Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1903-06-23
PHOENIX. ARIZONA, JUNE 20. 100
Life In Bre.thitt County.

1t is an astounding revelation OF con-
ditions in Kentucky that was unfoldeG
last week through the daily develop
ments in connection with the trial ut
Jackson. in that state, of the r1er
charged with the assassination of ]. r.
Marcum, who was shot down as lie
was leaving the court house in that
town. The deed itself showed the ut
most contempt not only for law but
also for the fundamental principles
upon which social and political institu-
tlons in this country are founded. Mar
cum, the victim, was not ever charged
with crime. He was murdered as IN
ordinary incident of what the people Of
Rreathitt county refer to casually as
felII. He was offensive 10 the MEM
Scrs of another family, and therefore
he was killed. But that is far from all.
Having thus asserted their manhood,
and their right TO kill anybody against
whom they happened to have a grudge.
the assassins through their friends
then proceeded to make ii clear to the
community that they held themselves
above the law and had the power to
maintain themselves in that position OF
supremacy.
That power. recent developments
show, reside in ability to resort to
further assassination. arson and other
forms OF terrorism which would nat
urally suggest themselves to men en-
tlrely unhampered by any regard for
law or justice as they are understood
in less primitive communities. The
state government, such as it is. must
be credited with an effort to assert its
authority. Jackson was put under mar
tial law. and the troops did their best
TO uphold the majesty of the law.
But their efforts seemed foredoomed to
failure. They were able to preserve the
life of one of the principal witnesses
for the prosecution, who was never out
of reach of the provost marshal until
having delivered his testimony when
he fed forever from Jackson. But this
witness. who testified that he saw
one of the men under trial fire the
shot that killed Marcum, had already
been offered the alternative of taking
five thousand dollars to perjure himself
by altering his testimony or else suffer
death, and his refusal has already cost
him the destruction of his house and
home and with it the loss OF all his
worldly possessions. Other witnesses
for the prosecution were so terrorized
by threats of assassination that they
went into hiding or fed the state.
People In other parts of the country
are tempted to ask what this means.
1t is worse than the lynching OF ne
groes, for thai is but the reflection Of
q determination on the part OF a justly
outraged community to redress a
wrong so fiendish that human nature
cannot restrain itself in contemplation
of it. Ii points to something worse
than the failure of democratic govern
ment; it invites the substitution OF one
man power as being at it's worst an
improvement over the sway of men so
ruled by primitive passions that they
are ready TO defy all the laws of God
and man. Public opinion is beginning
10 understand how men can be carried
beyond the bounds OF reason by loath-
ing for brutes in human shape. But it
cannot understand and cannot be ex-
pected to understand such a state of
affairs as seems to prevail in Breathitt
county, Kentucky. That seems incom-
patible, not only with civilization, but
with manhood.