The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-09-30

MS 1n1QulCy mas De6u TeuUCSu w paICu-
ment, bound withtred tap and neatly
pigeon-holed. A wholly repugnant
thing to the law is tle doctrine of to-
tai depravity In the creeds of the
Courts the. world is peopled with Is
raelites, in whom there is no guilt.
Now in the days of the fathers if a
man met his brother in the way or
the wilderness and slew him, the
guilt of blood was upon him. It was
the duty of the avenger to execute
upon him the rigor of his Office.
Blood repaid blood with swift newt
ableness. But the times have changed
and the human sense of justice, of
rather, the human practice of justice,
has changed with them. The Mosaic
law has been abrogated save in this
one particular-the taking of life must
be redeemed by the taking of life
sometimes. The avenger Of blood is
now a very different parsonage from
his ancient Egyptian predecessor. To
the latter the deed itself was warrant
for action. To him murder was crime
till it was proven to be merely a
tragedy. To his modern prototype
the taking of life is merely a tragedy
till it Is proven to be murder; verify
it has come to a pass that he who
would do murder must look to himself
and his conduct. He must reckon
we'll with tie fctions of the law, lest
| he be thrown OF Of Court guiltless
man; one who did no more than
hundreds of men have done and are do
| ing month in and month out in this
and other States. Though the sins of
many of them are as scarlet the Courts
made them whiter than snow. So
here in Lexington today the legal
forces are once more gathered in the
valley of decision. A reckoning is to
be had between James 81. Tillman
and the majesty of the law, the peace
and dignity of the State of South Car
oilna. The issue is Of moment to the
accused moment to those who would
avenge the dead; moment to the
public at large; moment to Southern
justice itself.
May it please the honorable Court
the jury and the gentlemen of the
Bar: A momentous task is before you,
one and all. The burden of a grave
duty has fallen to your share Of SER
vice, and you will be held to strict
accounting by public opinion. Your
fellow citizens would rather that you
acquitted a guilty man than that, on
their behalf, you should condemn an
innocent one. II there is reason
able doubt that the prisoner at the
bar has offended they would have him
fully, freely, quickly exonerated.
But in default Of that doubt they de-
sire that you shall discharge without
fear or favor the high authority that
is yours; that you shall not shrink,
nor be afraid, nor trim, nor avoid;
that you shall administer justice in
behalf of the dead with the same in
tegrity that you apportion mercy to
the living. Whatever decision is
reached there will be those who will
eavil. But that is neitehr here nor
there. The evidence may show James
III. Tilman to be innocent in tie Ian.
guage of the statute and in the spirit
Of the Law. Then, in the name Of all
that is Just and righteous, let it be
found accordingly.
But the testimony may run to the
contrary conviction; may point to
one of several degrees Of guilt. It is.
in this event that the verdict must be
looked to. There may be those who
will say that such an admonition. i'm,
plies dissrust; in such circumstances
is an insnIt. Nothing of the sort is
here intended. The gentlemen who
are assembled here to conduct this trial
number among them as worthy, as in
tenigent, as patriotic manhood .as
South Carolina has produced. But
they, as well as Others, know condi-
sions as they are; that it has come TO-
a pass in some sections of the South.
in which trial for murder is a reproach
te the Courts. a. travesty upon JUS
tice, a tragic comedy in the admins
ration Of the laws Of the land. There
is scarcely cemetery, from Oconee
to Beaufort that does not hold its un-
reyenged victim of illegal violence.
Court-absolyed Gains haunt their
blood-smeared innocence on every
hand. There are not found wanting
those who declare shat verdicts in
murder trials in South Carolina are a
hy-word and a laughing stock. 1t