The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-06
IS NOT YET RELEASED
CONGRESS MUST ACT IN RAM
 DoLPH'S BEHALF.
Dr Herran, the Colombia Charge m Washington, Talks Interest ingly of the Case of Im-
 prisoned Alabamian.


 Washington. Oct. 6-(Speciai. .)-At the State Department to-day Tho Advertiser correspondent was informed that noth- ing had been heard from Minister Beau pre- at Bogota concerning the Randolph case except the brief telegram which reads: The Colombia Congress will pass law before many days releasing Charles Radford. He is very destitute"
 Solicitor of the State Department Pen field was absent, being in Europe on of- ficial business. His assistant. MT. Van Dyne, when asked if the department re- ceived any other message about Radford or Randolph and if so, the nature of 1t, replied that he did not know. In response to an inquiry. if there was any way of ascertaining. he answered that he did not think anything had been heard in the last six months or SO. and he did not have time to look 1t up. Mir Penfeld. he said, had charge of the matter and he. Van Dyne. did not seem to know but that the best thing for him to do, was to do nothing toward supplying this inno- cent information.
 Calling at the law, office of Colonel Hilary A. Herbert. knowing that the for mer Secretary of the Navy had interest cd himself in behalf of Judge Randolph. 1t was found that Colonel Herbert was absent from the city, being at Hot Springs. Va. MT. B. H. Micou. his son. | in-law and partner. said that Colonel Herbert would return to the city to-mor- | row. As far as MT. Micou was informed. | no communication had been had with Judge Randolph for some time. While The Advertiser correspondent was at the office of Herbert & Micou, Dr. Thomas Herran. charge d'affaires for Colombia, called to see Colonel Herbert to ask if he had heard anything from Randolph. Dr. Herran himself had heard nothing recently. but being interested in the case and having concerned himself from the beginning in behalf of the imprisoned Alabamian. gave to The Advertiser cor respondent. a most interesting account of the experiences of Judge Randolph in Co., lombia. Dr. Herran, at the time of the tragedy, and during the subsequent trials was United States consul at Medeilin. whither Randolph was brought for his second trial from Calli. where the killing occurred.
 It seems that Judge Randolph made his home at the town of Calli and had bought farm of a German-Hebrew citizen, Charles Hauer Simmonds. over the settle- ment for which the fatal quarrel ensued. It had been agreed between the two par ties that the deed for the property should dispossess certain sQuatters who had oc- cupied the tract. When he went to take possession Randolph found them there. and looked for Simmonds. The latter said the clause relating to the squatters was in the instrument as agreed. Not being familiar at glance with Spanish, in which the deed was written. Judge Ram dolph took a little time to decipher. He
 was finally convinced that the clause 1 whic he regarded as vital to the trade had been omitted.
 Indignant at what he deemed a delib- crate deception, he dismounted from his | horse, being on the way to the farm | and went into the office of Simmonds, | whom he found alone. Soon afterwards
 two shots were heard and Randolph came | out and went to his home near by. There
 were many people in the vicinity who
 rushed into the Simmonds house where they found the owner lying on the floor | mortally shot and past speaking. Ram
 dolph was then sought and arrested. He | admitted the shooting but declared that
 Simmonds had tried to strike him with a
 chair. This was on the afternoon of Sept. 5. 1895, just about six months after Judge Randolph had left Montgomery,
 his departure being early in March.
 Fortunately for Judge Randolph" said l Dr. Hcrran. The secured the services of a
 most excellent lawyer. pr. Julian Cooke | Bayor, a Colombian of English descent
 who had been Governor of the State of
 ksloquia The defense all along contend I
 in the killing as 1t occurred at a time
 in the afternoon when the town was full
 of people, and at q place but a few doors
 from the barracks filled with regular l troops.
 Nevertheless Simmonds was a popu-
 lar citizen, well known and respected for
 his public spirit. Radford, us he was then l known, was a stranger. and the circum- l stances being wholly against him, he was | tried, convicted and sentenced to death. | Attorney Cooke -Bayor obtained a second | trial with a transfer of the case from
 Calli to Medellin. This trial. although re-
 moved from Calli on the ground that a | fair trial was impossible ut that place, to
 Medellin some ten days journey distant.
 resulted as the first. It occurred in
 March, 1899, and when intelligence of 1t l was received here 1t was regarded by
 officers of the State Department of Mo Kinleys administration, who had inter
 eSted themselves in the case at the urg
 ent solicitation of former Secretary Her l bert as marking the end of the most | prolonged struggle ever made in behalf l of an American citizen whose life was | imperilled in a foreign country"
 Judge Randolph's friends feared that l his doom waJ settled. Yet Colonel Her
 bert did not relax hls efforts and the
 English-descended lawyer, hanging on
 bulldog like. obtained a third trial This, 100, resulted m CouVICNlou, put WltH u lighter sentence, fourten years"
 The proposition that the Colombian Con-
 gross is to intervene in behalf of the
 prisoner is readily explained by pr. Her
 ran. In Colombia the President has no pardoning power. his powers in that d.
 rection being only in the way of commu-
 tation of sentences, those for death being
 limited to twenty All measures of elem
 ency of convicts must be through special OF he nyhn n
 says Judge Randolph has made friends
 in Colombia even since his Imprisonment.
 has no doubt that he will sooh be free
 man. The Colombian Congress IS now in