Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1900-08-14
The walker case.

O. it is --dden.
The Walker Case.
This Republican Governor, however,
has not always been SO ready to make
use of the power to pardon those
against whom verdicts of guilty have
been rendered in the courts. year
or so ago negro named Walker was
convicted of murder in the criminal
court of Fayette county, and sentenced
to be hanged. His attorneys appealed
to the Governor to commute his sem
tence to life imprisonment, and pro-
duced evidence that so thoroughly
convinced the executive that it was a
proper case for his interference that
he promised them that after the board
of pardons had considered the case,
if it did not make a recommendation
for Communication he would grant it
anyway. Resting upon the plighted
word of the Governor, the attorneys
assured the family of the sentenced
man that his life was safe, and took no
further steps in the matter. The par
don board met. and no recommended
ton for executive clemency was
made. But the doomed mans
friends and attorneys still put their
faith in the word of the Governor, and
felt secure. The first intimation they
mad of the Governors intention to VIC
late his promise they got from the
public prints in the account of the
death of Walker by hanging at the
State penitentiary. No maLCer wv de-
serving of death Walker may have
been, to give his attorneys the assur-
ances that the Governor gave, and
then allow him to die without further
notice to them, was an act of perfdy
that could be accomplished in this day
Of civilization and enlightenment only
by machine politician. Had the vic
tim been white man, or even an in
auential negro, this disgraceful stain
had never been placed upon the rec
ord of West Virginia: but but being poor
and without influence, and negro, he
was lulled into feeling of security
by a perfdious promise, and sent to
the scaffold with as little compunc-
ton as though he had been beast.
And, be it said to the eternal in
fanny of the Governor who allowed him
to go to the scaffold, he was, in that
Governors mind, not fit subject for
such extreme punishment If it was
carelessness on the part of the Gov
ernor it was criminal; If his act was
intentional, it was murder.
The Ruin of the University. vs.
When the Republicans took charge
of the State government, in 1897, they
found a university of high character,
with an able faculty, continually
increasing number of students, high
course of study, and constantly ris-
ing reputation among the educational
institutions of the country. In three
years 1t has been thrown from the lofty
pedestal upon which it had been placed
by the Iabors Of Democratic admins
trations, and is to-day conglomera-
ton of educational fads and fancies,
its faculty necessarily engaged in
brawls, its classic halls turned over to
cooking schools and music classes;
its roll of students recruited from
the primary schools of tie city
in which it is situated, and padded out
with the names of its teachers and
employees, it's efficiency destroyed, its
character among the great colleges Of
the land disestablished. This has been
the inevitable result of carrying into
the management of the university tia
same machine methods ny which the
Republicans manage everything else
that comes under their control. We
declare that this Institution, upon
which the State has expended SO much
money, and in which the people have
taken such just pride, can never be re-
stored to its wonted efficiency and rep
utation until it is taken from the hands
of the Republican party, and given,
with the other State institutions, into
the keeping of party that will discard
political machine methods in its man
agement, and conduct its affairs with
an eye single to placing it upon the
high plane occupied by the greatest
colleges and universities of the coun-
try.
The Asylum Scandal.
Among the State institutions in the