Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-03-10
Still Insists.
" A man convinced his will
Is OF the same opinion still.

a chair lcy and the Sheriff saws he shot
III Self-'lctense. The only comment to
be made npon Sheriff Billings state
ment Is that he proves exactly that of
which he sought to show himself guilt
less.
Suppose the Sheriff instead OF arguing
matters had put the prisoner on bread
and water diet for forty-eight hours, and
if that had not reduced his fierceness,
cut off the supply of bread for day or
two. Does anyone suppose the Sheriff
would have had any trouble with the
desperate after this heroic treatment l.?
cold stream OF water from a hose
would have been equally effective.-Er-
tracts from the P.-I.
The above comments illustrate the
the old saying that none are so hard
to convince as those who will not be
persuaded that they may possibly be
in error. The fact is, that Cronin had
committed brutal murder of a small
unarmed man, and it is reported and
currently believed that this was not
the first human being he had sent to
the grave. He was surly and desper-
ate. He threatened resistance to re-
moval to the penitentiary, said lie
would never so alive, and made care.
full preparations which either indicated
a plan to escape or end his own life in
the attempt. The former alternative,
involved of course the taking OF hui
man life as very probable incident
for making his scheme a success, and
the latter is the desperado's general
ultimatum OF Life for Life"
Nobody conversant with the circum-
stances surrounding the act the Pr.
condemns blames Mr.. Billings, or be-
lieves that any other course would
have been either prudent or commend
able. In fact We have heard nothing
but approval from anybody but the
P.-I., for had the desperate gained his
liberty, it might have barely happened
that King county's experience with
just such a desperate several years
ago, the notorious Blanck, would have
been repeated, and the people terror
lied and innocent lives endangered by
a man with gun, against whom the
curse of Cain had been pronounced
and whose hand was consequently
raised against all humanity.
The "chair leg" which the Pr. as
sumes to be harmless weapon, might,
in the hands of an athletic man like
Cronan, injure for life, if not kill, a
man who had nothing but his hands
for defense. 1t could, at least, be used
to lull to Inconsistencies the Sheriff
and his deputy, for the critic would
not presumably allow the deputy more
privileges than his principal, and the
same chair-leg could be used to cap.
ture the latter's pistol and hold up the
town, like Tracey did, when he dis.
armed Constable Safely and escaped
to the woods few days ago. The
P.-I.s suggestion to starve the prison.
er into subsection, or drown him into
submission, put forth as humanitarian
alternatives, might work on Less
hardy criminals than Blanck, Tracey
or Cronin, but would be quite as inhu.
man as q fesh-wound, without the
least assurance that they would prove
effective. Would man seeking death
be likely to yield to either of these al
ternatives, and is the possibility Of q
speedy death by pistol ball less to
be deprecated than the just as certain
results of lingering starvation, or slow
strangulation, administered by the
same official hand nerved by the same
vigor Of the law?
Time was when the people of the
Queen City were not quite so solici.
tous for the well-being OF q malefactor
as to place his life in equipoise with
that of the innocent officer command.
ed to do specific act which the felon
resists. In bygone days, a scantling
in the tree-tops of Occidental Square
might have been seen, adorned with a
triplet of lifeless bodies of just such
men as Cronin, but who had never
been allowed to have judgment passed
upon them by the courts or been sen.
fenced to punishment for their mis-.
deeds. The fact that they were
strangled until life was extinct, in.
stead of being merely winged" for re.
sisting an officer, in the discharge oil
his sworn duty, probably cuts no fig.
ure with the Pharisee, who having
spoken, admits of no appeal and de.
MES revision of judgment, no matter
how untensble his position is shown
to be.
The result on the capitol commits