Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1895-06-08

wait for bis vie i'm but sought him and
made demand upon him for money be
supposed was due him for wages. and
hgnt enRued lie which the deceaspd re-
celved blow which tract ured bis skull.
A very pertiDeat query also arises in a
medco-legal light, as to whether Morris
hopkins killed Mr.. Parsons or not. IL
seems that the deceased lived for over
twenty days with fractured skull and
no surgical proceeding was undertaken
for the relief of this condition although
be was coustan.iy attended by a Lhysi-
elan. 1t further appears that on the
day OF HE death an operation wss IN
dertaken and the nan either died under
the operation or Immediately after. IL
certainly seems that an Intelligent
and fair minded jury. with proper ex-
pert medical testimony brought before
It, could not have found the prisoner
deserving the death penalty. Enough
time elapsed between the blow given
the decs ased and his death for MANY
other conditions to have carried him off
Meningitis, ce-ebritis, abscess could
cave occurred. Death from the opera
ton could have taken place or in conse-
quence of it. Such accidents have oc-
CURED where better conditions obtain
ed than in Persons case. When a sur
geon takes charge Of an Injured nan he
becom liable and, to a certain extent.
responsible tor what be does and for
what he fails to do
We do not criticise the management
OF Parsons case by his medical attend
ant or attendants. but we do say that.
with a fractured skull not relieved by
operation for twenty DAYS, il would
have been a very doubtful question in
our mind, il we had been q juryman in
the case, to have decided that Parsons
death was entirely due to, the hlow IL
hicted by Hopkins The prSssure was
great, however as to the duty of our iu-
ries to hang somebody, as a number of
notable cases bad, ia rapid succession,
been allowed TO go unpublished. \ Poor
Hopkins was Negro and had neither
money nor friends sufficient to cave him.
he was of no moment to anyone, and
the maj sty of the law could be vindica-
ted at the least expense, and so he was
swung OF. Would that this was the
end of it; but even after the execution OF
the death penalty-after the poor fell
low had been deprived OF his life to sat
isfy the demands of the faw-still the
laws of our State we're unsatisfied and
made further demand upon his body.
according to statute book the bodies
of pa1pers and executed criminals be-
come the property OF the chartered
medical institutions for purposes of dis
section in the cause of science; and
when the aged father of the dead man
came IN from the country with a wagon
to take the dead body of his son home
and give it Christian burial, he was cru
ely refused this poor privilege and the
body was turned over to an agent of
one Of the local colleges here for dissec-
ton. Such a statute is a disgrace. and
the exercise of the right thus conferred
by the school in thus wrestling this dead
body from the pleading arms ofits fee
BILE old father is absolutely revolving
The "cause of science" required no such
cruel sacrifice as was made of this poor
old fathers feelings, who in place of his
sons body, carried back home TO his
borrowing family q pitiful bunch OF
flowers that some one placed on the COT
fin of the dead Negro.