The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-09-23

-vict murder with greater regularity
than they do in other States? The
answer is not easily made. The sta
tistics Of homicide show that ths
United States IL behind all other civil
lied countries In the proportion az
It's murderers convicted by the courts.
AS a result ii leads ali civilized coun-.
tries in the proportion OF crimes ct
violence 10 population.
IN Virginia convictions have been
the rule IN a long list of notable mNr~
der trials extending back TO and be-
yond the Cluverius ease, which was
tried iH3tIehaaeHa s4-s4st+tt hlrt YEARS
age Many types al defendant haze
inquired in these cases tlu*tfius was
a man about town who Killed a Wu-
man he had wronsod ana threw her
body into the Richmond reservoir.
The mayor of Charlottesville, Il mah
prominent socially and in politics,
Killed his wife. Henry Clay Beattie,
the sporty son OF a banker in Rich
mond, committed the same crime, bat
IN different circumstances and by
different method. y negro woman liz
Hampton murdered her former en-
pioyor A farmer in one OF the South
-rn counties killed a woman school
teacher. other cases upon record,
serve IL show that il il not d county
that conYicts murderers, and not one
class OF murderers that can he con
viCted. The members of the Allen
gang have been man handled" by
the courts with the same readiness
that other kinds of criminals equal
10 them their degree of guilt have
been.
The Judicial system is about the
same in the various States, The sue
cess OF Virginia in prosecuting muir
derers cannot be attributed To differ
ences In the Law or in the kind of ma-
Chfnery provided Tor enforcing IT.
The nature OF the crimes committed
indicates that the. types Of criminals
brought into court are the types that
ara ArrG.igned elseR here. The Hills-
Vile tragedy brought into the lime
light "a typical band Of unruly noun
taineers, such as may be found here
aud there throughout the Appala-
ehIaus f4ocaf public sentiment al
Hillsville was about what II WAS at
jackson when the late james Hargis
and his understrappers We're commit
ting series of murders there. a
change Of venue on motion OF the
state was possible under the Virginia
law just as il was under the Kentucky
law when James Hargls was tried al
Lexington. There was no lack OF
proof OF guilt in the cases of the TWO
mountaineers who have been SEN
fenced 10 death in Virginia. bat there
was none in the ease Of Hargis and
several others, who had already been
compelled, in a civil court. 10 pay
damages to the widow or one 0f their
victims Yet Virginia is sending her
outlaws Ia the death chair. and Ken
lucky failed to do more than sen
tence to the penitentiarS for life two
insignificant hireIIngs of Hargis.
We are accustomed in America to
look upon the English criminal courts
as examples OF what is possible in the
way Of conyicting the guilty under a
system gIAing tha-law u better chance
than il has in America, and giving the
criminal less rope" Yet Virginia,
with system no better than that of
other States. subject to. the same
causes OF weakness, manages to con-
Wet criminals with encouraging regu-
tarity. Whatever the causes may be,
the success of Virginia courts In pun
ishing guilty persons constitutes IA
advertisement OF Virginia that reaches
from coast 70 coast and even 10 other
countries, and cannot fail to interest
persons who read IT, A State which
does not turn loose Its criminals when