The leader., 1905-09-16

4
en- book before the people Of my
county, and / fear no indictment
by the white caps nor anyone else
lon the truth. z
What The Leader said on this
point was this:
Mr.. McGehee's sudden flop on
the subject Of WHITECAP P
PROSECUTIONS, to which the
Advocate SO pointedly refers, has
been the subject of no little sur
prise and comment. His conyer-
sion, only a little less sudden than
that Of Saul of Tarsus, seems to
have taken place last spring about
the time the Franklin white caps
were threatening to bring certain
prosecutions against him and his
brother in both the Federal and
State courts. .
It is well known to both white
caps and law and order men that
up to the meeting of the last term
of the q. s. court at jackson, Mr..
McGehee was understood to favor
the prosecution of whitecappers in
both the Franklin and Federal
courts. It is also we'll known
that just before the Federal court
met, members of the white cap
organization, in a retaliatory spill :
it on account of their reputed op
position to them, were threaten
ing to indict Mr.. McGehee in the
Franklin court for a certain al
legged crime, and a brother of his
in the U. S. Court for another al
legged violation Of the law. Mr..
McGehee himself and the white
cappers know this perfectly well,
but we will not state what these
alleged offenses were, unless he
requests US to do SO. Before the
Federal court adjourned Mr.. Nc
Gehee turned up as a witness for
the defense in an attempt to prove
that the grand jury which return
ed the last white cap indictments
had been improperly influenced
an attempt however, which fell to
the ground.
This and the course of Mr.. Nc
Gehee since, naturally led those
familiar with the facts and cir
cumstances, to infer that the
white cap threats had had the de-
sired effect, though, SO far as we
know, no one has vouched for
such a statement.
Mr.. McGekee may we'll say he
fears no Indictment by the white
caps nor any one else-on the
truth. " This last saving clause
is well put. We believe he
means this broad challenge in per-
feet good faith and that he has
nothing to fear from the truth in
any threatened prosecution; but
according to our knowledge of
the whitecap reverence Of truth,
if they had actually set about try
ing to 1ndict him, it wasn't the
truth he need to have feared, if
he feared at all. Their very oath
commits the truly loyal white cap
per to perjury in the courts, and
well we know how faithfully most
of them keep it. Under the same
influences and manipulation as the
grand jury of Franklin county
which indicted two citizens of
Lincoln county for white Gaping
and ignored their own home
crowd, because these two men had
incurred the white cappers' Ill
will, it would have been no trouble
to carry out their threat and In
dict Mr.. McGehee, guilty or inno-
cent.
The gist of Mr.. McGehee's po-
|sition, as we understand it from
the above letter as a whole, and
we have done our best to interpret
it correctly is about this: He
is bitterly opposed to white cap
ping" but equally ayerse to pros
|ecuting the white cappers, be-
cause, as he claims, and no doubt
correctly, that some men. have
been indicted by the U. S. grand
jury who are innocent; also, be-
cause of what was told to him BY
''one of The chief prosecutors, .
Mr.. McGehee being utterly le-
gardless, seemingly, Of whether
any Of the twelve referred to are
guilty of what they are charged
with or not.
We are not going into any spe-
ciic discussion Of Che testimony,
TO which Mr.. McGehee refers.
There are important reasons
affecting the public and the good
citizens Of Franklin county, as
well as some Of the witnesses
themselves, why this should not
- - &tsr ks.>- ne