The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1907-04-25
THE GOLD LEAF
THURSDAY. APRIL p. 1907.
Too Little Value Placed on Human
Life.
Wilmington Messenger

Wilmington Messenger.
What authority to allow bail has
the coroner, in Il case where a Jury
summoned by him to investigate d
homicide finds that a certain person
did the killing but does not declare
that there were any @XtenuatlHS or
mitigating circumstances connected
with the accusation OF the accused!
Where the killing il shown to have
occurred under circumstances whlcii
indicate it to be Il case OF murder III
the first or in second degree he has
no power to do any thing more than
issue a commitment for the accused.
Does the law give him the right to
grant the accused the privilege OF ban
in such cases? Is not such prOcccd-
ing solely within the jurisdiction OF
the Judges OF the superior and OF the
supreme courts, who can determine
by q hearing OH n writ OF habeas
corpus whether it il Il bailable case
or not?
The Rcvisal OF 1908 section 1871
declares that "as many persons as
are found cuIpable' by inquisition OF
the coroner's jury "shall be taken
and delivered to the sheriff and com
mitted to jail, and the same section
provides for the coroner makinga re-
port OF his proceedings 'to the next
term Ofthe superior court Can the
coroner do anything but send to jail
or discharge?
A1,,IttinE. hat h1ra & a
law for the coroner fixing the amount
Of bail for person found by his Jury
to be culpably responsible for the
death Of another he should have re-
gard to the nature OF the homicide
and fix the bond in a sum III keeping
with the character OF the offense.
That being so, does it not strike our
readers that twenty-five hundred dol
lars is a very small bond to require
in n case where the victim was shot
down without prOvOcatiOn; in fact,
while acting in the capacity OF n peace
maker? We feel sure that most per-
sons who heard the evidence before
the corOner's Jury in this city last
Friday or who read it in the papers
yesterday, were surprised to learn
that bail had been fixed for the per-
son charged with that crime at the
astounding low figure Of twenty-five
hundred dollars.
Too little value is Put on life by our
people. Homicide is not regarded
with the horror that it should be.
Men with little prOvOcatiOn or with
none ut all shoot down a fellOWman.
The deed creates a slight sensation
for a day; the man is brought to trial
after the case cannot any longer be
continued and the defendant is ac-
quilted or allowed to submit to IL
grade Of homicide much below the
one the facts in the case show it to
be and light punishmentis imposed.
Ism it self evident that this placing
Of small value on life by officials has
tendency to in"rensn the disregard
fOrlife among the people? When the
states officers by their official acts
show that they help to make life
more unsafe and they are in a
measure responsible for the feeling
which has gained such foOthOld
among large class OIL men that they
have the right to take the law OF
life and death into their own hands,
the right to draw the ever handy
pistol and shoot to avenge Il wrong
Oran imaginary one
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