The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21
WAS THELYNCHING CONTEMPT?
INTEREST IN TENNESSEE CASE
IN THE SUPREME COURT.
DimcultIes In Connecting Accused Citizens
Of Chattanooga with the LynchIng %
Ed johnson, who was n Protection
OF the United States supreme Court.

Of Chattanooga with the Lynchlng OF
I'd johnson, who was Under Protection
OF the United States supreme Court.
WASHINGTON, Oct. N.-Great interest is
manifested in the proceedings before the
United States Supreme Court against
Sheriff Ship, his deputies and certain citi-
Gems Of Hamilton county, Tenn, for CON-
tempt Of court in permitting or taking part
in the lynching Of Ed johnson, a negro con-
victed at Chattanooga Of assault on a
woman. At the time Of the lynChing John
son was under the protection Of the court
through the issuance Of a writ OF error to
review the denial Of a writ OF habeas corpus
by the United States Court for the Eastern
district OF Tennessee.
No similar proceedings have ever been
brought before and the t~echnioalities that
will be raised will be passed upon without
any precedent to guide. No n doubts
the power OF the court to inniCt any rea-
sonable punishment for the afront to its
dignity, but the ability to furnish absolute
proof that the persons named in the informa-
ton fled by Attorney-General Moody
knowingly committed the crime is looked
upon as another matter entirely.
The attitude Of some Chattanooga people
toward the inquiry into the identity Of the
lynchers is said to be sucn that u person
who testified against the accused might be
ostracised and perhaps meet physical vio-
lence. 1t was this condition that induced
Johnson's attorneys, two colored men, to
give up their residence in Chattanooga and
start again in business in other cities
An idea Of the power OF this public opin-
ion is given by the answers filed by seven-
teen Of the eighteen men who are charged
with taking part in the lynching Of johnson.
Paul Pool, the eighteenth man, evaded
service of the subpoena by taking himself
OF to Mexico, out OF reach OF the marshal.
The names Of the accused men were placed
IN the list by the Department Of Justice
after an investigation by Secret Service
officers that lasted several weeks, and il is
safe to say that the detectives were reason
ably sure that the eighteen we're members
Of the mob that stormed the Chattanooga
jail last March and took Johnson to a rail-
road bridge and lynched him. Yet, accord
ing to the statements made under oath by
all except Pool, not one Of them took any
part whatever in the %lynching. only two Of
them even saw II, and none Of the others
knew Of it until it was all over, five Of them
not until the nekt morning, when they read
an account OF it in the newspapers. Three
Of them present alibis.
The Government, therefore, will probably
have a difficult task in bringing out any
testimony that would justify the court in
furnishing the seventeen men for participa-
ton in the lynching or in proving that
Sheriff Shipp and his eight deputies were
dereiict in their duty Of protecting their
prisoner and sympathized with the mob.
This is considered by lawyers here as the
weak point in the case.
Another difficulty is the question whether
the mob. having received no official notice
of the action Of the court In granting a
writ Of error in Johnson's case, which
acted as a stay of his execution, can he
adjudged in contempt Of court. This
point il raised in nearly every one Of the
30 answers, the declaration being
made that none OF the respondents ever
heard Of the courts order until after the
lynohing.
The question then arises whether IL will
he necessary to prove that the accused
knew of the order, and II so, how that can
he done, or whether it will be sufficient
to bring out the fact, which every one
undoubtedly knew, that the direct cause
Of the lynching was the action OF the court
Sheriff Shipp and his deputies cannot
avail themselves Of thisp plea, for the Sheriff
was notified by the clerk Of the Supreme
Court by telegraph that the court had
granted the writ oferror and he undoubtedly
knew that johnson was under the pro-
lection OF the Federal Court. His principal
defence in that the Supreme Court was
without Jurisdiction in the johnson cese,
because ne had not exhausted his remedies
in the Tennessee State courts.
The assertion il also mad that the lynch
ing itself was a crime committed In a State
and against a state only, and that accord
ingly the Supreme Court had nc juris-
diction over it. Sheriff Ship and his
deputies and the eighteen citizens, how
ever, are not on trial for the lynching,
but for contempt OF court in connection
with il, the lynching being but an incident
thereto.
Further proceedings in the case will be
suspended until the Department Of Justice
decides on the course to be taken.