The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-11-20
LABOR'S COMMENT
ON The LYNCRING
UNION PAPER BELIEVES THAT
FREE GRANTING OF RARDoNs
TO BRUTAL AND COLD BLOOD
ED MURDERERs HAD MUCH TO
DO WITH CASE.

The Fargo Labor Advocate says:
Last week at Steele. this state. a
murderer was taken from the jail and
hanged to the stock yard gate at that
place and his body riddled with hull
let's.
The party that did the Iynching was
thirty or forty strong and apparently
came from the vicinity of where the
murderer shot his wife and her father
to death. 1t was under perfect con-
troll n overpowered the sheriff of the
county, who was on guard, and the
janitor of the courthouse and quickly
dragged its victim to the scene of his
execution.
The act is deplored as q hot on the
fair name of the state and on the
county in which the hanging occurred.
No n questions the justice of the act
"a degenerate had killed two worthy
people highly esteemed by the com
munity-and death was a fitting PEN
atty.
The question arises why did these
people take the law into their hands
instead of waiting for the orderly pro-
cedure of the courts and the answer
embraces several reasons.
A trial for murder is usually long
drawn out, costs the county consider
able money and few murderers have
E0C0AA AAOA1SSO III I'M III OdtOId
The average juror is loath to bring
in a verdict that will condemn a man
to death and the average Judge is also
loath to pass the death sentence on a
man.
After a murderer is sentenced to life
Imprisonment and has served a term
of years there is frequently an at
tempt made to cur a pardon for
the ma by we'll meaning persons-but
the average individual believes a cold
FLOODED murderer should never be
pardoned.
A few months ago a pardon was
promised n Remington-who has
served twenty years in the state peni-
tertiary for a cold blooded murder in
Cass courtyard this caused a great
deal of agitation.
This double, cold blooded murder
coming SO soon after the granting of
the pardon for Remington-who is due
within a few days to leave the peni-
tentiary-called the peoples attention
to the fact that perhaps after a time
Baker, the lynched man, might event.
ually be freed-and the lynching at
Steele was the reply of the people to
the state pardon board.
There is a feeling among the COM
mon people that a cold b1ooded muir
derer should hang. The people will
pardon killing done under p~rovocation
anu HOI olOOu-DuI DSIlGVeS IDaT the
man that plans murder coolly should
hang.
A shorter, simpler court procedure
for plain cases of murder, lrmness on
the jurors part n insisting that MUIR
derers should hang-and speedily
will go far toward preventing murders
and the resulting lynchings.
That the entire county is aroused
over Baker's double murder is evident
from the fact that all pop1a4arxy avso-
Citations in the county refused the body
burial-and these associations are
usually composed of christian men
who believe in the forgiveness Of sin.
This fact speaks stronger than the
act of lynchers Of the adherence felt
against the murderer.
The remedy for lynchings-in this
state especially-would seem to be
prompt, certain justice, the death PEN
atty for all p~remeditated murder and
officials that never set the decree of
the people-properly expressed-aside.