The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1908-06-11
Miscarriage Of Justice.
Franklin Press.

Franklin Press.
In an adjoining State some time
ago, a prominent citizen was shot
from ambush just as he was entering
the gate of his own home. If ever
there was cold-blooded murder, this
was one. The man Who did the
shooting was arrested and made a
confession, giving as a reason that
he had been hired to assassinate his
victim. The murderer was given a
fair trial and by a jury of his peers
was declared guilty OF murder in the
first degree, and the trial Judge inn
posed the death penalty. according
to law. The case was appealed to,
the supreme court of the State, and
the finding Of the lower court was up
held. The time for the execution was
fixed, and the sheriff of the county
began making preparations to per-
form his unpleasant duty. But for a
cash consideration the assassin's
lawyers got up petition to the
governor, worked up lot of SYM
pathy for the parents of their client,
and got the petition signed by
thousands Of soft hearted and soft
headed men and women OF the county.
Doubtless big majority knew at the
time they signed the petition for ex
ecutive clemency, that no man ever
deserved the death sentence any more
than this man did. Yet because OF a
feeling for his mother or father, Or
desire to be accommodating, or for
no reason at all, these people con-
spired to help the condemned mans
attorneys evade the just penalty of
the law. This man had been guilty
of most cowardly and heinous
crime, by men sworn to do their duty,
and now other men with no obliga-
tions resting on them and with a
total disregard for enforcement of
the law undo all this
1t is often the custom to blame the
miscarriage of justice on the courts,
the governor Or the pardoning board,
when the people themselves are the
ones to blame. This case and hun
| dreds of others like it, tell better than
anything else why We are numbering
more than ten thousand human
beings in this country each year, and
why this number is sure to increase
as the years go by SO long as spresent
customs are kept up.
just so long as the people continue
to interfere with the mandates of the
law by. mammoth petitions signed
for no other cause than sympathy
for some relative of the culprit, just
SO long will lawlessness continue.
We must learn that some time OF
other if human life is to be held in
any value at all, the law must be ell
forced. If we ever reach the point
when the law is to be respected, it
will be only when men who have beer
declared guilty by jury, and who
have received sentence at the hands
of just Judge who had all the facts
before him at the time, suffer the
consequences of their misdeeds.
And if there can be any eXcnse fol
lynching, this would be the one
When some terrible crime has beel
committed the people who want tC
see law and order know that it will
doubtless take months to get the
guilty party convicted in the courts
and even after that there is always a
chance that the sentence of the court
will be set aside by the executive a,
the request OF the people mentioned
above. There is only one safe plan
Except in cases where some mistak,
has been made and where an innocent
man would thus suffer, let the law
take it's course.