The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1910-03-24
THE SHOOTING TRAGEDY.
Press Comments on ,iie AWI:1. Affa r
That TuG. Place in Scotland
Neck, March llth.

NeCE, a:aTCh iltn.
That Scotland Neck gentleman may
not be crazy, but as one OF his VIC
tins has died he had better begin to
act that Way.-Durham Herald.
We hear the rumor that the prom
inent citizen" of Scotland Neck, who
recently shot into flock of citizens,
killing one and manning others, is to
offer that old moth-eaten plea in
sanity. 81 Charlotte News.
The whole State has heard with
sorrow of Scotlond Neck's terrible
tragedy. One citizen unWarningly
shoots three others in the neart of
the city. A plea of insanity will no
doubt be entered, but it looks to us
rs il there was murder in his heart.
The law must protect good .".5iZens
from such dangerous characte 5. Let
punishment be swift and sure Web
stsr's Weekly.
II We knew the exact Latin for gen
eral crouch we might tell our readers
what kind of insanity the man Pow
ell Of Halifax county is likely TO plead
in his defense for numbering Chief
of Police Dunn. That kind differs
from emotional and confessional in
sanity in that it creates a feeling Of
ennity toward all mankind, while
the others develop a tendenc5' to kill
only certain persons against whom
| the one afflicted with mania entertains
special grudge. Charlotte Observer.
Averse as we are to passing judge
ment in any case where a defendant
is yet to have trial by jurE, we do
not hesitate to express the conviction
that if ever man deserved tie death
sentence that fellow Powell, who
Wantonly murdered a brave officer
and wounded two other unOffending
citizens, is the man.-SalisbJc Jcy Post.
The more that is learned about the
Scotland Neck tragedy, the more in
explicable it appears. There is room
in this case for a strict construction
of the rule OF the law that the use of
a deadly weapon implies malice, and
;c;c:lscca, fIc;ll+ y motive. Cth3.-Aise, t.
Kill with impunity, it is only neces-
sary that the killer refrain from dis
closing the motive which rests in his
own breast. Wilmington Star.
The whole State has heard with
sorrow Of Scotland Neck's terrible
tragedy. One citizen unwarningly
shoots three others in the heart of
the city. A plea of insanity will no
doubt be entered, but it looks to US
as if there was murder in his heart.
The law must protect good citizens
from such dangerous characters. Let
punishment be administered swift
and sure. Reidsville Weekly.
If that man Powell, who was so
handy with his gun at Scotland Neck,
escapes the electric chair on any sort
Of insanity dodge it will be in order
to ship back that electric chair that
it took so long to get and make no
bones over saying that murder is the
safest crime man can possibly COM
nit in this State e.-Lumberton Robe
sonian.
No enc was surprised that Powell,
the slayer of Dunn and assailant of
Kitchin and Travis, announced that
he would plead insanity as his defense
for the commission of that barba-
rious crime. He claims that he has
norecollection whatever Of the affair.
Chances are that the jury will believe
his cock-and-b insanity story. 1t
goes that way according to history.
-Gastonia Gazette.
Powell who shot three men in Scot
land Neck last Friday, killing one
and wounding the other two, said to
an officer afterward that he had no
recollection of the shooting and did
not know what he had done. He al
so said he had no recollection Of the
letter about which he accosted Sen
ator Travis. That is where he slips
up with his lunacy pretense, for he
wrote the letter more than a year
before. -Waynesville Courier.
Ex-State Senator E. L. Travis, and
State Representative, A. P. Kitchin,
brother Of Governor, We're shot and
seriously wounded; and Chief of Po-
lice C. w. Dunn, of Scotland Neck,
was fatally shot by E. E. Powell, an
old man in a livery stable in Scotland
Neck last Friday. There seemed to
have been no provacation. Travis
and Kitchin, while painfully Wound:
ed. will recover, Dunn is dead and
Powell is in the penitentiary for safe
keeping. -Maxton Scottish Chief.
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