Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-08-01
sPAUGH'S CONSULTATION.

that printed on the first page OF
this paper, to which is subscribed
the name of "Joseph w. Folk,
Governor" Remarkable for its
special pleading; for its apparent
ly d~iscrediting all the leading tes-
timony in the case except that
given by the murderers; and re-
markable again for its peculiar
statement of the "alleged" facts.
The murder of John w. Polk was
as barbarous and devilish as the
State has ever known; it was un-
provoked and brutal; it was
peculiarly a crime against society,
without an alleviating attendant
circumstance. Let me reproduce
the facts 1.-THE Governor may call
them "alleged" facts since they
condemn the murderers) as they
were sworn to before the coroner
and afterwards sustained before
the trial court:
According to young Browns
testimony, VIM. Spaugh, when he
saw the sheriff coming, said,
There he comes after me now, but
l don't know whether I'll let him
take me or not And Arthur
Spaugh got up and went into the
house. The sheriff said, at the
gate, 4 want to see you Have
you a warrant for me?' answered
Spaugh. 1T doesn't matter wheth-
er / have or not was the reply, Il
want to see YOU Spaugh made
no response, but he too, arose and
went into the kitchen. Thereupon
MI. Polk went through the gate
and stepped upon the porch. He
started into the kitchen and step
ped across the threshold when four
or five shots rang out and he fell
to the floor with three wounds,
either of which would have caused
his death. One charge, from a
shotgun heavily loaded, entered
his left side under the arm, making
an opening into which one might
thrust his hand, and from which
was taken the wadding of the
cartridge and the buckle OF the
suspender worn by the victim. A
ball from a Winchester or large
revolver entered about three inches
below the right shoulder blade.
passed through the heart and
lungs, and lodged two inches be-
low the left nipple. Another ball
of the same size crashed through
the head entering two inches above
the right ear, and, passing directly
through the brain, lodged against
the skull on the opposite side.
Evidently all the shots were fired
almost simultaneously, before the
body fell to the floor, and were
discharged from opposite sides.
Another wound, evidently made
with a sharp instrument and dealt
as he lay prone upon the floor.
laid open his scalp from the base
of the skull upward for three
inohes."
1t is hardly possible to conceive
of the devilish malice and brutal
hatred that inflicted this wound
upon the dead. A butcher-knife
ground to the fineness of a razor's
edge, with the handle newly warm
ished, was found in the search that
succeeded, and it is thought thai
this instrument was used to intlict
the cut.
The Governor admits that there
are cases wherein the extreme
penalty Of the law must be in
flicted for the protection of society
If this be not such a case will ht
please formulate one for the future
guidance of judges and %juries, al
we'll as for his successors in the
Executive chair? Not everyone
has the fine subtlety to properly
discriminate between the crime
that merely deprives a law-abid'
ing citizen of his life and the &C.
centuated act that reflects upon o
is a menace to "society." We arr
too apt to take the law at its wore
and harshly execute its mandates
and thereby inflict grievous wrong
But when one high in position
whose every cry is ''enforce tht
law! Good or bad, enforce thu
law!"-when such an one define
for us the manner and degree o
it's enforcement. naught is left to u
except to bow in meek submission
Recently in an attempted out
break from the penitentiary a
Jefferson City, two guards wer'
killed by the prisoners seeking
liberty. Within six months thre'
of the offenders were tried ant
convicted and sentenced to hang
but the Supreme Court gave then
a reversal and their cases had t.
be retired. Again conviction re
suited, and execution FOLLOWED
close upon it's heels. Where wa
our anti-murder-by-t State PAL
don attorney then? And GU
respiting, committing Governor
Where we're his tender suscepti
bilities? Again-and this cas-
was as like that of Spaugh's as on
black-eyed pea is to another
where were these official stand
betweens when Rudolph and Col
Inns were murdered by the State
They had killed a Pinkerton de
tective seeking to arrest them be
cause of another crime they ha'
committed-just as Sheriff Pol
was killed in attempting to per
form a similar duty-a duty t
which he was bound by oath, b,
faith and manhood. The reader
from these instances, will see hoy
impossible it is for the common
everyday citizen to differentiat
lin the subtleties of crime AM