Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-16
JAIL SENTENCE
GIVEN TO SHIPP
U, S. SUPREME COURT IMPOSES
oO-DAY TERM
FORMER SHERIFF AND FIVE DEP
UrIEs ARE IMPRISONED
Court Desienates Federal Prison In
District of Columbia as Place
for Incarceration, but Pris-
oners Prefer Atlanta
fRy Assoclated Press.l

Of Chattanooga, Tenn, by the supreme
court of the United States for con-
tempt of court in having failed to pre-
vent the lynching of negro, Ed john
son. convicted of assault, whose exc
oution had been stayed by the court.
l. Luther williams and Nick Nolan
were sentenced to imprisonment Tor
ninety days for connection with the
lynching, and jeremiah Gibson, the
jailer; Henry Padgett and William
Mayors, all of Chattanooga, for sixty
days
The chief justice designated the
federal Jail in the District of Colum-
bia as the place of imprisonment.
Attorneys for the prisoners asked,
on account of the difference in climate,
that the federal prison at Atlanta be
substituted. TO this Attorney General
Wickersham objected, saying the At
lanta prison was for long term prison
ers and that the local Jail was meuh
more suited for the present purpose
The court took the request under ad-
vlsement.
This is the second time in the history
Of the supreme court of the United
states that that august body has i'm
posed a sentence upon citizens held
guilty of disregarding its mandates.
The previous occasion was in another
generation.
Shipp Heads Group
Heading the little group of six men
found guilty of contempt as they took
their places before the black robed
justices was captain Joseph Il. Shipp,
the sheriff in Chattanooga, Tenn,
when he offended the court
Bowed down under his 76 years, Jere-
mlah Gibson. the jailer, stood with
him. with bedimmed eyes he looked
hA HRbf n RhlHf
Justice, himself 76 years old, who would
soon pronounce sentence on him. per-
haps send him to prison. He and Capt.
Shipp had been found guilty of failing
to protect a negro waiting to be hanged
on a charge of a heinous crime against
a white woman after the supreme
court of the United States had stayed
his execution.
Luther Williams, Nick Nolan. Henry
Padgett and William Mayes, residents
Of Chattanooga, found guilty of par
ticipation in the lynching of Ed john
son, formed the rest of the group.
Before them all sat officials of the de-
partment of justice. Around about
them In the little courtroom were their
attorneys and other lawyers, while the
three rows of seats for spectators were
crowded.
Case Without Precedent
out precedent. In 1875 John Chiles,
business man of Texas, was brought
before the court for contempt i'm con-
nection with dealings In Texas indem-
nifty bonds, contrary to an order OF the
supreme court. He was fined $3.50.
But that instance lacked the interest
of the case today. In it were involved
no race question, no lynching. no in
reference with state jurisdiction; only
the majesty of the law as interpreted
by the highest court of the land.
The case today originated in the
courts decision in March, 1906, to con-
slider the appeal of Johnson from n
verdict of the Tennessee courts hold
ing him guilty and sentencing him to
he hanged on a charge of assault. The
NIGHT after the determination of the
sunrerne court to review the proceed
ings was wired to Chattanooga mob
stormed the Jail, took the prisoner out
and lynched him.
The court was much incensed by
the lynching, and at It's instance the
attorney general instituted proceed
ings against Sheriff Shipp, Jailer Glib
son and twenty-five others supposed to
have been implicated in the lynching,
charging them with contempt. Many
of the accused were eXonerated, and
in the end only six were found guilty.
Rehearing Is Denied
The finding of the court was an
nounced in May, just before the close
.of the last term of court, but all the
defendants entered motions OF rehear-
ing, which had the effect of postpon-
ing action until this fall. November
/ rehearing. was denied and the SIX
men ordered before the court lot seh-
tence today.
In investigating the case the supreme
court found Johnson was removed
from Chattanooga to Nashville before
his trial because of fear he would be
lynched. He was brought back for the
legal execution. When the supreme
court stayed the execution the court
has held Shipp made no effort and
gave no orders to have the deputies
or others guard the Jail, but left the
night taller, Gibson, there alone. That
evening a white male prisoner was re-
moved from the upper floor of the jail,
leaving only Johnson and White
woman on that floor. The court point
ed out this same man had been re-
moved in the same way at the time
of the first attempt to lynch Johnson.
which had been frustrated by the re-
moval of the negro.
Comments on Interview
The court in finding Shipp guilty
commented on a published interview
alleged to nave Deen nau WITH Snlpp'
'The people of Hamilton county were
willing to let the law take its course
until II became known that the case
would not probably be disposed of for
four or five years by the supreme
court of the United States" 1t quoted
Shipp as saying. But the people
would not submit to this, and 1 do
not wonder at II"
Chief Justice Fuller in pronouncing
Shipp guilty said that this reference
to ''people" was significant, "for he
was a candidate for reelection and
had been told that his saving the pris-
oner from the first attempt to mob
him would cost him his place, and he
had answered that he wished the mob
had got him before he did,"
The court held that Gibson must
have believed a mob would attack the
iail the night Johnson was lynched,
hut although he was in charge of the
iail more than two hours before it's
arrival he made no effort to summon
assistance to repel the attack. The
testimony of Mrs. Baker, white
prisoner, to the effect that Gibson told
her before the mob arrived that 1t was
coming and for her to go to her cell
was referred to.
Like Their Prison
At the United States Jail here Capt.
Joseph F. Shipp, former sheriff at
Chattanooga; Jeremiah Gibson, his
taller. and Luther Williams, Nick
Nolan, Henry Padget and William
Mayes of the same city this afternoon
began to serve terms of Imprisonment