The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1905-11-29
PUBLIC SAFETY DEMANDS AN INVES-
TIGATIGN.

from Magistrate J. Fl. Keels Of
Paxville, which is intended to
explain and reply to the editorial
comments in our last issue IN the
case against Henry c. Tindal,
charged with rape in a warrant
issued by the said Magistrate.
and upon this charge the SAID
Tindal was committed to jail.
Later the defendant was released
upon bond of $500.
The Magistrate does not seem
to grasp the meaning of the COM
ments We made upon this case,
but seems to think his holding
the preliminary in the Office OF
the defendants attorney at Man
ming is the point needing an ex-
planation. We incidentally men
toned where the hearing was
held, but this was not important,
and really has nothing to do with
the case. A Magistrate il this
county has jurisdiction all over
the county and has a right to
hold his court where suits him
best, and if he was willing to
accommodate the defendants at
torney there is no objection, and
he was not criticized for that.
It is not our purpose to create
public sentiment against the
party charged; but the crime he
was originally charged with is of
a nature that we think it against
public policy to let it pass with
out a most searching scrutiny
into it, Tindal was committed
to jail by Magistrate Keels on
the charge Of rape, and it IS a
matter of discretion whether a
preliminary is granted: but in
our opinion Magistrate has no
power to reduce an offense from
one punishable with death or i'm
prisonment for life, in order that
the party charged may be admit
ted to bail. In the case of Tin
dal the only power to grant him
bail is under habeas corpus pro-
ceedings before a Circuit Judge
or a Supreme Court Judge.
The law should take its course
fully. and if the State has not
the convicting proof, giving the
defendant all reasonable doubt,
the charge should fall and Tindal
be set free. Tindal was charged
with felony the penalty is
death. The Magistrate granted
a preliminary hearing. The
place where it was held, and why
it was held there, does not mat
ter. And at this hearing, our IN
formation is, the prosecution was
not represented by a lawyer, but
the defendant was. The as
saulted child, a negress about
eleven years old, under oath
charged the defendant with the
horrible crime, and the Magis-
trate reduced the crime from an
unbailable ofense to a ballable
one, and this is what he was criti-
cised for. There is nothing in
MAGISTRATE Keels's letter going
to show that the testimony for
the State at this hearing revealed
a lesser crime, out the Magis-
trate says DR.. ". H. Reynolds
had examined the little girl and
reported that no rape had been
committed" If DR.. Reynolds
was not at the preliminary hear
ing he did not testify under oath,
where he could have been cross
examined, and must have report
ed to the Magistrate privately.
We cannot see why what DR..
Reynolds told the Magistrate pri-
vately should have been taken
into consideration in this case. or
where the private report of Dr..
Reynolds gave the Magistrate
jurisdiction to grant bail in a case
where the party charged is com.
mitted to jail for capital felony.
We do not think it safe ad-
ministration of the law to accept
a statement from a physician or
anybody else outside of court in
such cases. If a man at Paxville
was charged with murder and
man in the community was to
tell the magistrate privately,
that the man supposed to have
been killed was not dead. would
the magistrate feel warranted in
reducing the charge of murder
to assault with intent to kill, and
turn the prisoner out of jail on
bond, thus giving him a chance
to escape? Our contention is
that Magistrate Keels had no
jurisdiction in the case CT Tindal
after he was committed to jail,
and the only way Tindal could
obtain bond under the cir
cumstances, was through habeas
corpus proceedings. We have
no desire to injure Magistrate
Keels or do him the slightest IN
justice, but our regard for the
public safety is Of more moment
than the feelings of Magistrate
keels, and whenever he assumes
to turn loose upon this commun-
ity a man who is charged with
such a grave crime, and we be-
lieye he has stretched his author
ity, we feel it a duty we owe the
public to say so, and call upon