The Savannah morning news., 1901-09-25

proper that the case should be disposed
of by lynch or mob law. We can
hardly take up a paper without we
learn that in some part of this free and
independent country some man has
been murdered on the suspicion or be-
lief that he was guilty of some crime.
This state of things does not exist in
our community, but it does in some
parts of our state, and as every intelli-
gent man knows.
1T is charged here that our client is
an anarchist, "a man who does not be-
lieVe in any law or any form of gov
ernment. And there are, so we are
told, other individuals who entertain
that opinion. We all feel that such
| doctrines are dangerous, are doctrines
that will subvert our government in
time if they are allowed to prevail.
Gentlemen of the jury, while 1 be-
lieve firmly in that, l do not believe it
creates a danger to this country equal
to the belief becoming so common, that
men who are charged with crime shall
not be permitted to go through the
form of a trial in a court of justice,
but that lynch law shall take the place
| of the calm and dignified admins
| tration of the law by our courts of
/ justice.
A Hit at the South.
when that doctrine becomes suffi-
ciently prevalent in this country, If it
ever does, our institutions will be set
aside and overthrown. and if we are
i not misinformed as to the state of
| mind of some people in some parts of
our country, the time is fast approach
| ing when men charged with crime will
not be permitted to come into court
! and submit to a calm and dignifled
trial, but will be strung up to a tree
Il -. NI,aA AvN0
! may hold the belief that they COM
| mitted some crime.
1T is not long since 1 read in a pa
per that a colored man in the South
had his life taken because he had in
| suited white man. What it was the
paper did not say, but he was strung
up. 1 suggest, gentlemen, that class
of the community who are crying out
in our cities and are sending letters
to lawyers suggesting that the man
who is charged with the crime that
this defendant is should not be permit
ted to have a trial before a court of
| Justice, are a more dangerous class to
! the community than the anarchists
about whom we read so much.
"Now it is the duty of every Ameri-
can citizen or every good man to stand
firmly by the law and put his voice
against any idea that a man should be
proven guilty in court beyond any rea-
sonable doubt.
MY associate and myself are here to
uphold the law. My associate and my
self are here for the same purpose that
the learned district attorney is here;
to see that this trial progresses in a
legal, orderly and proper manner. We
must in every way possible put down
and suppress this feeling that cases
hQ IF wit 10 n
vention of courts of justice.
william II. Stewards Conduct.
"I remember, gentlemen. when 1 was
a young man living in Auburn, study
ing my profession, the news came that
a colored man had gone upon the
shores of Owasco Lake and there had
practically murdered an entire family
named VanNess. The news created in
tense excitement. The people gathered
on the streets to hear the news. In the
course of the afternoon it was learned
that the man, Freeman, had been ar
rested and was being brought to the
city to be incarcerated. The people up
on the streets became more and more
excited. They began to talk about
mobbing the colored man when he ar
rived. William H. Seward, who lived
then in that city, appeared upon the
street and counseled moderation,
counseled the people TO wait
and see whether the man was really
guilty of the crime or not and permit
him to have a legal trial. But the
people protested he was guilty, they
said, and must be disposed of. Mr..
Seward insisted and they incarcerated
Freeman in Jail. II soon became
known that that Mr.. Seward had vol
unteered to defend the negro when he
was put on trial, and Indignation
arose against him, but that far-seeing
man, that statesman, saw that there
was an opportunity of giving an object
lesson to the world as to the proper
disposition of that case and for two
long months that trial went on with
Seward defending the negro. 1t occu-
pied some three weeks in obtaining a
jury and I sat by during almost the
entire proceedings of that trial and
listened to the defense that Mr.. Sc
ward interposed Not that he cared
anything for the negro but he wanted
to maintain the law giving every man
/, a trial and to put down mob violence
An Object Lesson 10 the World.
"This trial here is a great object les
; son TO the world. Here is case where
a man has stricken down the beloved
president Of this county, in broad day
light. in the presence of hundreds ol
; thousands of spectators. II there was
! ever a case that would excite the an
, ger. the wrath of those who saw II
, this was one, and yet, under the ad'
, vice OF the President, Let no mar