The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1909-05-28
SHERIFF Ship IS
HELD IN CONTEMPT
BY SUPREME COURT
NOTED CHATTANOOGA CASE IS
DECIDED ADVERSELY TO THE
DEFENDANTS.
ATTACHMENT ORDER ISSgED
Justices White and McKenna Declare
"Not the Slightest Testimony TO
Support the Charge Against shipp."
History Of the Case.


Ship. sheri1 of Hamilton county,
Tenn, and nine others were Monday
declared in contempt OF the supreme
court. The decision grew out Of the
lynching during March, 1905, Of the
negro Ed johnson at Chattanooga,
who was then in custody of the Ham
ilton county sheriff while his case was
being passed upon by the supreme
court.
Chief Justice Fuller read 4e opin-
ion OF the court dissenting opin-
ion was delivered by Justice Peckham
and was concurred in by Justices Nc
Kenna and White. It declared that
there was not the slightest testimo-
ny to support the charges against
Ship"
An attachment was ordered issued
for Sheriff Ship, his deputy, Gibson,
and defendants Williams, Nolan, Pad
gett, and May. Deputy Sheriff Gallo
way and Justice and Ward, three de-
PENDANTS, were dismissed.
The punishment to be inflicted upon
the men found guilty will later be de-
cided by the court.
Justice Peckham in his dissenting
opinion described Mr.. Ship as "an
invalid old man, who had been held
to a degree of responsibility far be-
yond any reasonable limit, also held
that the testimony against Deputy
Gibson, who was the jailor, was insult
ficient to convict him for contempt.
Justices White and McKenna concur
red in the dissenting opinion.
The charge of contempt against
Sheriff Shipp and his co-defendants
was due to the fact that when john
son was lynched he was constructive
" in the custody Of the court. Only
a month before the negro had been
found guilty of the crime OF rape and
had been sentenced to death. The SUI
preme court had taken cognizance OF
the case by granting an appeal from
a decision OF the United States Cir
cult court denying him writ OF ha-
beas corpus, which effected stay OF
proceedings in the convict's case. The
appeal was allowed March 10, and that
night johnson was taken out OF jail
at Chattanooga and hanged. This &C.
ton was strongly resented by the
court and immediate complaint was
made to President Roosevelt, who or
dered an investigation by the Depart
ment of Justice That investigation
resulted in the filing in the court by
the attorney-general in May 1905, OF
an information" in which Ship and
nine of his deputies and seventeen
other persons were charged with COM
plicity in the lynching. Shipp and
some of his subordinates by absent
ing themselves from the jail on the
night of the tragedy, and the others
by actual participation in 1t.
The case aroused much interest In
the south because not only of the ex-
ceptional character of the proceedings
but because of the popularity of Mr..
Shipp and the result of Johnson
crime. Justice Harlan exercised es-
pecial activity in bringing the lynch
ing to the attention of the authorities.
He had been the first member OF the
court to take notice of the offense and
he seemed to most keenly feel the in
dignity to the court implied by the
lynching. Deputy Clerk Maher of the
court was sent to Chattanooga as
commissioner to investigate and take
testimony. The investigation failed to
connect with the crime seventeen OF
the men implicated and the cases
against them were dismissed at the
beginning of the present term.
The Chief Justice presented a COM
plete review of the Johnson case. He
concluded that neither Ship nor his
deputy, Gibson, had made any effort
to prevent the removal of Johnson
from the Jail, to prevent his killing al
ter he was taken out, nor to discover
the participants in the lynching after
1t took place.
History Of the Crime.
About 1880 or 500 O'Clock on the
night of January 10, Miss Nevada Tay-
lor, daughter of Mr.. and Mrs William
TAYLOR, who reside near Oak Hill Gem.
etery. in st. Elmo, was criminally as
saulted by negro. The young lady
was returning to her home from the
city, where she was employed.
The following day Ed Johnson,
negro. was arrested on strong circum-
stantial evidence He was taken to
Nashville by Sheriff Ship for safe
keeping, and two days later Miss Tay'