Evening star., 1896-07-03
TO SUEa,s5T.HE COUNTY
tn..O1
Effort to Get Damages for the
Lynching 7of' Joseph Cooking.
d6 1T
BELIEVES H. WAS INNOCENT
Charles County Doesn't Think Any.
. thing WAIBe Recovered.
SCENE OF THE TRAGEDY

Lawyer John Grason of Tcwson, counsel
for Cooking, whose sudden death In Charles
county last Friday resulted from the work
of lynchers. is making preparations to
enter suit against Charles county for dam
ages. He will claim heavy damages for the
failure Of the county to give his client
proper protection while he was in custody.
Thomas Cooking of Towson. brother of the
dead man, and Mrs. Sarah Bennett OF Phil
adelphia, his sister, are interested in the
prospective legal proceedings. The former
has spent considerable money in the case,
and now he will claim damages for the
support Of the three children rendered de-
pendent because of the action of citizens
of the county, in open violation of law.
THE authorities of Charles county are,
in my opinion, wholly responsible for the
lynching of Joe Cooking; and If they mad
taken ordinary precautions the terrible al
fair would have been averted. He would
have been given fair trial, and l was
positive had sufficient evidence to readlly
acquit him. said Mr.. Grason to Balti-
more American reporter last evening:
THE testimony l had to offer would have
exploded the theories of the county's prose-
cutting attorney, and this was pretty well
known, and to no small extent led TO crime
at the hands of the mob, which the county
officials should have guarded against.
lynched Cooking l had letter which Joe
wrote to his brother, here at Towson,
which led me to suspect that some harm
was In prospect for my client. In this let
ter Cooking stated that the guards had
been withdrawn from the Jail, and that the
feeling against him was being 1ntenslned
by statements purporting to nave come
from the states attorney, which were 10
the effect that the state had no case. ana
Cooking could not be convicted because his
family and that of his wife believed MN
innocent, and would stand by him. win
this report rife and the jail unsuarded, II
was more than likely the hot-headed ele-
ment would take the law into their own
hands, which they did without much re-
sistance. In the same letter Cooking saio
that Sheriff Wade had appealed to STATE
Attorney Posey ard to CHIEF Judge BITS
coe to have the guards replaced, but they
both refused to act.
II candidly believed Cooking innocent of
the charge laid against him., continued
Mr.. Grason, land had two clues which, IN
my opinion would have resulted in much
stronger case for the state against some
other person.. as 1t was more than iifely
from the few facts have in hand that
motive could have been established, and
this was wholly lacking in their case
against Cooking. feel confident that
Charles county is liable for damages IN
this case"
1t is likely that the suit will be filed in
time to be heard at the fall term of the
court.
Charles County Not Worried.
Special Dispatch to The Evening Star.
LA PLATA, Charles Co., Nd, July 3.
The lynchingr of Joseph Cooking is thing
of the past so far as the people here are
concerned. Lawyer, John Grason Of Tow
son, who was Cocking's counsel. is going to
enter suit against the county, 1t Is true,
but no one in, the county entertains any
| fears that he will ever be able to force a
| bond issue to satisfy judgment, as the
county is already heavily In debt, and the
| lynching of the. charged murderer was
| done as much to prevent another big ex.
pense to the county as anything else.
1t has developed that Cooking apprehend-
| ed that there was something wrong, and
| SO stated in a letter he sent to his brother
only the day before he was lynched. Wher
| the special guard was withdrawn from the
! Jail he heard of statements alleged to have
been made by the county officials to the
effect that the state could not convict him
1 This had the effect of intensifying the feel
| ing agair st him, for had he been acquit tee
| at Leonsrdtown he would in all probability
| have boarded a steamer for Washington OF
| Baltimore
When the fall term of the court convene.
Chief Judge Briscoe will undoubtedly
fchafge the grand jury to make a complete
j Investigation Of the deplorable lynching .af
fair and will instruct them to indict7 The
| guilty. pdFtfeS but III tus
grand jury will be composed partly Of th'
I-lynrfers., and no one suspects f6r AM in
slant that anybody will be indicted. This
| probable farce recalls the time when tn
| effort was made to lynch John Marshal
| Rye in the same old Jail several years ago
! for the murder of Jack Wheeler, schoo
teacher. On that occasion the plot wa
| made, so it is said. and the wouldbe lynch
| ers met in a piece of woods not very ia
from Hill Top, at the place where th
| lynchers of Joe Cooking met last Frida.
| night. At that time Cooking was livin,
| near Port Tobacco, and the members of tn
| intended lynching party tied their horse
in his yard. Some of them say that Cock
ing joined the party, but others think h.
did not. The bridge from which the vic
tim was suspended was his playgroun,
| during his boyhood days, and he frequently
| sat on the cross rail there and fished in tn
creek.
During the attempt to lynch Rye, Sherit
| Adams, who was the county's legal office
at that time, had the Jail well guarded, an
it was only because of the use of Win
chesters from inside the building that tn
two dozen men were not able to accom-
plish their purpose. The leader of tn
party and three others stood their groun
until their ammunition was exhausted an
the leaders hat was pierced by one of tn
bullets from a Winchester, and then the
| retired. Some of the men who figured /
that affair assisted in the lynching of 10
Cooking, and although no great effort a
secrecy is being made, 1t is almost certai
that the grand jury will only follow tn
example Of the coroner's jury.