The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1902-07-25
The Law INDICATED.

Ashley Cooke and Thomas Lauderdale were
hanged at Greenville, Miss, yesterday for the
murder of Engineer Wray-a murder committed
under peculiarly atrocious circumstances. The
hanging should not have caused any undue ex
element, and it probably would not had not
Cooke been a man Of some influential connec-
tons. who used every effort to induce Governor
Longino to commute the sentence to life i'm
prisonment. One can imagine the pressure that
was brought to bear on the Governor to cheat
justice of it's due, and his refusal to interfere will
elevate him in the opinion of all rightthinking
men. 1t is of the misfortunes OF humanity
that there never a criminal whose punish
ment did not bring grief to the heart of some
good and noble woman. Whenever the desperate
finds himself in the clutches of the law his cour-
ages oozes out and he attempts to hide behind
the petticoats of some poor woman who has the
misfortune to be connected with him. We all
know how the attempt was made to excite the
sympathy OF Governor Longino for the female
relatives of the murder. That game has been
worked so often that one readily recte what
is TO take place in advance. Cooke, who had
never a thought for the welfare Of his own or
for Wrays female connections when he commit
ted the foul assassination. doubtless thought it
hard that the Governor would not defeat the
ends of justice out of sympathy for the feelings
OF those poor creatures who must in the very
nature of our civilization suffer for his crime
Had Governor Longino listened to any such
sophistry he would have shown weakness, not
sympathy. 1t is no evidence OF humon sympa-
thy to turn assassins loose on a community and
the Governor wonld practically have done that
for the Communication of the sentence would in
evitably have been followed at some later date
by full pardon.
Not one murderer but many were hanged with
~
ages the man Of good family from the commits
sion of murder as an occasional hanging. There
we're many more lives saved at Greenville yes
in posse before the hanging that will never be
in The taking of two lives has saved how
many no one can even conjecture.
But this view Of the matter is aside the issue
The important matter is that these men were
tried for murder under a system of law that
gives the murderer every opportunity OF escape.
Juries. under our system. will not convict. il
there is the barest excuse for acquittal. and
particularly will they not SO convict in a CAPT
tai case. The friends OF Cooke doubtless were
not troubled with the trial or with the convic-
ton, They knew the evidence Of the murder
too palpabe to be put aside by any means.
but they probably contented themselves with
the belief that after conviction only an appeal
cheat the sallows Of its prey. Many Chief Elk
ecutives would have betrayed the State to have
acceded to the request of the influential petit
TONERS who pleaded for the lives of the assas
sins, but Governor Longino fortunat sly was
cast in different mold. His easiest escape
from the disagreeable position in which he
found himself would have been to have granted
the petition. That he did not do SO for his own
comfort and to escape q species Of nasging that
must have been exaspsratine, is greatly to his
credit. With more such Governors there will
be fewer murders. Mississippi is to be congrat-
who was willing to sacrifice his comfort to his
though he himself suffered in some measure in
the operation.
And so passed, to quote his own estimate OF
himself, 1.-The bravest man in Mississippi
whose courage led him tn shoot down, in CON-
pany with two others. an unoffending man. and
who on the scaffold had to bolster up his nerves
BY the use of foul and profaue language. Had
Cooke been really . brave man he would have
gone to his death quietly and not shouting out
cursee hut had he heen bravr man the muir
der Of poor Wray would never have occurred.
In refusing to interfere with tho execution OF
such . man. No repeat. Governor Loneino il not
only entitled to tho thanks Of the people Of Mis-
sissippi. but tho pepplc OF the whole country.
and of every man anywhere Who eontemns A.
sassination. The hysteFfcalwho fail to 50 any
thing especially wrong With homicide. unless
the killing Il done By the law will not b pleased
q conEse, but thsy nag safely b LETT out q
considssation.-New Oelsans Tinss-Dsmocrat