The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1903-10-28
The Til1man Trial.
carolina Spartan.

heard the evidence and declared on
cath the innocence of 8 citizen, it lies
not in the mouth of any man to ques-
lion shat verdict. All men are honest
nnsil the contrary is shown. The
Lexington jury vas probably not
materially different from the average
jury. There is nc evidence Of undue
advantage by the defense in the Till
man trial and for newspapers to 60
behind the verdict of q jury obtained
in q fair trial, is anarchy.
That Tillman shos Gonzales is un-
denied. That he shot him down de-
Iberately, as he would q dog, is
equally plain. The jury has once
more as it has many times before,
appealed to that higher law, which
DEGREES that the frailties and weak
nesses Of human nature must be tax.
ca into account when under persist
ems persecution, the worm turns.
A brave man, honest, able, clean,
and forceful in every sense, Mr.. Con
gales was, nevertheless, a stirrer OF
strife and was fast becoming a politi-
cal power capable of "pufdng and
crushing" at will. Like his proto-
type, the late Editor Dawson, he was
removed from the scene while in the
heyday Of his strength.
The Tillman trial is but another Il
lustration of the fact that juries some
times disregard law and evidence at
the behest of 8 sentiment
There is no evidence of trickery.
The Jurors and the Witnesses stand
saimpeached. And yet the facts are
that Editor Gonzales was snob down
with elaboration and premeditation
without warning or a chance for his
life; and the jury says ''not guilty"
Of the slayer.
In our view, less politics were in
ieesed into this trial thar might have
been expected. LESS defense was set
up than might have been made.
Tillman went before the jury practi-
sally with the plea that he felt called
upon to Kill the man who had so per-
sisseutly written against him in his
paper.
We can we'll imagine that in the
Jury room, the several Lexingtonians
read over and over the editorials that
from time to time, appeared in The
State. They placed themselves in
the defendants place, they felt the
effect of q merciless persecution by
one who had the power to hurt.
They saw as the public sees that
while the charges made may have
been true, there was a "ghoulish
glee" behind them, that the editor Of
q powerful newspaper, having per-
soaal luminosity and private grievance
was using his paper to defeat political
aspirations of this man with whom
his personal relations were 80 strained.
The Jurors, doubtless, argued that
if q man who had a grudge against
any of them and having a newspaper
should prostitute the press to the
ignoble task of Furnishing an enemy
whether the accusations were true or
false, they would resent it.
ALI this talk about South Carolina
being Inundated, about civilization
being set back and the verdict being
unprecedented or unexpected, is the
veriest rot. An even more uppro-
voked killing occurred in North Caro-
lima and the slayer vas liberated on
almost the same day and yet the
world moves on.
But the effort to criticise the at
torneys for the defence for undertak-
ing this case because they had
formerly been of an opposing politi-
cal faction, the effort to charge with
out rhyme or reason that the judge,
the jury and the populace generally
were p~rejudioed, teods to undermine
the jury system and is close akin to
anarchy.
To charge that a man who, having
haan triad he b;s peers and daciared