The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-11-24
MAKE HEROES OF THEM
THE SUPREME COURT TAKES
UNPRECEDENTED ACTION.
Imprison an Ex-Sherif and Others
for Allowing q Prisoner in Their
Custody to be Lynched.

For the first time In American
history, six men are In prison for
contempt Of the Supreme Court of
the United States. For the first time,
900, the Federal Government has
placed men behind the bars as an
outcome Of the lynching Of a negro.
At the United States Jail in Wash
lngton, Capt. Joseph F. Ship, form
er sheriff at Chattanooga, Tenn; Jer-
emiah Gibson. his jailer. and Luther
Williams, Nick Nolan, Henry Padg-
EFT and VIM Maycs. OF the same city,
have begun serving terms OF I'M
prisonm.nt imposed a few hours be-
fore by the Supreme Court of the
United States.
Ship and Gibson had been found
guilty Of failing to protect from q
mob Ed Johnson. whose legal exc
cution for rape had been stayed by
the Supreme Court until it could
review the case. The others had
been found guilty of participation
in the lynching Of a Federal priso-
ner. Ship. Williams and Nolan
we're given sentences of ninety days
Imprisonment each, while Padgett,
Gibson and Mayes each received six
ty days.
AS the big barred doors Of the
jail swung open to receive the priso-
ners, Immediately after sentence had
been imposed, Warden Mckee stood
before them.
AS least We are In the hands Of
a soldier!" exclaimed Capt. Ship,
who had been In many a fight for
| the C~onfederacy, as he espied a q.
| A. r. button on the lapel Of Warden
| McKee's cost. Then turning to his
| Ave fellow prisoners, he said:
Boys, 1t will be all right"
Warden Mckee has inaugurated
| methods Of punishment at the jail
| as humanitarian as the various class
| es of prisoners will allow, and be
| was prepared for the reception OF
| the six men from Tennessee.
About a year ago, during the I'M
| ;risonment Of an unusually large
| number of women, the warden had
| fitted up a store room on the fourth
| floor Of the Jail as quarters for re-
male prisoners. 1t was in this large
| room, perhaps twenty by thirty-hve
| feet, that he locked the six prisoners
In the room were beds for each
| Of the prisoners, while at one end
was q table upon which TRUSTEES
| will set their meals three times a
Hay. A bath room, adjoining the
room, will be used by the prison
ters exclusively. Four large circular
widows open to the south and west
! giving excellent views Of the front
If the buildings. In fact, so pleas
ant did the prisoners find the quar-
| :ers that Capt. Shipp sent his at
.orney, Major Cliff. to the office OF
| he Supreme Court to withdraw a
equest he had made when sentence
VAS imposed, to be sent to the Fed
oral prison at Atlanta, Ca, instead
| If the jail in Washington.
During the afternoon. the six mel
| ,eceived calls from Tennesseeans and
others. Sitting on his straw bed,
half reclining on his pillow Of straw,
| Capt. Ship made this statement:
I'VE are very we'll pleased with
he treatment given US by Warden
Mckee, and are delighted with the
quarters assigned us"
A few hours in Jail made Gibson
reminiscent. He told his compan'
ions that this was not the first time
le had been in prison in Washing
>on.
But the other time l was brought
! here as q Confederate prisoner he
said.