The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1911-03-22
STRIPPING FACES A FIGHT
OPPOSITION DEVELOPS TO PAR.
DON OF DANVILLE CHIEF.
One of the Most Sensational Hearings
Ever Before Georgia Prison Com
mission Is Promised.

! Slackenlng in the puDllc sympathy
throughout the state in behalf Of
Thomas E. STRIPPING, the former
Danville, Va, chief of police who re-
Gently was brought back to the state
as an escaped convict with a life
sentence for murder committed in
Harris county fourteen years ago,
! the interesting development of pro-
! test and opposition 20 the granting
of clemency gives assurance Of one
of the most sensational hearings that
has ever come before the prison
commission.
Hear the other side" says the
widow of the man who was killed.
! She has since remarked, and is now
Mrs. G. NJ. Nelson of Chipley; she
was Mrs. William J. COrnett.
Why should he enjoy freedom and
family, she asks, and leave the wild
ow, children and aged father and
mother of the murdered man the
only ones to suffer?
Up to Prison Commission.
This question is going to be put
up to the prison commission when it
comes to hear the case, and the 9TH
er side will be presented by Cor
nett's family and friends.
For time it looked as if Strip
ling would have easy sailing in Sc
curing his liberty; the sympathy
aroused for him after fourteen years
of atOnement is having it's effect, and
petition after petition is being circu-
lated urging executive clemency,
while half a dozen of these petit
tions, bearing 1000 signatures, al
ready have reached the governor.
In addition to this the governor
has received hundreds of letters and
numerous newspaper clippings from
the Danivlle Register and from pa
pers at Roanoke and Richmond, TAX
ing the other side of the case, and
stating that there was no reason
why Stripping should be pardoned.
Killed Two More Men.
He is too high strung, too quick
on the trigger, they say, and they
point out that he has killed two
men while going under the name of
R. S. Morris in Danville. One of
these men he killed before he be-
came chief of police; the other while
chief, and the newspaper accounts
from the hostile papers toxic the
view that both of these killings
could have been avoided. However,
he was acquitted in both cases.
From accounts, too, it appears
there is some politics in the case.
Virginia newspapers declare it ex-
tremely doubtful that a majority of
the citizens of Danville would sign
a petition for Stripling's pardon.
Stripping was known as the pro
hibition" chief of police. He is an
advocate of prohibition, and of
course the opponents of that policy
fought him; perhaps, too, many of
them would like to see him held
here in Georgia and made to serve
his sentence.
Governor Brown has not, even read
any of the letters or petitions in the
case, which must pass first through
the prison commission. For this
reason he is, of course, referring all
petitions and papers connected with
the case to that body in it's capacity
of pardon board.
The prison commission has set no
time for hearing the case, but it is
quite probable it will be taken up
at the next meeting, which will be
held Tuesday, April 4. There is
no reason why it should not come
up then, unless some valid reason
for continuance is presented.
Widow Says 1t Was Assassination.
In the meantime Stripping remains
in Jail in Columbus, not yet having
been sent to the penitentiary. Dis
position of him rests with the pris-
on commission, it is stated, and if
he were sent to the penitentiary now
it would be to the state prison farm
near Milledgeville, since it would be
impossible to put him at work in a
road gang on account of his game
! leg.
The lame leg was the result of a
fracture sustained in stopping a pair
of runaway horses, through which,
/ it is said, several lives probably were
! saved.
| On the other hand Mrs. Nelson
Cornett's widow, in her statement
4 says or intimates that Stripping took
part in the lynching of a negro in
Columbus many years ago.
1t will be seen, therefore, that ev-
erything, both to his credit and dis
credit, is being brought to light.
! Mrs. Nelson says the killing of
4 Cornett was assassination, that he
was shot down from ambush. Strip
ling and his friends declare he shot
/ Cornett because of an insult to a
woman of his family.
1t will be seen that the case is re-
! plete with sensational details, all
of which will no doubt be brought
out on the hearing before the prison
/ commission. Everything conspires
to make it one of the most sensa-
tional cases that has ever come be-
fore the pardon board and the gov
! ernor.