Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-01-03
AN OLD NEGRo's EXAMPLE.
What Wesley Bossard Did When His
Son Was Shot Down,


Wesley Bossard, an old negro whom
we all know, set an example Of self
control and obedience to law Sunday
night, when his son was shot to death
before his eyes, that cannot be toe
highly praised and that any of us
might be proud to emulate in a like
circumstance. His son was slain by
man with whom he had had no diff
ficulty, according to the testimony ad-
duced at the inquest, and without just
cause or even a reasonable excuse, II
the only evidence we have upon which
to base an opinion is accepted as true
danger of his life. he had not been
assaulted, he had not even been in.
suited or provoked by word or deed
yet he jerked out the ever-ready pis-
tol and killed his man with a cool pre-
cision that would have been admirable
in a worthy action. The killing hav-
ing been accomplished with such neat
ness and dispatch, the manslayer was
ready TO depart, armed and ready fol-
the next afrray, but before he could
make his escape, old Wesley, the faith
er of the young man who was within
and groaning In his death agony on
the ground, seized the death-dealing
weapon from the hand of the slayer
and then!
What would you have done in a
like circumstance, Mr.. Good Citizen?
Would you have turned the weapon
on the man you had seen kill your
son, the instant before, or would you
have done as did old Wesley, the ne
gro hackman? Would you not have
taken an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth and killed him in his
tracks before he had time to make his
escape and seek the sheltering arms of
the law that is ever tender to the
living, always neglectful of the dead
and more often than otherwise deaf
to the call for justice Of the innocent
blood that cries from the ground
Would you not have done this in the
first instant of grief and agony,
wreaking a natural and human re-
venge on the man who had done you
so great a wrong? Old Wesley. the
father of the dying young man, did
not yield to the natural instinct to
take instant vengeance, but, as he
told the coroner, seizing the smoking
pistol disarmed the slayer Of his son,
unbreached the weapon, threw the
remaining cartridges on the ground
and then the pistol away. That was
doing the right and the lawful thing
i'm q time of stress and excitement,
when one would expect passion to be
in complete control of a man so Sit
uated and self-restraint and respect
for law and the orderly proceedings
of the courts. things far away and not
to be thought of. Not many men
would have thrown the cartridges on
the ground and thrown the weapon
away, as did Wesley. Instead, the
average man would have turned the
gun on Harper and sent him all un-
prepared into eternity to keep the
company of his victim on that dark
and lonely journey. The average man
would not have put aside the oppor-
tunity for exacting a swift and GER
tain punishment of the man who had
killed his son: and the slayer would
not have had the chance to go into
undisturbed hiding until he could ar
range 10 be liberated on money
bond. 1t being distasteful for him to
go to 1ail. No, old Wesley Bossard
did not do the natural thing, and we
marvel at 1t as much as we admire
his self-restraint and his obedience
to the law that those who consider
themselves his betters so often violate
with less excuse. or no excuse at all
Sumter Item.