The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-20
MADISON GRAND JURY URGES THE IMPEACHMENT
 OF SHERIFF AND MAYOR


 | lower floor, but the garrison hastened | to take a somewhat protected position | at the head of the stairs. The mob l took possession of the lower floor, doors | were battered down. windows smashed. | fire was kindled in the lobby of the jail in full view of the sheriff and mili- tia. yet no order was given to fire. | Later on another fire was started in a room not commanded by the guns of the garrison from their position, unless | they could have shot steel bullets | through the floor of the room above or l through a steel door, which was not | attempted Missiles were thrown and guns fired by the mob and the jail was burning; yet the soldiers received no orders to fire. It is but just to say
 that there were some brave boys in the company who would have welcomed the order to fire.
 OmciaIs Were Passive. The Mayor of Huntsville and the peo- pie and the police officers were passive and gave no assistance notwithstand ing the appeals from the sheriff for aid and notwithstanding the Mayor had previously agreed to place the entire police force at the disposal of the sher- if.
 The regular deputies of the sheriff. except T. W. Ward, were not much in evidence. Deputy Ward went to the sheriff and back on several occasions during the siege, and was sent for the police and on other missions. but he l was never ordered to summon other deputies, or any posse to relieve the l situation, nor does 1t appear that the sheriff at any time summoned any spe- cial deputies. or any posse commitatus to his aid. notwithstanding his deputies and Police Oficers D. D. overton and J. R. Overton had free access to him unmolested by the mob.
 Finally, after an hour or so. as might have been foreseen, the position of the garrison became untenable The sheriff lay down the keys and walked out followed by the militia. It appears that about this time Jailer Giles re- leased the prisoner. who jumped out of | a second story window, and was caught l by the mob and hanged soon after in l the court house yard. The fire in tho jail was subsequently, extinguished af- | ter much wanton damage to the county jail property and danger and suffering | was inflicted upon the helpless prison | CTS.
 Crisis Is Reached. The issue presented to us is clear cut We have reached the crisis. The | question Is whether we shall be ruled | by the mobs or by the law; whether we shall have anarchy or government; | whether an armed and unreasoninF | rabble whose worst passions have been | unframed and the prejudices aroused | shall be permitted to trample our stat ! utes under foot and openly commit l the most fragrant and violent crimes merely because they happened to have brute force at their command, or
 whether we shall say, the law Is su- preme. It is the only safeguard of | our property, our liberty and our lives. | It shall be upheld, respected and en- | forced. If we cannot meet the emer- gency that now confronts us, if we cannot eradicate the spirit of anarchy among us, If we cannot curb the law
 less element of our County, then we | have failed in the highest purpose of government. and our boasted institu- tions are but a delusion and a myth. ''Realizing that this is a supreme
 moment in our history, then we must either take a stand for the law today
 or surrender to the mob and the an-
 archist for all times.
 | As to the sheriH. That our actions shall make for | good or evil in future generations. for getting our personal friendships, and
 affiliations. and with malice towards none, but acting only as sworn officers | or the state or AldDaInd we, Ilt BTdllU | Jury of Madison County. State of Ala
 bama, find that A. D. Rogers, Sheriff
 of said County. was guilty of woetul neglect of duty or incompetency in this | that
 "First-He allowed or did not pre-
 vent the lynching of Horace Naples on 1 the seventh day of September. 1904. in | said County.
 'Second-He failed to take proper or necessary precautions to defend Hor-
 ace Naples a prisoner in his custody | on the seventh day of September, 1904. "Third-He allowed mob, riot, tu-
 mutt or unlawful assembly to collect
 and stay for several hours. to wit for | three hours, in the vicinity of the 1 County jail where such prisoner was
 confined and took no proper steps to | disperse the same.
 |, "Fourth-He wilfully failed, or re- | fused to have a sufficient number of his
 regular deputies present to atd in de-
 fending such prisoner and he wilfully | failed or refused to summon any posse
 comitatus or special deputies to aid in
 such defense.
 l "Fifth-He permitted arson in :he | first degree to be committed upon the | County jail of Madison County, or did
 not prevent the same being done l "Six-He permitted the lives of pris- | oners in his custody, confined in the
 county jail to be jeopardized by a mob
 setting the jail on fire or building a
 smoke therein or he did not prevent the same from being done. l 'Seven-He wilfully failed or refus-
 ed to fire upon the mob or to order the
 same to be done. when the mob was
 bes1eging the jail, setting fire to the
 building and assauftlng the garrison with rocks and missiles.
 "Eight-He failed to order or com
 mand the riot or unlawful assembly tC
 disperse.
 We therefore recommend that the
 said A. D. Rogers, sheriff of Madison County Alamaba be impeached for in. competency or wifful neglect of du. ty.
 Conduct of the Mayor.
 We the grand jury of said county
 and State find that Thomas w. Smith
 mayor of the city of Huntsville was
 guilty of wilful neglect of duty or in
 competency in this that on September
 !. 1904:
 "First-He allowed an unlawful as.
 sembly or riot to throng the city:
 streets i nthe vicinity of the county
 jail for hours and gave no orders and
 adopted no measures to disperse such
 assembly or riot.
 'Second-He failed to send the po-
 lice force to the aid of the sheriff iu
 quelling mob or preserving the l peace.
 "Third-He failed to adopt any meas.