The semi-weekly messenger., 1907-08-27
WILMINGTON. N. c.
TUESDAY, AUGUST n. 1907.
sHornD HE BE PARDONED?

Our readers remember the lynchlng |
of the negroes for the murder OF the
Lyerly family in Rowan county. Iney |
renemher that after the accused had |
been arrested and while in jail IN Sal
isbury awaiting trial at speclal terln
of Rowan superior court, ordered oy
Governor Glenn for giving the de1eno-
ants a speedy trial, the jail was orok-
.,, into nv a mob and several of the
accused were lynched. There had peen
no delay of justice Or postponement OF
tho trial of these cases. Governor
Glenn acted with commemorate
promptness in ordering special term
of court to try the defendants. Ine
court was held and one man, who hao
taken prominent part in the lynching
and who, newspaper report says, poast-
ed a great deal of his participation IN
the unlawful conduct of the mob, was
brought to trial, convicted and SEN
fenced to fifteen years imprisonment
IN the penitentiary. We understand that
a petition is being circulated in Rowan
county asking the governor to grant
him 2 nardon. He has served, we be-
lieve, about one year OF his sentence.
We are told that indications are that
his petition for pardon will be numer-
ously signed. Now the question IS:
Should the governor grant the pardon!
After the judge who tried the case
and heard all the evidence had decided
that this man had committed an Of
fense for which fifteen years imprls-
onment in the penitentiary was mlld
enough punishment-and he was not
Jeffreys either-should the governor re-
verse the finding of that judge and
declare that the latter had imposed
fine fifteen times too severe? That Is
the question Who knows best what
punishment the convicted man de-
served, the judge who tried the case,
who was on the spot and heard all the
evidence, or the governor who acts up
on a statement of facts presented to
him by the friends of the prisoner?
We know the governor will not act
hastily on that petition when it comes
before him. He will not be governed
by sentiment or allow his feelings OF
compassion for humanity when in mis-
fortune to sway his Judgment No mat
ter how hard it may be for him to re-
fuse this mans petition if he feels that
it is his duty to make such refusal we
feel sure that he will do so.
In passing on this case the governor
should take into consideration the fact
that in the last few years
there have been several outrageous
violations of the law by mobs in this
state in which life has been taken and
the violators of the law have gone un-
punished. He should remember that
many persons claim that the frequent
appeal to lynch law is because the men
who commit capital felonies are not
punished by the representatives OF the
law of the state. He has placed him.
self on record-as he very properly did
AS strongly advocating and as chief
executive of the state insisting on the
punishment of men who take the law
into their own hands and inf1ict the
death penalty on violators of the law
The governor has won for himself an
enviable reputation for the bold and
vigorous manner in which he tried tc
have brought to justice the guilty par
ties in the lynching cases in Rowan ane
Anson counties. We hope he will con
tinue his advocacy of the maintenance
of the law and will let the judgmen
of the court be carried out in the case
of the Rowan man who has been CON
victed of participating in the 1ynchins
of negroes in the Lyerly case unless CIT,
cumstances has arisen since the tria
which in his judgement call for the ex-
ercise of executive clemency, The fact
that in these two lynching cases only
one man has been convicted does not