Evening star., 1909-05-24
GUILTY OF CONTEMPT
Sheriff Shipp Must Appear Be-
fore Supreme Court.
CASE FINALLY DECIDED
Opinion Read by Chief Justice
Fuller.
JUSTICE PECKHAM DISSENTS
Accused May Be Sentenced to a
Term of Imprisonment-Re-
view Of the onense.
JUSTICE PECKHAM DISSENTS

The case of John F. Shipp, sheriff of
Hamilton county, Tenn, and nine others,
charged with contempt of the Supreme
Court Of the United States in connection
with the lynchhlg OF a negro named Ed
johnson at Chattanooga in March, 1905.
was finally disposed of by that court to-
day by an opinion by Chief Justice
Fuller which directed that an attach
ment issue for Shipp, his deputy. Gibson,
and defendants Williams, Nolan, Padgett
and May. The information as to Deputy
Sheriff Galloway and Justice Ward was
dismissed.
The Chief Justice presented complete
review of the johnson case. He con-
cluded that neither Shipp nor his depu-
ty Gibson had made any eff0rt to prevent
the removal Of Johnson from the jaii, to
prevent his killing after he was taken
out, nor to discover the participants in
the lynching after it took place The
rule was made returnable Tuesday, June
!. when it is supposed Shipp and his CO.
defendants will be afraigned In the court
and receive sentence.
Court to Fix Punishment.
1t will lie with the court to determine
the degree of punishment that may be in
fficted upon the men found guilty. A
term of imprisonment for each is among
the proba biiities, as the tone of the opin-
ion of the Chief Justice indicated no
diminution of the original indignation of
the court regarding the lynching after the
courts intervention in the Johnson case
Justice Peckham delivered a dissenting
opinion, declaring that there was not
..the slightest testimony to support the
charge against shipp. He therefore did
subjected to the possibility of "a dis
graceful imprisonment and made an
earnest plea against such course
The Alleged Contempt.
The charge of contempt against Sheriff
Shipp and his co-defendants was due to
the fact that when johnson was lynched
he was constructively in the custody of
the court. Only a month before the negro
had been found guilty of the crime Of
criminal assault and had been sentenced
to death. The Supreme Court had taken
cognizance of the case by granting an ap-
peal from decision of the Uniteu States
circuit court denying him a writ of habeas
corpus, which effected stay of proceed
ings in the convict's case. The appeal
was allowed on the 10Th Of March. and
that night Johnson was taken out of the
jail at Chattanoosa and hanged. This ac-
tion was strongly resented by the court,
and immediate complaint was made to
President Roosevelt, who ordered an in
vestigation Dy the Department Of Justice.
That investigation resulted in the filing
in the court by the Attorney General in
May 1905, of an information in which
Shipp and nine of his deputies and seven
teen other persons were charged with COM
plicity in the lynching, Shipp and some
of his subordinates by absenting them
selves from the Jail the night of the
tragedy. and the others by actual partici-
patton in it. Each and all pleaded inno-
cence.
Much Interest in the South.
The case aroused much interest in the
south because not only of the exceptional
character of the proceedings, but because
of the popularity of Sheriff Shipp and
the character of Johnson's crime. JUS
tice Harlan exercised an especial activity
in bringing the lynching 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 indig-
nifty 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 dis
missed at the beginning Of the present
term.