The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-11-19
THE COLONIAL PARK TRAGEDY.

THE COLONIAL PARK TRAGEDY.
Naturally the community is shocked
by the tragedy that occurred in Co
lonial Park late Saturday night OF
early Sunday morning. The murdered
man was a well-6nown and highly re-
spected citizen. The fact that he was
assaulted and robbed almost under the
walls Of the police barracks may have
given rise to some harsh criticism OF
the police, but careful review Of all
the facts does not seem to justify the
/ placing of the blame for the tragedy
/ upon them. 1t may be that an officer
ought to be kept in the park after
dark, but even if a policeman had been
there it is by no means certain
that the crime would not have been
committed. 1t would take several Off
! GERS to thoroughly patrol it.
1t is unknown, of course, whether Mr..
Baker was assaulted by more than one
person, but his mutterings, during the
few hours which he survived the as
sault, would seem to Indicate that
there were two. There may be some
thing in the theory that he was way
laid by persons who had knowledge of
the fact that he had collected a very
considerable sum Of money during the
day, and expected that he would take
1t home with him, but it is doubtful
if there is. Persons who were in po-
sition to get such knowledge would
know that the money Mr.. Baker COL
lected would be put in a safe at the
store in which he was employed, If col
lected too late to be sent to the bank,
or turned over to his employer
The chances are that Mr.. Bakers as
sailants were thieves who had come
to the city during the days of the fair,
and were looking for an opportunity to
rob anybody they thought had money
enough to pay them for the risk of be-
ing caught.
The officers who carried Mr.. Baker
to the barracks did not recognize him,
and they simply followed the routine
course of entering the charge of alco-
holsm against him. If they had recog-
nized him they would have known
that he was not suffering from that
trouble, and had not simply fallen and
hurt himself. Policemen, however,
carry so many people to the barracks
in an unconscious or semi conscious
condition, due to too much drink, that
they cease to be close observers OF
them. 1t is not remarkable, therefore,
that they did not Immediately become
aware that Mr.. Baker was the victim
of a terrible crime. But before entering
the charge of alcoholism they should
have obtained the decision of the police
surgeon, as required by the police reg
ulations in cases where persons are in
jured.
1t may be that there will be a feel
ing for a time that it is dangerous to
go through either Colonial Park or
Forsyth Park late at night but mo-
ment's thought will convince anyone
that there are a hundred places about
the city where a crime like that Of Sat
urday night could be committed with
as little risk to the criminals as in
! Colonial Park.
The thing to be done is for the police
and detectives to keep a sharper
| lookout, if possible, for robbers and all
other kinds of criminals, and give them
warning to leave the city when they
have suspicious sufficiently strong to
justify them in doing so, and perhaps
it would be advisable to have more
lights in the parks.