The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-04-23
REFUSED PARDON,
STRIPPING MUST
SERVE LIFE TERM
His Petition for Glenn
ency Denied by Gov.
ernor Brown.
UNIV RITTEN LAW
is EXCORIATED
Former Chief of Police of Dan
vile Doomed to Pay Full Pen
atty for His Murder of w.
J. Cornett, Despite His
Plea of Justih-
cation.
Special to rho Times.pispatoh.

Atlanta Ia' ca. April nSs5s pThPomas Ed
gar S,ripling's application for pardon
has boon declined by Governor Brown.
After fourteen years of liberty. which
lie achieved by breaking jail, the man
who slew w. J. Cornett In the hours
OF the night in Harris county in 1897,
must don the stripes or the convict
and begin the service OF the sentence
demanded OF him by the law for his
crime. and which Will terminate only
at the end or his life.
From n life of rcspectabllity in Dan
Vile. Va, where he had attained by
Industry and sobriety to the ONCE OF
Chief OF Police. and where, under the
assumed name OF X u. Norris he had
come to be looked upon as q man 10
be honorcd and trusted. he must join
the band OF lost citizens. and at the
Eacrifice OF his liberty and the Tor
fciture OF all his rights. make tho
atonemcnt for his crime
Recommendation DIarcgnrdcd.
In denying the application for pnr-
don. which Stripping 1ied shortly after
he was arrested In Danville few
weeks ago as the man who escaped
from the Harris county Jail, after
life sentence had been passed upon
him. Governor Brown declined to fol-
low the recommendation made unan-
prison commission.
After spending nm entire day hear
ing all the ramifications OF the case
ably and forcibly presented By attor-
neys for and against the pardon appli-
cation. the prison commission without
delay recommended TO the Governor
that Stripping DO given "a pardon He
was represented by Attorneys T. r.
Miller and Frank Mclaughlin, OF
"A Columbus; the application was op-
posed by Attorneys II. c. Cameron. OF
Columbus; Isaac Cakes. of Lawrence
VILE. and John T.. AfcClclland OF At
1anta.
Then the Governor heard the case
presented In all It's phases By the at
torneys. and for hours he listened to
their arguments for and against the
slayer OF Cornett. For several days
and nights he weighed the merits OF
the application and carefully studied
the evidence and the court record. and
then no reached the conclusion 10 day
that the sentence Imposed by the
courts fourteen years ago. and which
Stripping had cvaded by escaping from
jail. should be enforced.
In JnlI Mt Columbus.
Stripping Is now IN the jail at Co
lEmbus where he has been since he
WAS arrested by Detective Smith, OF
case the Governor is tho court OF last
resort" and the prison commission
Will issue an order some time during
the week assigning him TO service In
ono of the county convict camps or a
the prison farm.
Stripping Is said to have broken down
under tho strain which has been upon
him since his arrest PHYSICIANS have
stated that he Is physical wreck, G
mere she'll OF q man; that Tuberculosis
has already seized him in its relentless
grip. and that his once rugged constl-
tuition has fallen to pieces, and that
Is Is only question OF few years, or
perhaps few months until death viii
end the sentence imposed upon him by
the courts 1t is said that he is physf-
cally unfit for hard labor and 1t Is
probable that the commission Will send
him to the State farm at Milledge-
vile. IL
ExcOrinten "Unwrttten Lnw.D
In denying tho application for par
don. Governor Brown, I'm n review OF
the case made public to- night. eXcori-
ates the "unwritten law" which Strip-
ling pleaded In Justification of his act.
: as an "euphemism, presenting unmask-
ell the hideous feature of anarchyr
one of the most dangerous evils
menacing our institutions is lawless-
ness" declares the Governor.
The mob. executing In wild disorder
Its Victim. and the individual wreaking
his own revenge for wrongs, real or
imaginary. the man or Interest treat
Ing with contempt tho laws of the land
safety, are striking manifestations of
this spirit of iawlessness."
While expressing profound sympathy
for Striplng's family and high respect
for the impulses which prompted his
3 friends to apply for pardon for him,
Governor Brown says that sympathy
and personal friendship have no right
to supplant an oath bound duty to exc
cute the laws of Georgia.
"Abovc the rolling tide and obscuring
fog of sympat hetic pleas and emotions
we cannot fall to see the rock Of tho
record which shows that Thomas Edgar
Stripping by q jury of his peers, was
convicted OF the murder of a fellow
man." continues tho Governor, that he
afterward viola ted n second law OF
Georgia by breaking jail and fleeing to
another State, and that enmeshed In
the complications of his crime, his own
II Law. Terrell HUFF, was gent
to the penitentiary, within which he
was confined at hard labor, until.
through doubts as to his guilt, he was
set free on Recommendation Of the
prison commission. I greatly regret.
therefore, that under the conditions I
do not feel justified In interrupting in
" this case tho duo process OF law" 81
Life Not Spotlcss.
fl Governor Brown discusses Strin-
linG's life after he broke Jail in 1887
and does not find 1t sufficiently spot.
less to cntitle him to a pardon and
continued liberty MS his friends had
* hoped.
MOT one man in several hundred kills