Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1901-04-06
to in anyway way attack the fact
that a willful, deliberate, premedi-
tated murder was committed.
DID NOT SUSTAIN

DID NOT SUSTAIN.
Mr. Beatty did not 90 on the wit
ness stand to explain ia any way why
he murdered Nine. but seems to have
relied upon his trial, as he does large
ly now on his former good life, to re-
duce the punishment he had incurred,
| from death TO life Imprisonment. Ii
the doctrine were once established,
that even a long line of noble deeds
would mitigate or set aside the penal
ty for heinous, cruel and deadly crime,
/ then no man who had led life of
rectitude preceding the commission OF
such, could ever be punished to the
/ full extent of the law. Besides the
jury before whom Beatty was tried
were the better judges of what he
deserved in the matter of leniency and
they made no recommendations to the
court to enable it to infict less than
a death penalty. This crime read Of
by us in the record OF this case, view
ed from a judicial standpoint, looks
even blacker if possible, to US than 1t
could have appeared to the jury.
Again it is urged that there was
great provocation for Beatty to com
nit the crime. There was no provo
cation whatever, so far as is disclosed,
either in morals or law. That which
/ is claimed as provocation, is that
young Beatty, who is now serving
term ia the penitentiary for felony
was arrested on warrant sworn out
by the murdered man, his uncle, on
/ at,o e In &c
cellar and stealing some cider. Mr..
Nine had a perfect right to act as he
pleased in that matter. 1t is as cred
liable to seek to punish a relation for
a crime, or possibly more so, as it is a
stranger When justice shall end and
mercy begin is exclusively a natter
for mans own conscience in such
cases. Some men would administer
personal ehastisement. and perhaps
bring on more crime, and thus pro.
woke the common cry and criticism,
that the law is the proper remedy aud
should be sought; Others would pu sue
tbe course that Nine did. and still
others would forgive and shield the
criminal. All this opens vast field
for surmise and discussion, but it is
entirely useless TO enter into It, as the
arrest of young Beatty by Mr.. Nine,
as we view it, is entirely immaterial
to j. w. Beatty's case, and has moth
ing to do with it, nor had it ia the
trial before the Jury, except for the
one sole purpose of showing what was
the motive that influenced the MUIR
derer.
APPEALS FOR CLEMENCY.
Finally as TO the petitions aud let
tiers that accompany this case. 1t
may he said in the first place, that
they are about as weighty against ex-
ecutive clemency as they are for 1t.
1t takes a good deal Of moral courage
to ask for the execution of the death
penalty, while so tender is the human
heart that it is easy to petition
against it. So the two hundred and
j thirteen names on the one side might
possibly be claimed to weigh as much
as the eight hundred or SO on the
, other.
The petitions on behalf of Beatty
are affecting and some of the letters
very touching. The extreme sadness
of the consequences in this case are
portrayed and it is eloquently claimed
that this is no such crime as that OF
some robber striving down his victim
in death. But the effects of all kinds
of crime are deplorable; and why is
not the murder of an inoffensive man,
who is defenseless, and even appre-
J hensive Of attack, after elaboration,
under the most cruel Of circumstances
, and with such determination by the
murderer that he even kept on firing
after his victim goes down with a
{ fatal wound, all this from the motive
of revenge, recognized since the first
tragedy written in blood. as one of
} the most deadly and most powerful
that animates the slayer Of his fellow
being, as heinous AS any Of which the
| human mind could well conceive9
!; But the pertinent question in this
connection is surprising that we make
up our minds from the record that
} Beatty was guilty OF such crime as
, deserves the death penalty, nothing
now being shown. should petition
: move US from the discharge OF our
: auJy as we view it? Suppose all OF
, Preston county, or Of the State, for
the matter of that, could have asked
: the jury which sat in Beatty's, case to
be lenieni with him because of his for
mer excellent conduct, because Of the
sad consequences following his deed
and because his crime was that OF
, bloodshed while committing robbery,
should that jury have been moved
t from what it thought was right? 1t
D seems TO us that the answer and de-
: duction are so plain that they end this
matter, and leave us in the same
attitude In which the jury stood
Y We therefore recommend that the
6 governor refuse to interfere In this
: case.
The pardon board rejected all of the
5 following applications.
i Samuel Mcconnell, OF Mineral coun-
2 ty, was sent up for one year and has
~ =