Omaha daily bee., 1909-05-25
Sheriff shipp and Five Others from
Tennessee Found Guilty by Fed
eral Tribunal.
CASE WITH FEW PRECEDENTS
Grows Out Of Lynching Of Negro by
Mob in Chattanooga.
APPEAL DELAYED EXECUTION
Officers Regarded Action of Court as
an Intrusion.
FAILS TO PROTECT PRISONER
APPEAL DELAYED EXECUTION
FAILS TO PROTECT PRISONER
Supreme Justice Fuller quotes from
Interview I'm which Omcer Crit
icised Political Eject of
Granting of Appeal.

WASHINGTON, May A-For the first
time in so serious a case. the supreme
court of the United States will on next
Tuesday, undertake to mete out punishment
for the crime of contempt Of the court 1T
self, and the importance Of the occasion
will be enhanced by the number of defend
ants. The proceeding will take place In
connection with the cases of Sheriff Shipp
and Deputy Sheriff Gibson Of Hamilton
county, Tennessee, and of four other resi-
dents of that county, named respectively
Williams, Nolan, Padgett and May. These
men were today declared by the court to
be guilty of an act of contempt In COM
blning in 1905 in a conspiracy to lynch
negro named johnson, who had been sem
fenced to death by the local courts on
the charge of criminal assault, and in
whose case the supreme court had inter-
fered to the extent of granting an APP
peal, which had the effect OF a supersedeas
On the night following the announcement
Of the courts action, Johnson was taken
out of the Jail in Chattanooga by mob
and lynched. There was no resistance On
the part of the jail authorities, and Shlpp
and a number of his deputies and about
twenty citizens were proceeded against on
the charge of contempt of the federal
court.
Case Pending Long Time.
The case has been pending ever since
| and the number OF defendants was from
| time to time reduced to nine. OF these
nine three were today found guiltless,
| while the other six we're ordered TO be
| brought into court next Tuesday for SEN
tence. They will be taken into custody
| Immediately and will appear in court in
.
| may be either fine or Imprisonment or
| both.
The case is regarded as OF exceptional
| interest because II is practically the first
time that the highest court in the United
| States has ever undertaken to assert its
dignity or to resent acts or words re-
| Gecting upon it In previous case
some years ago a defendant was fined for
! some expression of contempt, but the
case was comparatively insignificant
as to practically leave the present pro-
| ceeding standing alone
In the cases of Sheriff shipp and Dep
uty Gibson the court in effect declares
that there may be contempt in a failure
Of officers of the law to prevent a crime
in contempt of the court and in taking
cognizance of an offense at so great a
distance the court for the first time as
serts by action it's right to compel the
proper respect for and treatment of it's
verdicts in all parts of the union.
Opinion of Chief Justice,
Reviewing the proceedings in the case
of Johnson, the negro, who was lynched,
the chief justice pointed out that even
before the case was brought to the supreme
court there had been many threats of
lynchinG because of the serious character
Of the negro's offense. Continuing, he said
Of the proceeding on the night of the
| ynching: The assertions that mob Vio-
lence was not expected and that there was
no occasion for providing more than the
usual guard of one man for the Jail in
Chattanooga are quite unreasonable and
inconsistent with statements made by
Sheriff Shipp and his deputies that they
were looying for mob on the next day.
The chief justice pointed out that the
jail had been left entirely unguarded and
in charge of Deputy Gibson. when every
precaution to guard the prisoner should
have been taken.
sheriff Blamed Court.
The chief justice quoted literally from
an interview given out by Shipp some days
after the lynching, in which Shipp said
that he did not attempt to hurt any OF
the mob" and in which he charged the
supreme court with the responsibility foI
the lynching because OF its interference
in the case Commenting on this utter.
ance the chief Justice said: He evidently
resented the necessary ordr Of this court
as an alien intrusion. and declared thai
the court was responsible for the lynchfng
According to him the people of Hamilton
] county were willing to let the law take lis
course until it became known that the case
would probably not be disposed OF for foul
or five years by the supreme court of the
United States
= " But he added, the people would no
= submit to this, and do not wonder at il.
+ In other words his view was that becaus,
this court in the discharge of its dut,