Arizona silver belt., 1903-07-02
A Miscarriage of Justice

 Webb, tried last week in Tombstone for the murder of Lorenzo Bass, on the night of February s, 1903, in Doug las, the Tombstone American added, "The rangers are feeling much grau- fled over the verdict. We have no doubt of it, and no one of them has as great reason to feel gratified as has Webb, the defendant. His case cer- tainly did not look good to the citizen who respects the law and is jealous of the good name of Arizona.
 To anyone acquainted with the facts in connection with the killing of Bass it was evident that crime had been committed, and the fact that the man who shot him was an officer, appointee of the governor, sworn to protect life and property, run down criminals and furnish the evidence for their convic. ton, made the crime ten-fold worse in the eyes of every right thinking per son. The scquittal of Webb, iu our opinion, is one of the most fragrant and deplorable miscarriages of justice that has occurred in Arizona, and most serious indictment against the good name of the people of Cochise county And yet the newspapers published iu that county, as far as they have come under our observation, treat the case with indifference, and as to criticism they are dumb.
 We had hoped that one or more of the Cochise county papers, which have boasted of their enterprise, would at least publish an intelligent synopsis of the testimony adduced at the trial of Webb, but aside from a third -of-a.col- umn article that appeared in the Bis. bee Review, we have seen nothing in print giving any information of the trial Consequently, 1t is necessary in discussing the killing of Bass 10 refer to the report of the crime and of the coroner's inquest as published in the Douglas International of February Ii, aud portion of the evidence as brought out at the preliminary exam ination of Webb, as it appeared in the 
 Bisbee Review of the same date.
 On Sunday evening, February s, five members of the Arizona rangers "were going from one saloon to another drinking" and anyone familiar with the delectable dives of the toughest town on the Mexican border, can read fly picture this mob O" gang of officers, conservators of the law : armed with sixshooters, swsggering about, "paint- ing the town" and terrorizing the red light district. On their round, three of these worihies, Webb, Mcdonald and Bearfoot, (only one of whom, we are told, was drunk, entered the Cow boy Home saloon and commenced to make rough house. Bass, the pro- prietor, asleep in an adjoining room, was aroused, went into the saloon and demonstrated with Webb, who pulled his sixshooter and shot Bass twice through the body, the first shot pierc ing the heart. Ranger Mcdonald was shot through the lung by one of the bullets that passed through Bass body, but he recovered.
 There is an irreconcilable conflict be- |. tween the testimony given by the eye witnesses to the tragedy, and the ques- tion of Webb's guilt resolved into a study of the credibility of the witnesses. Webb's chief witnesses were his fellow rangers, Bearfoot md Mcdonald, both more or less involved in the difficulty, and Samuel Henshaw, bartender and musician, wbo entered the saloon with Webb and companions. The testimony of these men and of Webb himself agree in important particulars and tend to made it appear that Webb was jus. tiied in shooting Bass, that Bass had a sixshooter and struck Webb on the head with 1t before Webb shot.
 These statements, however, are posi- lively contradicted by seven witnesses who saw the shooting-A L. White, a mechanic who had been working on the Copper Queen smelter at Douglas John Swords, an iron worker D. l.. Mattix, miner F. c. Francis, bar. tender in the saloon at the time John !. Wilton, and two Mexican girls em- ployed in the saloon. One of these girls testified that she threw glass at Webb when he fired the first shot at Bass, and the glass struck Webb on the head. None of the witnesses, ex-