The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-04-02
g Fewer gallons; Wears longer @Hq
Treading on Dangerous Ground.

Charlotte News
Two more homicides, one especially
shocking because of the prominence
of the parties to the affair, have stir
red the State and two more chapters
are added to the dark and bloody
record of 1903.
Unfortunately for the fair name OF
the State, the participants in the de-
plorable affair at Tarboro were men
of prominence: men of education and
refinement, who stood high in their
profession, and men whose position
in society demanded that they should
set an example to their fellows.
Therefore they were the less excus-
able for their conduct. There seems
to be no doubt that DR.. Baker acted
in self-defence, yet his act was the
outcome of a deliberate violation of
the law, and for that matter his vic
tim was as guilty of the same viola
ton. Had both obeyed the spirit
and letter of the law, as we have a
right to expect from citizens of their
prominence, one would not now be in
IIiS SIdNc lIIcIl W III Ut
clare that Dr. Baker tould not have
done otherwise, yet we venture to
assert that even now he regrets ever
having carried a pistol, for the weight
of having slain a fellow man will bur-
den his conscience unto his dying day.
These bloody crimes which have
followed so closely. one upon the
heels of another, in the last few
months, necessarily furnish much
food for thought. What will the
State do about it?
Upon the occasion of a lynching
(Which happily have been few and far
between in this State) or in the ex-
element attendant upon lawless
gatherings the executive authorities
of the State, the judiciary and men
of official life, sometimes personally,
but always by and through the press
of the State, invariably call upon the
hot-headed citizens and the lawless
element, whatever they may chance
to assemble, to let the law take it's
course; to refrain from violence and
from lawlessness-that the law will
punish the perpetrators of crime.
But, gentle reader, when the law
fails to punish crime; when it treats
the shedder of human blood as it
would a chicken-thief. what can the
executive and the judiciary and the
press say to these people when they
seek to take the law into their own
hands? If, tomorrow, for example, a
foul murder should be committed in
this county and a crowd of turbulent
spirits-hot-headed, unthinking men,
should gather to do violence to the
murderer, what could the authorities
of Mecklenburg and the press of Char
lotte say? Why, appeal to the mob.
exclaim-"Stop where you are: donot
lay violent hands upon this man: let
the law take it's course and the proper
authorities will punish him." Posi-
bly, the mob would shout in derision
1.-THE law is a farce: you sent man
to the penitentiary for only five years
for cold-blooded murder" What can
the authorities, or the press, say fur
ther in defense of the law? There is
no getting behind stern. solemn facts.
TO PERMIT A LAXITY IN THE
CRIMINAL LAWS OF ANY STATE
OR NATION is TO BREED AN
ARCHY AND LAWLESSNESS. 1T
is THREADING ON DANGEROUS
GROUND. We must have wise laws
and we must enforce them. THE
PUNISHMENT MUST FIT THE
CRIME. Make the carrying OF con-
cealed weapons felony; punish vio-
lations of the law SO severely as to
deter even men of prominence from
carrying pistol, and above all
ENFORCE THE LAW,
Then we shall have fewer dark,
bloody stains upon the escutcheon OF
the State.
Many school Children are SicaI,.
Mother Gray's Sweet Powders Tor Chill
dren, used by Mother Gray, "a nurse in Chill
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Stomach Troubles, Teething Disorders. and
Destroy worms At all druggists. 2oc. Sam