The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-10-20
Not Guilty"

The law has declared that James H.
Tillman was guilty of no offence against
the law, the peace and dignity OF the
state, when he killed n. CT. Gonzales.
That is the verdict rendered yesterday
by the jury, which tried the case in the
court at lexington; a verdict which
opened the prison doors to the homicide
and permits him to move about among
the people as if he had lone no wrong.
as if his hands were not stained with
human blood.
But that is as far as the verdict
of the Lexington jury goes. It is
not the verdict of the larger jury scat
tered all over this state and throughout
this country; the jury which will as cer-
tainIy condemn the law in South Caro-
lima as by its failure in this case the
law has condemned itself. No one can
now say lawfully that Mr.. Tillman is a
murderer. as charged in his Indictment,
as testified to by those who witnessed
his deed, Us voiced by his helpless I'M
armed victim looking into the very
face OF death, n of which the lonely
grave in the cemetery at Columbia will
ever continue an accusing witness. He
can come and go as he will; there is no
authority now which can place any re-
Strict;On upon his movements. In office
and market-place and field, whether
working among the flowers in his gar
den, or seeking the fellowship of his
neighbOrS, or pleading at the bar for
some poor creature whose life is the
forfeit required by the law for the life
that he has taken, he will always have
with him the company of the dead, the
actual, if invisible, presence of the man
whose body he killed, but whose spirit
Will follow him without mercy forever.
"And the Lord said unto Cain, Where
is Abel, thy brother? And he said, !
know not: Am l my brothers keeper?
And He said, What hast thou done?
the voice of thy brothers blood crieth
unto me from the ground.
And Cain said unto the Lord, My
punishment is greater than [ can bear.
Behold, thou hast driven me out this
day from the face of the earth; and
from Thy face shall l be hid; and l
shall be a fugitive n a v~agabond in
the earth; and it shall come to pass that |
every one that findeth me shall STAY me.
And the Lord said until hun, There
fore WhOsoeVer Slayeth Cain, vengeance
shall be taken on him sevenfold. And
the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any
finding him should kill him.
1t is now as il was in the beginning.
The Judgments of men are cOlored by
ignorance II prejudice and passion, by
politics. by misunderstanding of The
law, by the confusion wrought by elO-
quent counsel. by the association of the
issues or men on trial with the things
of immediate concern in daily life.
These We're some of the matters which
were introduced into the trial of the
case at Lexington to the confusion OF q
jury entirely incompetent to discrimi-
nate tive the issues of fact present.
ed by the witnesses and the interpreted
ton OF these facts as made by the law
yers. In the mind Of the jury it was
more important TO deliver tie defen-
dant from the consequences of his act
than il was TO maintain the supremacy
OF the law in South Carolina. We are
not SURPRISED at the outcome of the
trial. Except in rare cases the killing
of one white man by another is the
safest crime that can be committed in
South Carolina. If Mr.. Tillman IA
taken Mr.. Gonzales p~ocketbook, he
would have been required to pay the
penalty prescribed by law; he took Mr..
Gonzales life and a South Carolina
jury says that h did nothing to deserve
punishment.
We shall not attempt any review %
the case-it would not change the result.
There is no appeal from the verdict of
- - .-,>- " --l1s. --::-- --l
that tribunal, while awaiting the judg-
ment Of the court OF Lexington, made
up its own verdict upon the evidence
submitted to the jury in the case and
10 the people through the press. 1t is
so much the worse for the law, that
the verdict of public opinion is not the
verdict OF The jury. Mr.. Tillman has
been released from the custody of the
law, and walks the earth a free man.
and is entitled TO the protection of the
law. We do not envy him his freedom
the dead man is far happier thar the
living.
The ria IS not ended. of course.
There has been a change of venue from
| the court at Lexington to the court Of
| conscience. There will be 10 question
now about who shall preside in the trial
of this case. The rules Will not permit
very great latitude in the examination
of witnesses, the merciful Christ of Cal
vary being the same in substance as the
aVenging God of the Jews who COM
manded: Thou shalt not KILL"
Washington. October 16.-Leopold j.
Stern. the Baltimore contractor recent
ly indicted in connection with a postal
contract, appeared in police court to-
| day. Judge Scott denied the request of
Stern's counsel for an immediate hear