The Savannah morning news., 1904-10-30
HITCH ARRAIGNS
GOV. TERRELL
PUTS BLAME ON GOVERNOR.
ssWAs ENJOYING INCoGNITo GIDDY
PLEASURES OF PIKE"

dictedi L Alone Am to BE sacri-
nced."
An open letter to Gov. Joseph M
Terrell, in which the chief executive
is awaigned, and in which the States
Ooro affair is gone into at length, was
given out yesterday morning by Capt.
Robert NJ. Hitch. late commander
Company I. First Regiment, Infantry,
G. S. T.
The letter follows:
Oct. %, 1904-Hon. Joseph M. Ter
rell, Governor and COMMANDMENT
Chief, Atlanta, Ga. Sir-Now that 1
am relieved of that enforced silence
which military discipline imposed and
am at liberty to address you as a
Georgian and an American citizen, l
feel it to be duty which l owe to
the state, to the Georgia State Troops
and to myself to plainly delineate GER
tain manifestations of your character
which have been brought to public at
tention since Aug. 10 of the present
year. Before doing so, however, l have
purposely waited a reasonable time for
elaboration and reflection lest uncon-
sciously / might initiate that indecent
haste which you have lately exhibited
on occasions when the regulations of
good men were lodged in your keep
ing.
Puts Blame on Governor.
In military affairs the commanding
officer is always accountable for the
conduct of his command. For the ac-
ton of the troops at Statesboro on
Aug. is and 16 l have always an
nounced myself as willing to assume
full responsibility and have never
sought to shift the burden on any
subordinate officer or enlisted man.
And neither the people of Georgia nor
myself will allow you to escape your
full responsibility for the action of the
court-martial convened at Savannah
by your command. Under the law you
are the commander-in-chief. Under the
law the action Of that court-martial
had to be submitted to and passed up
on by you before it became effective
On you, therefore, must rest the
blame.
You have never been fond Of assum-
ing responsibility. On the contrary,
you have persistently pursued course
which always placed others between
you and possible criticism. Under the
military law you could have ordered
me to Statesboro on Aug. Is with in
structions to act Immediately under
your command and according to your
direction. Yours would then have been
the responsibility. Local feeling and
sentiment would thus have been elm
mated. Instead of taking this course
you saw fit to send me there under in
structions to report to the sheriff of
Bulloch county, who it now appears
was closely connected by marriage
with the murdered Hodges family, and
to comply with such orders as he
might give to ''act in conjunction
with the sheriff of Bulloch county,
and to take orders for duty from the
Judge presiding at the trial. In every
respect and in all respects i was made
subordinate to the civil authorities At
Statesboro.
sIn Giddy Pleasures of Pike"
After my arrival at Statesboro on
Monday, Aug. 10, you received a tele-
gram signed by three prominent citizens
of that city, who were acting as an
advisory committee to the judge, in
forming you that four more companies
of troops were needed. You replied by
stating. in substance, that two more
companies were ready at Savannah TO
answer the call of the presiding judge.
Again you evaded responsibility, in
stead of going to the scene of the trou-
BILE as did Gov. Nardaman of Missis-
Hippi, and yourself assuming direct con-
troll of the situation.
s'Then, on the same day, after hav-
and after full knowledge of the danger
Gus situation that existed at Statesboro
you abandoned your post of duty and
went to the distant city beyond the Dor
ders of your state, where neither as
sistance nor advice could be had from
you in case of need. After knowledge
of the riot and its results on Aug. II
had been brought home to YOU, instead
of Immediately returning to your posi-
of duty and taking such action as the
occasion might warrant, and thereby
guiding the current of public opinion
along proper channels, you remained
for week in st. Louis, enjoying in
cognito the giddy pleasures of "Tht
Pike"
eTo Find a scapesont."
when at length you returned to the
Capitol of your state. public clamol
was running high. An excited press
had dashed the people into a state o.
frenzy. and you and your Adjutant
Generals Office were being made the
subjects of intense criticism through
out the country.
TT, therefore. became necessary In
your eyes to find a scapegoat; some
victim must be found: some one mus
he sacrificed in order to relieve the
pressure leveled against the chief au.
thorities of the state. This need was
intensified by the fact that shortly
after the StateSboro lynching a similar
affair occurred at Cedartown. Ga, an.
other at Huntsville, Ala. another IL
Franklin county, Georgia, TO say moth
ing OF the sensational shooting affai
between whites and blacks that tool
place in Talbot county. Georgia.
IT invited you 10 convene a court o.
inquiry, assuming that under YOU
oath of office and under your duty be-
fore the law, 1 should receive fai
treatment at the hands OF such cour
as you might appoint. and that its re-
port on the facts would be carefully re-
viewed and considered by you befor,
taking further action. You at once in
Dictated the line Of action which 70,
expected to pursue by appointing a.
president of that court a retired OFF
Ger OF the state troops. who unde,
the impulse OF the hour had disquali
fed himself by expressing plainly anC
pointedly, in the Office of your Adju
tant General. his condemnation or my.
self and the troops under my command
at Statesboro.
A Military LAW LynchinE.
When a fair-minded press called
your attention 10 this officers disqual.
ification, and he himself had frankly
admitted II 70 you, YOU stated, and
were 80 quoted Ia the public prints
tnat that made no difference with
YOU. Evidently you were then form
ing plans for another lynching 70 be
nelo ~ Savannah under forms OF rnfi-
N'ATN Law and tU.r. 49, -. - n -.