Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1903-01-27
TUESDAY EVENING. JAN. q. 1908.

THE recent sh00tlng Vi bui'0
zaIes by acknowledgements lillman III
South Carolina. is much 10 be dePiored'
for the taking of human life Is dreau-
FIJI underany circumstances, butthere are
ton sides to the affair, and possibly when
both are heard, the slayer will have the
sympathy of many. The practice thai
some newspapers have of outrageously
attacking and traducing men Is exceeu-
ingly wrong, and in many cases entreiy
uniustifable, and not infrequently men
so attacked prefer to risk their lives IN q
duel or face a jury for manslaughter
rather than let such attacks go unnoticeu'
An will admit that Tillman had been
most severely lambasted by Gonzales ID
public print, and the testimony OF the
coroner's jury will show that he even
had cause to. suppose that bodily harm
might follow the newspaper attack, ior
Senator Talbird who was with Illlman
at the time of the shooting, swore tna'
when within ten feet Of Gonzales, I'LL
man said GLOW are you Mr.. Gonzales?
Gonzales made no reply, but turned and
reached for his pocket. Then Tillman
said. ~ received your message" and
fred almost Instantly. The Stanton
soectator has the following very sensible
article upon this distressing affair;
"There was great provocation. II
is thoroughly understood in the South
generally and in South Carolina par
ticularly. that when a newspaper man
publishes another as ga criminal candi-
date "a debauchee" and "a proven
liar" he deliberately puts himself IN
peril of his life. 1t IS no argument
AGAINST this state of facis to say tha'
such conditions should not exist; they
do exist. and the result is almost newt
able. Killing under snch circumstances
NAV he called assassination or any other
name Int that does not prevent the
party whose reputation has been ATTACK
ed or assassinated or slain, from at
tempting to assassinate the assassin o.
his reputation. Blood may be hotter III
South Carolina and Texas than IN the
colder climate of Massachusetts, or even
here in Virginia, but should newspaper
man here 90 out of his way to thus de-
nounce many of our citizens the same
result would follow. we
wonder whether there are many who up
hold Gonzales in the assault he made OF
Mr. Tillman? We wonder whether
there has grown in those parts OF tn
countrv where shooting under sucf
nroyocation is denounced, a sentlmen
which warrants the act of Gonzales! W.
hone not. Certainly Gonzales knew thu
man whose character he was assanIung
He knew he was no poltreon nor coward
he knew whether what he said was tru'
or false he must account to him for VIVA
he had said, and as Gonzales had chosef
the seclusion of his own sanctum as thu
place. and his own time IN which u
deliberately assassinate the character o
Tillman. Tillman might with equal pro
priety choose his own time to attaci
Gonzales. Gonzales was unarmed, w
are told. This was his misfortune
Common sense in a South Carolina edito
would have first prevented him iron
doing so rash a thing as publish such
vile article. But if done, certainly com
mon sense would have told him to arm
himself and to do it effectively. W.
must therefore conclude that whateve
virtues may be ascribed to Gonzales h
was totally deficient in ordinary comm9l
sense. No one but himself can b
blamed for having deliberately given tn
pretext for the shooting, and none bu
himself can be blamed for net being o
the same footing with Tillman when til
hour arrived for gun practice"