The Cairo bulletin., 1909-05-25
FIRST CASE OF
KIND ON RECORD
SUPREME COURT FINDS SIX MEN
GUILTY OF CONTEMPT OF
THAT TRIBUNAL.
SENTENCE NEXTTUESDAY
Allowed Lynching of NEGRO
Rapist in Tennessee
in 1905.

Washington May 24-For the first
time in so serious a case, the Su-
preme Court of the United states will
on Tuesday of next we, *, undertake
TO mete out punishment for the crime
of contempt of court itself, and the
Importance of the occasion will BE- en-
HANGED by the number OF defendants.
The proceedings will take place in
connection with the cases of Sheriff
Ship and Deputy Sheriff Gibson of
Hamilton County, Tenn, and four
q her residents OF that county,
named, respectively; Williams, No
Ian. Padgett and May These mel
were today declared by the court to
be guilty of am act OF contempt in
combining in 1905 In a conspiracy to
lynch a negro named Johnson, who
had been sentenced 10 death by the
local courts on charge Of rape, and
In whose case the supreme court had
intertcrcd to the extent OF granting
an appeal which had the eject of
sep2rscdeaS. On the night following
ton, Johnson was taken out of the
Jail in Chattanooga by a mob and
lynched, There was no resistance
on the part of jail authorities, and
Ship and a number OF his deputies,
as well as about twenty citizens,
wore proceeded against on the charge
of contempt of the FEDERAL court.
Three Found oulitIess.
The case has bees rending ever
since. and the numbcr OF defendants
wde rom rfme TO time ruduccu toI
nine. OF 'hese nine three were toda
found guitless while the other six
We're ordered to be brought into court
Tuesday a week for sentence. They
will be taken into custody immediate
ly and will appear in court in charge
of Marshal Wright Tie sentence
may be either fine or imprisonment
or both.
Of ExcentionaI interest.
The case is regarded as Of eXcep !
tional interest, because It is practic- |
ally the first time the highest court !
in the United States has ever under
taken to assert its dignity or to re-
sent the acts or words rejecting upon |
it In one previous case some years
ago, defendant was fined for some
expression OF contempt, but the case
was so comparatively insignificant as |
practically leave the present proceed |
ing standing alone.
In the cases of Sheriff Ship and |
Denutv Gibson. the court in effect |
declares that there may pc contempte |
in n failure OF officers of the law to |
prevent a crime in contempt OF the |
court and in taking cognizance of the |
offense at so great a distance, the |
court for the first time asserts by
this action its right to compel the |
proper respect for, and treatement of
its vcrdicts in all mrs OF inc u9ion |
Was Not Expec.eC.
In the case under consideration the |
defendants explanation of absence |
of sufficient projection at the Jail |
was that mob violence was not ex-l
pected that lay. The court meets |
this assertion by quoting from thel
statements of Sheriff Shipp to the
effect that he expected mob the |
next day-the day following that |
upon which the lynchng actually oc-
Cured The court insists that the |
sheriff should have been prepared ali |
the time to defend the prisoner and If
he had had any ntimaton that a mob |
might be on hand on the goth of the |
month he should have been prepared |
even before the 10Th, the day the
lynching took place.
Never Hunted Lyncners.
The court also SAYS that after the |
lynching Ship made no effort to ap-
prehen1 the lyncherS. ana quotes
from alleged statements of the
sheriff criticising the supreme court
for interfering in re case and that
that interference was responsible for
the lynching. In the dissenting Opin-
ion of Justice GNecKnam. which was
acquiesced in b. Jus; ices White ami
McKenna, the conclusion arrived at
was quite contrary to that Or the ma
jority of the court. II was held by
the dissenters that there was no evil |
dence whatever connecting Sheriff
Ship of his deputy with any part in
the lynchlg conspiracy.
Dissenting Opinion.
After detailing all the circum- !
stances leading up to the 1ynehing
ami telling of Ships going TO the
Jail. Justice Peckham said that he
sheriff was GO years of age at this
time and on account of his physical
con ition. unable in any event TO
have offered any great resistance.
There were at least ten or fifteen Of
the men around him who were armed