The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1913-08-15
The following is a copy of the gov
ernor's reasons for exercising elem
ency in the Simons case:
Treatment of Prisoners.

webb Simmons, white, convicted at
the April, 1910, term of court for An
derson county of murder with recon-
mendation to mercy and sentenced to
life Imprisonment in the State peni-
tentiary.
after looking very carefully over
the petitions and into the case l am
satisfied that this man was only gull
ty of manslaughter, and in reaching
this conclusion have applied my
twenty three years experience at the
bar making speciality of criminal
work An officer, because he is an
officer, has no right to be abusive to
his prisoner. To prove this l beg to
cite the cases of State VS. Beck, l Hill;
state VS. Golden, 1st S. c., State VS.
Clark, % S. E On the contrary, they
should treat with courtesy those whom
they are called upon to arrest, The
idea of an officer, when he arrests
man, having d right to knock him or
beat him or otherwise mistreat him
is erroneous, and the cruelty of the
officer often make men outlaws; and,
if the courts and juries Of this coun-
try would do their duty and convict
some of these bullies and blackguards
for cruelty, instead of sitting back and
saying, oh, we'll, he is an officer and
is allowed to do as he pleases over
these poor unfortunate persons, it
would put stop to such acts. the
officer in this case, was a bully or a
blackguard Many such illustrations
come to the knowledge of the officers
Of South Carolina, and particularly
one which destroyed the happiness Of
one of the finest homes among one
of the most noble and bravest fam
lilies of the State If the officer in that
instance had been killed instead of the
poor fellow who was murdered like
dog, it would have been much better
for South Carolina. presume to the
readers of history Of the State it is
unnecessary to call names, but this
brutal murder, under the guise Of law,
will ever be dark mark upon those
who participated in it.
COWardly Murder.
"Of course, in this case, it was not
as strong and ! am not comparing the
cases at all, but only refer to that one
in order to show that it has led on
and on, and by its being countenanced,
hundreds of other little cases have fol-
lowed Some officers seem to think
that when they arrest man they have
a right to knock him and beat him;
they seem to think that if he is charg-
ed with a misdeamnor and he runs he
(the officer) has a right 70 shoot him,
and when he shoots and kills him he
Immediately cries out, in order to save
himself, L only shot to scare him. It
is cowardly murder and the men who
acquit such a man are the dirtiest
perjurers, and as long as l am govern
or, if the juries acquit such people as
these, propose to take care Of man
who takes care of himself, against
such official tyranny and wilful abuse
of authority.
"The petition for this young mans
pardon is signed by more than thou
sand of the people of Anderson coun-
ty, in which they state that they think
the defendant has been sufficiently
punished. The signers of the petition
are among South Carolina's best citi-
zenship; they are those who made me
governor, and being their servant, it is
but right and proper that I should
obey their will.
Among the Petitioners
Among the names on the petition l
find the editor of the Anderson Intel
ligencer, Col. V. B. Cheshire, DR. Frank
Ashmore, Col. G. NJ Tolly, DR.. McCreey
Glymph, DR.. Clyde F. Ross, Judge Null
drow and great many others entire
ly too numerous to mention, but
stronger than all of this is seperate
petition, which reads as follows: 'We'
the undersigned members of the jury,
who convicted Webb Simmons of the
murder of Bert McAdams, with re-
commentator to the mercy OF the
court, petition and pray that you exer-
else clemency in his behalf. We think
that he has already suffered enough
for his crime and we ask that you
parole him during good behavior
"The judge who tried the case says:
4, the undersigned, the special presid-
ing judge at the trial, we'll remember
the facts in the case and have no OBJ
49, loo,d dino q