The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-03-30

fact that these uneducated Southern
armers were inherent lovers Of jus
tice. that faith in trial by jury was III
bred, hat they held their oathS sa-
cred. and that they had by hearing
the charges of able judges and attend
ance upon courts learned much aDou
law. and were much better qualified
to render a righteous verdict than
some men Who could read and write
but who lacked the knowledge they
had acquired by attending courts, and
who did not have inbred, inherited,
and steadfast conviction that when
they rendered q verdict they stood I'M
der the shadow of their oaths which
were held most sacred.
The verdict has opened the eyes OF.
some Northern paDers that did not
know the difference between Ignorance
and the illiteracy Of some Southern
citizens. and when they give honor to
Tennessee for the righteous verdict
they pay tribute to the virtue aid in.
t%elligence of the Southern jurors who
never knew the light that comes from
schools, but who had the light OF a
good conscience and large information
that came from hearing. The New
York World. writing Of the verdict,
says:
New York could not convict ThaW
or Hams, but Tennessee has convicted
Colonel Cooper and his son Robin for
the murder Of former Senator. Car.
mack, and the jury imposed a sentence
Of twenty years imprisonment.
obviously the verdict OF the jury
was a compromise. in. which full con
SidpraffCn was PjVQn 70 the heat AMI
passion Of a hi. te-. political eampaign
in determining the degree Of guilt. but
the outcome of the case is city
creditable not only to Tennessee. but
come when the. North-and New York
in particuIar-cculd profitab1y devote
less time to denlOring the pness
with which human life is held in
Southern States. and moro time to
protecting the ives oc its own cici-
ems
The Philadelphia Record, the great
est paper in Pennsylvania, commenting
on the verdict. says:
Tennessee laws. regarding the COM,
position of iuries did not encourage
the country to hope for much from the.
twelve good nen and true. who have
not read a newspaper and several OF:
whom cannot read II and we're
therefore deemed sufficiently vacant
minded to try the Coopers for the
assassination of ex-senator Carmack.
Put the jury has done it's duty substan-
tally. after all. 1t was straining a
point q good deal to call the killing
murder in the second degree, but a
little p~rOvOcatiOn goes q. long way i'll
the South when q man has been killed,
and the fact that the Coopers have
been convicted and the penalty fixed
at twenty years in the penitentiarv
will do something to tone up public
opinion in that section regarding the.
value of human life and the practt e
of carrying shooting irons.''
When the Constitutions! Amend
ment was being discussed in North
Carolina the difference between litter.
acy and ignorance was ably stated,
showing that the Southern white man
though unable to write. is qualified by
heredity n environment to discharge
the duties and be faithful to the re-
sponsibilities of citizenship. Hon. H
M. Justice, now judge, in a communi-
cation to the News and Observer Of
Aug. "a, 1899, said: White men . > $
regardless of educational aualifica-
tlons, have sprung from a race accus-
toned to govern. Each one of them
was brought up in a family, and in a
social circle where love of country
love of home, pure. patriotism, the
rights and duties Of the citizen are fire.
quent topics Of conversation. where
these sentiments grow up in the minds
and hearts of the family as they grow;
where the love of order and respect
for law interweave- into the fibre of
their nature: where the worship Of the
heroes Of our institutions tends to
keep alive this love OF country: where
the good old-fashion Of naming the
children for u own great men of the
past tends to keep up the history 6f
1.-THE country. All these traditions, tn