The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1904-10-19
BANK OF BR0OKHAYEN,
BrOOkhaven, Miss.
MCLaurin AGAINST LynChine.

to a publication IN the New York
Evening Post, which speaks for
itself;
II am just in receipt Of a clip
ping said to be from the New
York Evening Post, of the 22nd,
which begins with this statement:
United States Senator McLaur-
in, of Mississippi, Yesterday tried
to defend his client "a white fiend
who last winter tortured and burn
ed negro and his innocent wife
under circumstances of unprinta-
bic atrocityl on the ground that
the burning was necessity.
II am not familiar with the
Post, but ] had regarded it as a
reputable paper. If it is SO, it is
astonishing that such statements,
or, rather, misstatements should
emanate from it. In the sentence
| have just quoted from the. clip
ping there are four rnisstatements.
/ did not try to defend my client
on the ground that the burning
was necessity (2) there was not
any evidence that my client burn
ed, or participated in the burning,
of the negroes; 81 the woman
was not the wife of the negro, but
his paramount for whom he had
abandoned his wife; az she fed
with her paramoul after the MUIR
der, and when they were arrested,
she had a shotgun and her para
mour had 44-caliber Colts pis-
tol, and she confessed that she
participated in the murder of the
negro, Albert Carr, and the white
boy, James Eastland.
i cannot yet believe that these
misstatements were wiIfully and
maliciously made by the Post, but
| do think paper of its standing
ought to make a more searching
investigation before uttering
charges. so sweeping.
AT the trial of W. G. East
land, to whom reference is made
in the clipping mentioned, a
brother of James. Eastland, the
murdered boy, Judge A. McC.
Kimbrough, a learned iurist and
impartial judge, presided; and the
State was represented by Hon.
Sam NeilI, the District Attorney,
an able prosecutor, who did every
thing that be could legally do to
develop case against the defend
ant. Many witnesses were intro
duced by the State, but not one of
them connected w. C. Eastland,
the defendant on trial, in any way,
with the lynching. So, when the
State had introduced all it's wit
nesses and rested, the attorneys
for the defendant moved the Court
for a peremptory instruction, be-
cause there was no evidence tend
ing to prove that the defendant
had anything to do with the lynch
ing, directly or indirectly. in ar
guing the motion / did not try to
defend Eastland on the ground
that the burning was a necessity,
as the clipping states, but on the
ground that there was not any ey-
idence that EastIand had anything
to do with the killing of the two
negroes who murdered his broth
err.
When / had con cIuded my sar-
gument, the District Attorney
confessed the motion for a per-
emptorv instruction, saying to
the Court that he could not ask
the jury to convict on that evil
dence, and the Court gave the in
struction. When there is not any
evidence tending to make out a
case against defendant, it is the
law and the practice for the Court
to peremptorily instruct the jury
to acquit. Domson VS.. State, 81,
Miss. 331.
I was associate counsel for the
defendant, the leading counsel be-
ing Baker & Chapman and Charles
Bryant, and, therefore, it was as
signed to me to open the argument
| for the instruction, and left to
leading counsel to close the arguz
ment. As the District Attorney
confessed the motion, there was
not any necessity for the closing
argument. 70 denounce as a
white fiend' a man against whom
there was not sufficient evidence
to 90 to a jury, is a matter of taste
that speaks for itself. 70 be sure.
lie is not as bad as the murder of
his boy brother BY negroes who
4 be had befriended, but following
that dire bereavement, it carries a
sting not expected from a cultur-
ed person.
AS the newspaper clipping
connected my name with the sub
iect of lynching, may, without
Iimmodesty, refer to the fact that
/ have been instrumental in pre-
venting, at different times, the
Ilynching of seven negroes and one
white man. One Of these in
stances was when | was a boy 10
years old. Another was the case
s,,,.,- X ~ % ~ 80, &c,