The weekly true Democrat. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1905-1912, 1906-01-26
COUNCIL Am REAL EAcrs.

AAAgVN auu CNHttAA bnOutu % Ire1gcO
with equal feAfieasness by men worthy
to hold public Office. One of the quail
ties most admirable in the President Is
his courage alike before the votes of
labor and the dollars Of the millionaire.
Justice is an officials highest duty,
whether to pauper or trust magnate.
Some criticism has been made of late on
Governor Folk Of Missouri for his COM
mutation to imprisonment for life of
tho death sentence passed upon one
Bailey for numbering a "scab, and at
least one brilliant newspaper, which is
always the organ of capital, contrasts
Mr. Folks action unfavoaably with that
Of Governor Hoch of Kansas, who re-
fused to pardon a man condemned to
six months imprisonment for injury to
"scab." Such criticism shows how
far habitual bias may go. The Hoch
case is one of short imprisonment upon
unquestioned facts What resemblance
has such a case to that of a man SEN
fenced to death on testimony which
later was admitted to have been per-
jured? Mr.. Folk we take to be a brave
man, and his own conclusions on the
case must appeal to the unbiased mind.
II believe" he says, that a labor
union man should be punished for his
crimes just like anybody else, but / do
not think it right to hang man merely
because he is a union man, irrespective
of the facts. To have yielded to the
demands of those who fiendishly clam
ored for the mans life when the evil
dence did not, in my opinion, show that
re deserved death, would have been in
human; to have allowed them to duench
their thirst for his blood, in order to
crafty their wish for an example to be
held up to terrorize labor organizations,
would have been cowardly. think a
laboring man is entitled to the same
rights before the law as anyone else
no more and no less. If this man had
not been a labor union man there would
have beenno one demanding the forfeit
of his life, and there would have been
no criticisms, attacks, and misrepre-
sentationOf motives because he was not
hanged"
AS much has been made of the Bailey
case by the extreme enemies of union
laber, it is important, in order that JUS
tice be done to Mr.. Folk, that the facts
be understood The Federation of La
Dor did not, as has been charged, make
any appeal to the governor in his be-
half, or utter any threat that ever
reached his ears. Citizens pleaded for
the condemned mans life-some of them
belonging to unions, some opposed to
union labor. Representatives of pow
erful organizations of capital asked for
Bailey's death as a warning to future
strikers Bailey, two other men, and a
woman of the town, during a hack
drivers strike in Kansas City, took a
ride in a carriage. When they reached
their destination a dispute arose be-
tween the driver and the passengers,
with the result that Ferguson, the driver
of the carriage, was killed. The only
substantial testimony against Bailey
was the dying declaration of Ferguson
and the evidence of the woman. The
case was tried at time of popular ex.
element, and was bitterly prosecuted
by the Employers Association through
attorneys employed by them. There
was a verdict of murder in the first de-
gree. Afterward it was learned that
Ferguson, instead of being a peaceable
and good citizen, as appeared at the
trial, was an ex-convict and wanton des-
perado. The woman, whose testimony
to planned murder principally convicted
Bailey, admitted in the presence of a
dozen trustworthy witnesses that she
had lied! OF the eleven surviving ju- 4
rors, all, on learning these facts, begged
for communication Likewise did the
prosecuting attorney. On such facts it
is that few hardy friends of capital
say that Folk was afraid to execute the
law.
Chas. G. Myers, general agent for
Northern Florida, is regarded as one of
the most capable life insurance men in
the South. Since taking hold for Secu-
rity Mutual Life Insurance Company
our business in his territory has grown
steadily and his agency bids fair to rank
second to none. Notice is hereby given
our representatives in other States to