The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-03-07

upon the officers of the court, their re-
letionship To the party on trial, their
attendance at the same time their
concert in the same deadly attack,
furnish all the evidence Of a CON
splracy needed"
The ground upon which cIemency Is
asked for Claude-though many, II
not most, of the petitioners make no
distinction between Floyd and his
sons that he was defending his
father: and they argue that II this
be true, although he had no lega!
right to do so, 1t should be regarded
as a mitigating circumsta nee. But
self-defense for crime con- mitted in
a court is plea / have IT known
to be put in In the forty five years In
which as judge and lawyer / have
been familiar with the courts 1t is
difficult for me to imagine a case in
which such a plea could be sustain
ed certainly, in this case the evidence,
as / understand IL. not only does not
show a case Of self-defense, but one
of aggression This aggression did not
stop until the men shooting at the
Jurors on the outside of the court
house were called to halt by Goad's
pistol, fred from the courthouse
steps Consider the facts again Four
men killed in the courthouse, the
clerk and a juror wounded, in all
Gig illeGH DutIFLA iUdSeO All Hia pSopIt
all belonging to the court, and out OF
four Allen engaged in the shooting
and two Edwards only Floyd Allen
was wounded in the courthouse. Sure
ly, this, upon the undisputed facts, is
no case of self-defense.
But ii is claimed that the officers
were armed. Clerk Goad said he was
apprehensive of difficulty If Floyd
Allen was convicted The sheriff and
his deputies had the right. and 1t was
their duty to be armed, and Foster,
whose six bullets has rendered 1t i'm
possible for him to explain, doubtless
had the same apprehenSlons as Mr..
Goad, and the events proved they were
justified.
What Evidence Shows.
IT is also claimed that Clerk Goad
brought on the difficulty. The answer
TO this claim is that he was within q
few feet of Foster. who was shot six
times, and of Webb, who was shot five
times, and that he escaped, as far as
the evidence shows with one wound
received in the courthouse. Surely,
had Goad began the difficulty. he
would have received tho irst and con-
have shared the fate Of Foster and
Webb
1t is further contended that the
three wounds received by Judge
Massie and the bullet hole in the
railing in front Of his chair, were
accidental, because he was in line Of
Are upon Dexter Goad But the tes-
timony of witnesses and the silent
marks of the bullets in the courthouse
as I understand the evidence, do not
sustain this contention. On the con-
trary, the evidence proves that these
wounds were deliberately inflicted.
In this connection, / quote from
Judge Staples when he sentenced
Floyd and Claude Allen: lit was all
done in less than a ioment of time;
done by you and your associates
/ done with a quickness and an ac-
curacy of aim and action impossible to
men acting under the impulse of sur
prise. Yet the law which has suf-
fered so great an outrage has out of
regards for her own inherent princi-
plies of right and justice accorded to
you e patient and unbiased rearing,
/ has extended to you every protection.
has made available 10 YOU every safe
guard, has yielded TO you every point
of doubt" And again, THE facts
relied upon for the excuse or mitiga-
ton of your conduct have failed ut
! terry Of their proof You have con-
tended that the clerk of that court
while you were in custody endeavored
to open fire upon you. You failed
/ to show any motive for such conduct
/ on hts part, or to give an explanation
why he should have done an act Sc
I utterly inexpIicable and so neces-
sarily fatal to himself" There Is
scarcely a scintilla of evidence to
confirm this statement made by each
OF you. Yet every rule Of law. which
would have been applicable If your