The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-02-17

FEBRUARY 1901.
town sergeant OF this place and brought
alere.SI4e had his relfnlfnary herring pei
fore a local justice Hesiwass taken IN a
buggy, under the guard OF a single ponce
man OF the town. driving six miles throushz
the county to the court-holse and DEL ].
lnered; to the iailer, who In this instance
is the sheriff All this in the open day
tine. Now, If public opinion had been
SO morbid and excited, how could fhls /
have been done? 1t ds true that While De-
ing taken by the Sheriff to; Petersburg ti1at
night, a crowd did collect at the depot !
here, and had he been found, trouble may
have resulted. This action WIS opposed.
however,zby many, and 1T is now SAID ttl sa
no special effort was made to ma Inc ,
prisoner that night. The military was
asked for. by the sheriff rs a full precau-
5tion. There are many here who then anu
to-day believe their presence was unneces-
sary. Were these the actions OF people
who could not give a fair trial
The sentence used in my Nor1ner artfcle
thnt ..the sentence of the jury is harsh
should have been seems harsh. seems
is what intended and Thought had si!u.
For myself, I do not think 1t haEsh. otte
recognized the fact that others might. but,
compelled to have its influence, and, l con-
tend again, should have. The fact was
plainly 1roveyr, and has never been de1fieu,
that the negro laid hands upon the lady
with evil intentions. That ne oesiseeu
from using extreme Norcc could pc az
counted for best by himself. Inc jury
could have remained in the bounds OF tiie
statute law and imposed the death penaits-
That they did not do SO showed tneir loi
g. 1,,on# rnn
tha general testimony, and more especially
bv the actions of Mr.. Watkins himself
His own uctions prejudiced his VIE
case.
AS to the opinions of the Richmond law
yers and business men, can ollse. .iie eIl.
with others which CONSIDER DIS 10y
representative of Virginia Justice. l dLli
in receipt Of a letter from q 80,
m utter stanger to me, whom peilese
to re q member Of the bar. he was d
Confederate officer and slaVehoider, d
member OF that most gallant OF aii sai-
liant bands, Picketts DIVISION ne iises
in one O: the largest educationai celi t.a
in the South. He expresses sIatliie ..vot,
of NV former reply, but ADDS: Gu
handed him very mildly. with other
more forceful expressions which courtesy
forhids nv placing here. SO Whlle fsicL-
mond's lawyers and business men az
worthy all consideration due them, .ne,e
are others whose opinions are ea's'tt'
as valuable. +;,d
|, TO show no dscourtesy to any one, neither
in nv former article nor IN inns. W
mot wish to do so now, because my lilten-
lions are foreign to that. But si.ce' ~
both the articles of my trlend' An oiu
VIRGINIA. Slave Holder he has seen III 10
! snest harshly Of not only judge, jury
and prosecutors, but also the people III
General of this section, and in doing TINS
h,s compared them to his CITY OIL fSie ii--
molld, may be pardoned IT give way
for a moment to the Lex Iahonls. wy
| friend says:
| solid iLCen ent, who was present at the
trial from start to finish. has openly de-
/ Sclared it as his deliberate opinion that
had Wilson been tried in Richmond ne
might have got a year LII JAIL certainly
! not more.
Now there is not a man. woman or
| child in this entire section who Will not
| agree with him thoroughly in the above
| statement Not one. The reasons Tor TINS
| easy agreement are the actions Oh 1ts
! people in the Pollard murder trlal IN
| I1,nenbure: which after evidence had
proven the Lunenburg people perfectly
| right in their opinion OF a cold-plooueo
| murder The more recent case OF Wo-
| man guilty of infanticide, who was MADE
| =. heroine Of sent to the asylum Tor a
few short weeks, returned 70 tne ely "
| Richmond to repay the morbid sehtinieh-
| tality shown her by q course OF colu conc,
| which cannot mention IN priiie- iheAo
! are others, but forbear.
| AS to the Judge placing the prisoner
| counsel under protection OF the nliiilaiS y
this was not through any tear OF mop
violence, but from the fact that the at
+, tornev had gone out of his way to Witty
yV,tl:ins and the latter had been so in
! decent as to make threats against the at
torney And I am free to say thttI ms
Language should have been resented, ana
| many expressions of surprise nave peen
heard that the judge should nave aiio"eo
the attorney so much LATITUDE.
AS TO the sentence, 1T seems. to have
been proved that this negro lived on q
footing of more or less easy famlllarlty
with the family of Watkins, is one
more properly to be noticed by MT. wat
lzins, when the writer signs ms nallie
to it.
Owner, having come upon the scene or
,fe,s action too late, will acknowledge
I precedence to no man IN ms desire 70
accord the negro every right ana justice
due him This I have shown often IN ar
ticles in our local paper. nave ttieo
TO discuss this free from any race preJu-
dice I must say. however, tLst with the
unprotected condition of many OF our
farmers wives we must deal more
harshly with any advancement OF q
negro than were those ;':iEancements
from {, white nan. Surrounded as ere
the citizens of Richmond and Gtner large
cities with their neghbors, policeman ana
regiments of infantry, it is hard ter them
to understand and appreciate tue cen
dltions existing in our rural commune
ties For this reason .:s.n excise Esany
Of their ideas as to what justice should
be in those communities. There are
some cases where the interpretation or
| Justice should be guided to some. extent
btslocal conditions and its surroundings
! This has been one of those cases.
In Justice to the evidence OF Mrs. wat
kins. not known to the public at large,
| will say that it required great effort
to get her to go to court Of .:o-upcn the
stand after getting there. She was only
prevailed upon when the assurance was
given her that all it would be necessary
10 say was merely to state shat the 1lsSro
put his hands upon her. There q re many
| Of the best citizens here who do not
believe she made a full statement through
the natural female modesty. This belief
is shared by her principal adviser in
this place. man of State acquaintance