people of the country
y want to say for the Jurors il my county
and for the class of men who presented
the petition, that all are warm and
hearty supporters of law and order, AS
o the juries-weil. iuries are not infalli-
Bile, out will say that during my twelve
years on the bench the instances in which
the JurlcS of my county have failed to
convict where the proper case has been
made, could be counted on the figures of
one hand-anG that is the truth.
well, it was the counsel of this class
/ OF men that considered in making up my
mind to ask the governor to pardon these
( people. Before preparing these petitions
to the governor for pardon a large number
Of people-especially the members OF the
| grand jury ana the citizens of Carrollton
declined TO sign them until they had
conferred with me, wanting me to under
| stand that they would do nothing that
might be construed as not upholding me
in enforcing the law, Now, it would have
been very unfortunate If the public mind
there, viii n Endorsed the conviction