Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-04-25
The Bill Spaugh Case.

ItOAu 81. LUIS iOuS-DtI1OCfd
WASHINGTON, April 23.-Just as
the argument of the case of VIM.
Spaugh, Jr., before the supreme
court was concluded this afternoon
by N. 7. Gentry, Assistant Attor-
ney General of Missouri, a postal
card communication of a remark
able and somewhat sensational
character was received by the clerk
of the court, who later turned it
over to Chief Justice Fuller. The
card was closely written, and the
writer, who signed himself "Rev.
P. B. O'Laughlin," gave the
justices of the supreme court so me
advise as to their course in the
Spaugh case. 1t was addressed to
the 'tJudge or Judges hearing Will
liam Spaugh case, Supreme Court,
Washington, D. c."
Neither Mr.. Gentry nor Spaugh IS
attorneys knows the writer or any
thing about him. The card is
dated from Rolla. Mo-, and the
writer says that the information
he conveys was given him by the
people of Salem, Dent county.
just how the people either of Dent
or Phelps county get into this case,
which concerns Iron and Reynolds
counties, is beyond understanding.
The remarkable communication
follows:
RoLLA, Mo-, April 20, Ioo7.-Hon. Sirs:
Having been called in a spiritual capacity to
see William Spaugh, Jr,, and without inter
est in his temporal affairs, it has been borne
in on me by the unanimous opinion of citi-
Gems of Salem, Mo-, and by the facts in the
case, that if said William Spaugh be ex-
ecuted it will be a legal murder, and as
criminal as if the mob had had its way.
(a) The sheriff shot brought his death on
himself by his unitncss for his office and his
drinking.
(b) The brother now serving a life sent
ence did the shooting, and it was no more
than manslaughter-William did not shoot.
(c) The trials of both were m~isconducted
in every way amid a wild clamor for blood
by a political coterie of which judges and
lawyers of both sides were members. 1t
was all spite and revenge. The sheriff
s%ummoning the Jury was a cousin of the one
killed. Half the jury in Williams case had
expressed themselves in advance as going to
hang him. Change of venue was not al
lowed outside of the wildly excited ring dis
trict. New trial was unfairly refused, law
yer for defense spirited away and made
drunk, and all wrong from first to last. If
you order new trial he would not get more
than manslaughter in lowest degree.
(Signed) REV. B. P. O'LAUGHLIN.
Speaking sentiments of thousands.)
In the case of Spaugh, Attorney
Charles Wilson of this city, who
represents Spaugh, announced that
he did not care to make any oral
argument, but would submit the
case on the printed brief which
had been prepared by the Missouri
attorneys for Spaugh.
N. T. Gentry, Assistant Attorney
General, filed his printed brief and
reviewed the evidence and pro-
ceedings in the circuit courts of
Iron and Reynolds counties, and
insisted that everything was done
to give the Spaugh brothers, as
we'll as their mother, a fair and inn
partial trial. He also reviewed the
opinion of the supreme court of
Missouri, showing that the charge
of misconduct on the part of the
jury, of misconduct on the part of
the sheriff and his deputy and the
alleged prejudice of one of the
jurors were questions of fact pre-
sented to the circuit court and
afterward to the supreme court,
and that they had been decided
adversely to the petitioner, and
that there was ample evidence to
refute every one of the charges.
Mr.. Gentry also insisted that, in
a collateral proceeding such as
this one, the supreme court cannot
review the weight of evidence, al
though there is abundant evidence
in this record to show that William
Spaugh, Jr., and his brother were
guilty of willful and deliberate
murder.
AS to the prosecution of the de-
PENDANT by al information, which
had been attacked by Spaugh's
attorneys, Mr.. Gentry cited Cali
fornia case and a Wisconsin case,
which held that the people of each
State have a right by their consti-
tuition or by a constitutional
amendment to change the form of
criminal procedure and provide for
a prosecution by an information,
instead of a prosecution by an in
dictment. A decision may be an
nounced next Monday.