The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-26

and never saw in all of my experience
 a body of men who thought Sor them
 selves more completely than this. No
 man Is a leader here. All think for themselves. and there is an amount of
 independence which characterizes their
 voting which is highly eommendable,
 for in nearly every deliberative body, | a good number have their fife leaders
 ana follow them. They acquire that
 habit IT they do not have it at first,
 as soon as they become acquainted
 with each other, 1t results.
 Now. am persuaded that this case
 Is somewhat exceptional. On Saturday | my colleague and esteemed friend, the Chairman of the Committee on Exe3u- | tive Department, made a remarkably
 able and feeling speech in favor of the I thirtieth section in regard to the duties | of sheriffs to resist mobs and to pro- | tect prisoners. felt considerably
 moved by that speech myself. I De-
 lieve that know my friend well, and there Is no man more honest or sympa- | thetic, or more enthusiastic. Wherev-
 CT he believes his duty leads him, than 1 that gentleman. l know full well, too, l the opposition which he felt during his l administration of the office Of Chief Executive. and has ever since, to mobs, | and the outrageous slaughter of pris- oners, taken from the custody of akhe
 sheriff or his posse. and I sympathize
 with that sentiment. It is great evil | in Alabama. which ought to. be put
 down. and sheriffs, their deputies and l their posses, ought to be encouraged | to manfully resist such lawlesS proceed | ure.
 l I was heartily in favor of the propo-
 sition coming from the Committee of
 which my friend is the distinguished Chairman and voted cheerfully for 1t. The language which I will cali to the attention of delegates is as follows: Whenever any prisoner is taken | from the jail or from the custody of the sheriff or his deputy, and put to l death. or suffers grievous bodily harm, | owing to the neglect, conntvance, cow | ardice or other grave fault of the sher- | iff such sheriff may be impeachad un- | der Section of Article VII of the Con- stitution; and the Governor when sat-
 isfied. after hearing the sheriff, that | he should be impeached, may suspend | him from office for such time as he may think proper, until the impelca- ment proceedings are fully disposed of"
 Now, sir, when my friend was, dwell ing upon that he overdrew the matter to this Convention, and drew more
 vivid picture than the situation justi-
 fled, because of his extraordinary
 
 erects an equally high standard for ev- cry sheriff in the land. and it was but
 natural in him, full of courage, to erect such a standard. On the other hand, when he thinks of that sheriff being
 killed. to turn in sympathy to his be- | reaved family is but natural, for an-
 other characteristic of the distinguish ed gentleman, with all of his high cour- age, is that his heart is as tender as Nr Danf eli ra dealing with solid propositions, to be embraced in the fundamental law of Alabama, which may stand, and hope will stand. for fifty years to come. Is there anything in this which Ie- quires the sheriff or his deputy, or any
 member of his posse, to uselessly sac- rifice his life? What is the language
 where he gives up his prisoner, owing to the neglect, connivance, or coward
 ice, or other grave fault of the sheriff" Suppose he is not guilty of either of
 these. Now. any sheriff who would be guilty of either one of these derilic- tfons ought to be dealt with by the Governor. and just Governor would, | in the discharge of his duty, when he looked into it order his impeachment, | if he found there was good reason to | believe that such officer were guilty of | such deriliction. If not, suppose that
  withstood the mob. and defended the jail, and said, stand back. do not come" and did all that he could. Sup | pose that he did like the jailer or sher- | if alluded to by my friend, with pistol | in each hand, confronted the rloo, say ing, T will kill any man who ad- vances," and some of them should steal
 in behind him. and catch him ey the arm. and in that predicament disarm GnVarnnr would impeachment? None.
 MT. Dent-I see the time of adjourn
 ment will soon be reached and move that the rules be suspended and the Convention remain in session until the
 gentleman from Montgomery concludes
 his remarks.
 Upon a vote being taken the rules were suspended.
 MT. Oates-Mr. President, thank the
 Convention. 1 will not detain them long.
 Now. what must a sheriff do in or- der to bring about his death? No mob | wants to kill the sheriff. They are af- ter the prisoner in his custody. and | they will not undertake to Kill the sheriff unless they are remarkably Ges-
 perate, and it becomes absolutely nec- essary to consummate their design.
 Why, sir, I was informed but day
 or two ago, by a high official in this County, that not a great while ago the
 present sheriff of Montgomery County | had in his custody, with one or two assistants, some prisoner that the mob desired to deal with and put to death. and they came upon him to take the ! prisoner away and he informed them. or sent the messenger back. saying they better not undertake to do it. will fire on them, I am bound to pro- | tect my prisoner and I am going to do | it." They sent back to 1im and said these men are your friends. .fou would not fire on your friends. would you?
 His prompt reply was, T have no | friends who will undertake 10 wrest | from me a prisoner, they had better | not try to do it." and they retired. | They knew he was a man of h.s word | and that he would have fired on them. Such firmness as that in sheriff in
 the discharge of his duty is about all
 that is needed.
 Why, sir l recollect well case in the County of Dale. It was very
 noted case, and an appeal from the conviction of the prisoners came to the
 Supreme Court three times. Three ne-
 groes had murdered a white woman,
 widow. They were arrested and in carcerated in the jail, and a mob was organized of hundred men, we'll arm ed, who went to the jail and demand ed the prisoner. The sheriff, with hut
 three or four men to assist him, hear ing of their coming. armed his men with double barrel shot guns, and they stood in front of the door, and the
 sheriff told them, You are numerous,