Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1897-11-17
THE JoNEs-GUINAN CASE.
Tho Unparalleled Opinion OF an
Elko Man.

To THE EDITOR CT THE INDEPEN-
DENT; Sir: 1 noticed in the lNDs-
PENDENT of last night a telegram
from Carson, stating that the young
man Guinap, who shot aud killed
District Attorney Jones a few days
ago, has got of scott free, the Grand
Jury having ignored the indict-
ment"
In the interest of humanity every
where; in the interest of the right
distribution of justice and equity
among us, am constrained to OK
press my opinion on this seemingly
farcical wind-up to a terrible trag-
edy. From the newspaper accounts
that I have read, detailing the affair,
Ishould say, that young Guinan, in
his no doubt natural desire to save
his father from any violence at the
hands of Jones, was altogether too
hasty in firing the shot, which re-
suited in the killing of the latter.
Guinan should certainly have waited
until there was an evident intention
on the part of Jones to make an as
sault, or an attempt to kill DR.. Gui-
nan. The mere fact of Jones putting
his hand into his coat pocket was not
sufficient indication of that inten-
ton, nor did it make the shooting il,
any way justifiable. The boy, shoot
ing as he did without such apparent
intention being clearly evidenced by
Jones, has committed a crime, the
degreo of which should be decided
by law. At this writing we here are
in the dark as to the cause of the
failure of the Grand Jury to render
an indictment, but it certainly looks
very strange to us now, and we won
der if right, Justice, law no longer
exist.
So far as the impartial mind Of the
public can Judge from what has been
published regarding the affair, there
was no good and sufficient reason for
young Guinan to suppose that Jones
meant 20 kill or even assault his
father. Having fred upon Jones
when he did makes it seem very
probable, in fact most apparent, that
the boy had within him strong de-
sire to unload his gun in the deadly
manner which he did.
In my opinion, the freeing o, the
boy, if he really is to go free, will be
a license to hot headed and reckless
individuals to draw q gun on the
slightest possible excuse, and expect
to be upheld by the law of the State
upon their declaring that they antici-
pated being assaulted or killed Ky
some transporting and, perhaps, in
nocent victim. Surely we, as public
citizene, cannot be expected to relish
such condition as that existing in
our midst; nor can we become recon-
ciled to law, which seems to sane
ton the taking of another's life upon
the flimsy plea that the slayer
thought the other intended to kill
him or someone else.
In this letter I have no wish to 20
into the circumstances surrounding
this seemingly unprovoked crime, or
the sympathy the public may have
with the boy on account OF his desire
to maintain the integrity and honor
Of his family. wish only to state
the case in the light Of the immediate
facts, which are given rs the sole ex-
cuse by the boy for his having COM
mitted the deed, in order to show
how, from this standpoint, the boys
acquittal might give license to others
and thus ieopardize our safety and
impair the confidence we should be
able to place upon justice and law.
w. A. G.
Elko, Nevada, Nov. II, 1897.