Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-11-26

publish the following communication:
N. A. NJ
MARIETTA, Ga, Nov % 1909.
Gov. Joseph NJ. Brown, Atlanta, Ga.
Dear Sir: On Friday of last week. ne
gro by the name of ]. B. Kellogg was
hanged in Cherokee county for the homi-
eide of one j. c. Landers, a white man.
| This negro was tried before me as judge
of this circuit in September of this year;
he had no money to employ counsel, and
1 appointed two attorneys of the Canton
bar to defend him; after a trial lasting
a few hours, the jury returned a verdict
of guilty, without a recommendation to
mercy, and, there being no discretion
vested IN me as judge under the law to do
otherwise, sentenced the negro 70 hang.
| The attorneys appointed to defend the
J accused did not see proper to make a
/ motion for new trial, but one OF them
made a strong effort before the prison
] commission to have his sentence COM
muted to life Imprisonment; the other at
torney was stricken with typhoid fever
| shortly after the trial and confined to his
bed for several weeks.
All of the witnesses against the accused
were negroes, and those that gave the
most damaging testimony were in the
employ of very prominent white citi-
| zen Of Cherokee county, who, at a time
previous to this, had himself had some
trouble with the accused and who took
a very active interest in the prosecution
of the defendant at this trial.
NOT GUILTY OF HANGING CRIME.
1 heard the evidence against this ne
gro patiently and impartially; after care
| fully weighing and considering all the
evidence, the statement of the accused,
and the surrounding circumstances, in
| GLIDING the interest or want of interest of
the different witnesses, and applying the
| facts as were demonstrated at the trial
1 to the law applicable to the crime of
murder, I stated Immediately after the
trial, and 1 state now, that this negro,
Kellogg, was not guilty of a hanging
crime under the law.
Feeling this way about the matter.
and in an effort to conscientiously dis
charge the duties of the position 1 occupy.
voluntarily addressed a letter to tho
honorable prison commission of this state
earnestly recommending that the SEN
tence of Kellogg be committed to life i'm
prisOnment l stated in this letter that
careful examination of the record in
the case would demonstrate the fact that
this negro should not be executed"
l do not believe there is a judge of
the superior court in this state that
could have tried the defendant under the
same facts without arriving at the same
conclusion, and I do not believe the SUI
preme court would have permitted the
verdict to stand, if the case had been
carried there on a writ of error.
Mr.. W. H. Landers, a good citizen of
this county, a brother of the deceased,
and my personal friend, employed coun
sci to prosecute Kellogg, and was present
at the trial himself. He stated to me sub
sequent to the trial that he did not be-
lieve the negro ought to be hanged, but
should be given life Imprisonment.
believe the jury in this case did what
they thought was right, and returned a
verdict according to the way they under
stood the law and the facts, but juries
are Just like the rest of us-they are not
immune from making mistakes. I have
had IL years experience as an attorney
and one year as judge of this circuit,
and I feel that I should be as capable
of judging matters of this kind as the
average juror whose business is not that
of studying law and differentiating legal
propositions.
SAYS GOVERNOR UNDERSTOOD SEN.
TIMENT.
1 know there was a strong public senti-
ment around Canton in favor Of hanging !
this negro. and 1t is clear to my mind
that YOU discovered this fact; but this |
sentiment largely grew out Of the fact
that this negro had previously had some F.,
trouble with another negro, and one or
TWO WnlIe men lNdl were yOuT SlIOhB pO- |
litical FRIENDSHIP had previously been |
tried and served few months in tho |
chain gang for this trouble.
In passing the order declining execu. |
tive clemency, you state in part as fol- /
lows: IT believe that as the will of the |
people expressed at the ballot box must |
be obeyed, so the viii Of the people de- |
termined under oath in the jury box mus |
be protected. Furthermore, 1t is not in |
|, nj
the inhabitants OF this state shall make /
OF II a walking arsenal; on the contrary /
all who conduct themselves peaceably |
must be assured immunity from harm
etc 81"
In passing this order, you have dem
onstrated that you either failed to read /
the record OF the case so as to familiarize
yourself with the facts as given under
oath at the trial. or else you willfully I'M
dertook to deceive the public as to the
real facts, and have played politics at the
expense of human life. Was the deceas-
ed, Landers, conducting himself peace
ably?" The uncontradicted sworn evil
dence on the part of the state, as appears
Of record, shows that he left his wife and
family at home, and went on Saturday
night to a near-beer saloon about one
mile distant, engaged in a beer drinking
with the accused, a negro; he asked this
negro to drink with him, and paid for
the, drinks, and the accused and the de-
ceased and about a dozen negroes went
into a secluded place In the woods some
distance from the public highway, and
engaged I'm a gambling game, "crap
shooting"
The deceased was the self-appointed
umpire of the game; along about mid
night, the accused got into a dispute with
him about one of his decisions; Landers
told kellogg two or three times che didn't
want to have to hurt him." they were on
their knees on the ground; kellogg told
him Ito hurt both up; Kellogg in
stantly fired his pistol at Landers one
time, and ran; he insisted that Landers
threw his hand to his hip pocket in an
effort to shoot him, and he fired, thinking
ii necessary to save his own life 1t was
insisted on the part of the state that
Landers never put his hand to his hip
pocket in an effort to shoot Kellogg; that
he had no pistol, and got up for the pur-
pose Of leaving the game. Landers was
the only white man present.
Is this conduct on the part Of Landers
what you term "a citizen conducting him
self peaceably?'
PERTINENT QUESTIONS.
|