Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-04-14
the reporter. Both were drunk and
liable to make mistakes.

ting a crime because he was drunk!
We can all say no. We Judge of a
mans intention by what he does. Does
his being drunk change the rule? 1t
never has till now. Why did they all
dispense SO quickly when they knew
their friend was dangerously hurt?
Why did they not go to the 10-cent
shows as they had planned, and take
another social drink before retiring?
The one who did the killing slipped
hastily off to his room and went to
| bed. The one whose knife did the cut
ting got quickly to his room, and went
to bed, but first hid the knife. Why
did he hide the knife? Why did the
company all get away so soon before
other help could get there? 1t seems
that their ardent friendship was of a
fleeting kinda kind that gets drunk
and murders-no, that is not the word
| -kills-no-he was cut" and he
died" the account tells us. That
| was all, and it was unfortunate" A
friendly cut. Yes, the cut of friend.
He was cut" and he died" and it
was unfortunate" Is not the man
| who kills a friend without excuse
dangerous man? The published ac-
count hardly admits it. unfortunate"
is the word. Apply it to both sides,
and let it go at that. He was cut"
and he died." and it was "unfortu-
nate"
| They We're railway men-yes train
| men, engineers, firemen and brakemen
six of them, Iowa Central trainmen,
all drunk. OF course the trains must
run. The public can not be held to
wait for the engineer and fireman and
brakeman to get sober. So they pull out
the train on time. The reporter is on
the train. He has no thought Of dan
ger The trainmen are good fellows
Do they make mistake? 1t just hap
pens so. They were drunk and did not
really know what they did They did
no intentional wrong, so they cannot be
blamed for the collision that happened.
| The reporter and others are killed.
many hurt; unfortunate! But another
reporter will take his place. He will
not be missed by the public very long.
| The activities of the world will keep
! things moving right along much the
same. The woman whose husband
and baby were killed, of course will
| grieve some, and the little boy whose
parents were killed will be out of
| home for time. The engineer and
| fireman will be missed when their sa-
| loon crowd gets together again, they
will take an extra friendly drink to
their MISUNDERSTANDING Their
crushed forms have been laid away
Sympathy goes out to their families in
empty words. The new reporter dis
courses about the dangerous duties OF
/ All ivy, q Ia
their places, and the trains go right
along. Why call to mind the mistakes
Of the unfortunate or inquire into their
cause? Where are we, and In what
direction are we drifting? How long
must it continue and who are to
blame? VIM. BATIlN.
[Judge Battin Is justifiably indignant
that lot Of DRINKS should scuffle
around with open jacknives and kill
one of their number. The performance
was the most inexcusable accident Inn
aginable and the man or men respon-
sible ought to be punished for the kill
ing. 1t is presumed that the prosecut-
| ing officers of the state will do what
they can to bring the deserved pun
ishment but Judge Battin makes the
mistake Of assuming that it is the
province Of newspaper reporter to
| try and prosecute a case of this kind
| in the news columns Of the paper. The
instructions under which city editors
and all news gatherers are working
when in the employ Of the Times Re-
publican are to tell the story just as
near to the uncolored facts as can be
done. With the reporters pen picture
| of the event in print, in as much ex-
actness as is possible the editorial de-
partment is free to lead off in forming
opinion. In this case the facts seemed
to be that there was no anger, no mo-
tive to kill, no attempt to injure. The
drunken men were scuffling and a fatal
accident resulted The reporters
headline told Of friend killing friend,
which was the peculiar nature of this
killing Judge Battin and everybody
else knows that courts do accept evil
dence as to drunkenness in determin-
ing motives. 1t could not have been
called wilful. premeditated, or pro-
voked killing under the circumstances,
altho it might have been called a GRIM
inal accident. If the facts are wrong,
the reporter should be censured. II
they were as reported, then Judge
Battin, in his indignation at the con-
duct Of drunken men who kill one an
other so inexcusably has done the
newspaper and its reporter an injury
for which he ought to apologize.-Ed.l