Omaha daily bee., 1903-06-20

that he had always felt good about. He
made a long legal argument upon the
point that the Nebraska statute must be
construed as Ohio courts have construed
the Ohio law, from which Nebraska Is
copied. that intent to kill must be proven
He insisted that the supreme court had
made a mistake in holding as 1t did and
that the governor ought not to make the
mistake of affirming its erroneous decision.
He insisted that Judge Holcomb in exam
lining the statutes found that in the en-
rolled bill a comma had been omitted and
this was the sole justification for the hang
ing of Rhea, as Judge Holcomb had claimed
that this discrepancy In punctuation
changed the whole tenor of the law, so
that Intentional, purpose is not essential to
murder where one Is engaged at the time
of killing in the commission OF felony.
Major Menzies. the Mount Vernon lawyer,
followed with an eloquent plea TO the gov
ernor. He covered the point as to the duty
OF Interpretation OF the statute the Ohio
courts have interpreted It. and pointed out
how impossible 1t was for the boy, who
was given to intoxication. to have formed
the necessary purpose. 1t had been urged
that II would not do to commute to life
imprisonment because life prisoners seldom
served out their sentences. 1t was for the
governor to meet the pressing duty Of the
hour and idle to speculate on what future
governors may do.
Career of Rhea.
Major Menzies gave a brqef sketch OF the
life of Rhea, or Klein. as his name in fact
is. II had been said that he came from a
family of criminals and that wealthy rela-
tives had interested all these people in his
behalf. The truth is that the boys father
is poor and belongs to the laboring classes.
brother. who lives in Mount Vernon, Is
comfortably well Off, and having a good
heart has opened II to the woes of his
heart broken brother. The father was an
old soldier in the war of the rebellion and
had married an Alabama woman who was
the mother OF this young man. Later mis-
fortune overlook him, he lost his property
and took to drinking. Still later his south
ern wife died. and later on he married
again. bringing his children from the south
to the new home In Indiana. Without in
tending to reflect further upon the step
mother, he would say that lack of sym
pathy for her stepchildren had led to her
unintentional neglect Of them. The boy had
drifted away from home 70 become a jockey
on a race track. and there the name OF
William Rhea had been given him. The
father had squandered 5000 all he had,
| IN hiring detectives I'm an endeavor 10 learn
his whereabouts, but without effect, and
| nothing was known of him until the intelli-
| gence came by wire of his arrest for muir
der IN this state
Rev. f. l.. Wharton and Rev. b. NJ. Long
| both spoke from the standpoint OF mercy
rather than an execution Of the law, that
they had come TO believe that Rhea should
not be sent to face his Maker at this time
Assessors Make Low Valuations.
/ The returns received so far at the office
/ of the state auditor from the assessors OF
the various counties disclose that the same
old absurd system OF valuation is in force
| excusable largely on the ground that Il
| farm property were reported at its fair
value the railroads would reap the benefit
OF those counties that have reported
Nuckolls seems TO be the worst offender