The news & observer., 1904-06-05
A Trucking Judge, Grasp
ing at Power, Fails
to Play the Game.
IGNORANCE is SHOWN
What Would have Happened to Editor
Daniels Had He Lacked the Re-
source of His Friends o.
Peri! of Humble Suitors in
PurneIl's Court.

If there be one thing which may
preserve TO a tyrant overthrown the
rag of public respect, it is the quality
OF courage that supports and MAIN
tains the overt act. 1t takes a strong
man to play the role-and once essay
ed, it must be played to the finish.
Else doth your tyrant become
clown
The people may at once hate and
admire: they may denounce and re-
sisr and overthrow-bu sobeit that
the hand of usurpaton grasps at pow
er with fingers that clinch tightly to
their prey till DEATH there survives a.
certain nobility even in the popular
eXecrat1on of the wrong. There is
that IN human nature which makes
for an unconscious tolerance of him
Who Dravely conceiving, doth stoutly
persist in evil.
But he who with drunken impulse
would seize power he dare not de-
fend procures not the fear but the
disgust alone of honest men Him
the very stomach reSents the sight of;
and 1T is him whom, out of sight, the
people forget for the very nausea of
the memory.
Here is this Judge Of the Eastern
Dlstrlct OF North Carolina, endowed
with title of orotund sound, with an
office of honor that represents the SOW
ereignty of the greatest nation of the
World-and yet he is today contem-
tuously, nothing more than '"Tom
Purnell!" Why? For that blown. puff
ed and distorted as he has been these
six years and more with the conscious
ness OF power derived from political
chance, he sought a fight and quit!
Having attempted to force the recog-
milton of dignity foreign to his con-
stitution, he palpitates with a fear
that would seek by craven trucking
to avoid the conflict precipitated by
this act.
Remember these facts:
On Tuesday Editor Daniels was
summarily fined and imprisoned and
bail or appeal peremptorily refused
At that time this Tom Purnell had all
the presence of a puppet king.
On Thursday, when he heard that
Judge nPritchard had granted a writ
of habSas corpus, this same dictatorial
Judge reversed his own ruling and
pleading ignorance of the law---lnadc
an order granting appeal and fixing
the bail of a man under his sentence to
pay fine of two thousand dollars at
the laughablc figure of two hundred
dollarsl
Friday, in open court, the District
Attorney stated before Judge pritch-
ard that he understood Purnell's posi-
ton to be that, having confessed his
ignorance of the law and offered to
grant bail, the habeas corpus proceed
ing should therefore be dismissed.
Was ever a rogue with the goods
upon him guilty of a more fragrant
and desperate dodge than that?
And this is the man who, taking as
his motto the sorhistry that the ''i> ing
can do no wrong''--a sophjstry that
has been impaled on the pixies and
riddled with the shot and wit eff The
laws of all the Earth that knows
aught Of freedom--would punish for
'Lese Majestic!
This is The Judge whose confessed
ignorance of the law is a constant
menace to the humber suitors in his
courts, whose lack of knowledge of
the prp,liAtics of his position lead
him to insult and attempt to nullify
by trickery ;he writ Of his judicial
superior who--s pigmy fer a moment
in the arena-would pressure to draw
a feeble blade against the Freedom or
the Press!
Pahi