The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-11-06
THE EXPECTED HAPPENED.

THE EXPECTED AFtENEO
II was the expected that happened
in both the Tillman and Haywood
Yerdlcts. Neither ever ran any Ilsk
of being punished and the only e.e-
ment OF doubt from the first was
what their line of defense would De.
The first reports sent out from Raleigh
when Ludlow Skinner. n Of the
gentIest and most exemplary young
men in the state, was shot down while
retreating from his slayer, was that
HayWoOd's defense would be insanity;
that he a brooded yer the reVeia-
ton OF his relations with Mrs. Tucker,
SINNERS s~ister-in-law; that he was
losing friends and patronage; ana
when he and Skinner began to lax
over the scandal. and his victim IN
sisted he should repair the wrong
done. he became unbalanced and was
e-.zad with a mania to kill. Later it
DEVELOPED that Skinner struck nun,
and nothing more was heard of the
insanity plea, but on the contrary, the
Jury was asked to justify the COIL
ness and d~eliheratiOn with which Mr..
Haywood snuffed out the life Of Mr..
Skinner, VINO was Tying ~ SSI Jul IL
his way. 1t was proved by one OF his
chief witnesses that Haywood used his
left hand DIS a rest and fired the dead
w second shot into his retreatlng
victim. that made his wife a widow
and deprived his aged father OF the
prop and sOlace of his declining days.
For the looks of the thing, it is a pity
that he abandoned the insanity plea
But as we said last week, both the
TiIIman and Haywood verdicts begSa7
comment. They are not the first Of
their kind. There is something Iun-
~daLnentaIly rotten IN our judicial sys-
tenn which needs to be rye out.
Chief Justice Clark, in his dissenting
opinion in the Cole case, points out
some of the things that are respOn-
sible and goes further and shows
where the law was strained III a cele-
brated case, a few years ago, when,
as in the Haywood case, q m of
one of the first families of North
Carolina" had dyed his hands in the
blood of q fellow man, which prece-
lent has operated to tie the states
hands ever since.
The state did not ask for Il verdict
of murder in the first degree against
Haywood. and the refusal of the jury
TO find him guilty of u lesser crime
shows that the old theory that tne
severity Of the law was r~eSpOnsiO7c
for SO many gross miscarrIageS OF
Justice. was untrue. If there mad
been thirty degrees of murder. Hay
wood would have been as sure of ac-
uuittaI as he was under the law that
prescribeS three. 1t was certain that
it was a sudden fit of insanity until
the discovery was made that the
dead man struck a blow. when presto,
change! MI. Haywood was as cool as
a cucumber and took good aim. with
- T-E- Anrl &c n raCt whom hp "a W
the first shot had not killed. and Mr..
Skinner was likely to escape with his
life. going from him, twenty feet
away.
why Mr.. Skinner struck Mr.. Hay
wood liz not appear in he evidence.
Dead men tell no tales and the
only living man who knows whether
the blow was provoked or not, did
no go On the witness stand in MS
own defense.
Neither could have lone the other
serious harm with u weapons,
as they were men of small stature
and weighed less than $50 pounds.
CThe defense tOO great pains to show
that there. was u red spot on HAY
woods cheek made by SINNERS
blow. A "thunderin' lick" to justify
two shots. the last with the left hand
as a rest. and the victim going away
The fact that a revolver was found in
the dead mans hip pocket shows that
he was not seeking HayWOOd's Lille,
else he would have carried 1t In his
OvercOat pocket and used it first, like
Tillman did. And the conversation
that preceded the shooting was not
begun by Skinner, but Haywood called
him aside as he was leaving the post
office.
These ugly facts will not own
WebSter'S Weekly, October -.