The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-06-03
MONDAY, JUNE ). 1912.
A PALE july COMPROMISE.

\ PAI.F IL IN COMPROMISE.
The escape of Claude swssop Allen from
conviction Of murder in the first degree is re
grettable, but easy Of understanding Ills
youth and the Plea thar he fred because 9th
srs we're firing az biz father no doubt had
their effect on the decision Of the jury. In
addition. powerful appeal was made to seHti-
ment through the presence OF his mother.
whose husband ts already marked for the
chairl. and OF his sweetheart who wept at the
psychological moment II remains true how
ever that the verdict is NOT better than com
promise By which the State suffers for the ten
der quaIms or The men sworn 10 act impartial
ly upon the evidence In this the jury is within
the letter of its rights, specified by the law.
II tan aeanit or hnd second degree murder.
or manslauehter Inadvertently even under the
clearest evidence and there is nothing TO do
about IT, The one thing. unfortunately, which
IL is absolutely impossible to convict is jury
All the evidence 10 the case Of Claude Allen
vent to show that he eas guilty OF murder IN
the frat degree, or Of nothing If the Jury
believed his story, that no fred in defense OF
= father Illegally assaulted such a plea was
equivalent 10 one Of seif-defense II they did
! rot believe this statement and found that he
killed the Judge either Intentionally or as the
result Of aiding in the unlawful effort Of his
fasief-to Shoot hts way IN freedom was
guilty OF murder Faced with these alter
natives. the jury cheped a sugar rag and re-
turned an intellectually meaningless verdict
W. 81 hat tbp-a will ho do
to convict Claude Allen OF a crime which will
subject him to the extreme penalty OF the Law.
We hope it is true tbauit will be possible, be
fore fresh jury to try him on the indictment
charging The staying OF Sheriff webb Emf
nenf attorneys SO contend holding that al the
defendant being indicted on different counts
charging the murder of several persons. the
contention Of conspiracy is merely eyi 'enca
tending to support the specific charge and not
the complete charge, itself Against th,a the
defense, OF course sets up the plea OF former
conviction, asserting that having been cor
eieted Of tho killing of Judge Massie upon an
indictment involving his participation in the
fusillade generally, the defendant renno. again
he put in jeopardy Since all the killings ard
ali the indictments grew out OF one general
attack in which all the defendants participated
ard acted a unit. We are fearful that there
may be more in this contention than the attor-
neys for the State at present willing to
admit
In the remaining trials, OF Claude OF the
other eonspirators, 1t Ii TO be hoped that jury
drawn from a county which has not been so
torn with discussion and SO assailed with sym
pathy for the Aliens may remember more
clearly the events at Hillsvile which sought to
establish elan government at the pistol point
In lieu OF State government through orderly
legal pr%cess, Cosaproasise with the Aliens ia
no less than jury weakness, and jury vacilia-
ton. We had hoped. upon the conviction OF
-Elnyd Allen that the stern stuff of which his
jury made could be found for the con-
struction Of another twelve from Wythe county
who would follow the high example set by
those chosen from the first venre. In this
--rr and. we-t htuk the State were mistaken
The hope is that the Washington county yenire
will think less of the new art of tears which
the Aliens have acquired aud more of the
tears they caused, the Justice upon which they
made assault