Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1898-1906, 1900-11-28
1t matters not how heinous is the

1t matters not how heinous is the
crime committed by man, the laws of
our land should be sufficient to pun
ish such evil-doers, and, if the laws
are not sufficient as they now stand
there should be laws enacted that will
reach any crime however enormous it
be. The governor OF the state OF Colo
RADIO, the sheriff of Lincoln county
and all the citizens who participated
in that awful tragedy of burning a
man at the stake, are guilty OF a
crime that should be punished by the
strong arm of the law of the United
States. Porter was guilty, confessed
it, and deserved death in the most ex-
crutiating form, but it should have
been done by the law, after fair and
impartial trial had been given him. 1t
is rather remarkable that no state in
the United States has ever as yet
burned man at the stake unless such
state was overwhelmingly democratic.
No state in the North ever before SO
far forgot the civilized code of it's
country as to relapse into barbarism
sufficiently to permit it to burn a
human being at the stake, with the
bare exception of Colorado, which was
done within the past week. That both
Governor Thomas and the sheriff Of
Lincoln county are guilty Of murder
is shown from the very fact that they
said ere Porter was taken back to
Lincoln county he would be lynched
by the angry citizens of that COM
munity, if taken back, but in spite OF
that he was taken back, and was
chained to an iron post and burned,
the pyre having been lighted and ap-
piled by the father of the daughter he
SO cruelty murdered. The citizens of
Denver met at the Y. M. G. A. hall
last Sunday in large numbers and de-
nounced in scathing terms the lynch
ing in Lincoln county proclaiming it
to be blot upon the face OF the state,
and such blot as should not go I'M
punished by the officials of the state.
Governor Thomas spoke at this meet
ing, and declared that his hands were
not guilty of the blood-stained act,
and that it rested wholly with the
county officials in whose charge and
safe-keeping the Negro had been en-
trusted. The resolutions passed by
the enraged citizens OF Denver, verged
almost into riotousness themselves,
and it appears that had the sheriff Of
Lincoln county made his appearance
at the time the audience would have
torn him to pieces with equal ven-
geance as did he encourage the mob
to destroy Porter. Resolutions were
passed denouncing the burning by all
the colored churches in Chicago, ILL.,,
and gigantic petition was signed by
both white and black citizens of that
state, praying that the president Of
the United States suggest some law
Or remedy in his forthcoming annual
message whereby perpetrators Of such
crimes may be punished regardless OF
the state laws in which they lived. A
strange feature of the affair was the
souvenirs. The Negro had since his
confession been devoting every mo-
ment of daylight to the perusal of
Bible given him by the Denver jailer.
Even while waiting for his execution
he sat by bonfire reading from the
gospel of st. Luke. Just before he
was chained to the stake, upon re-
quest for a souvenir, the boy tore the
leaves from the Bible and distributed
them among his executioners.