The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1914-03-27
ASSAULTS YOUNG MAN


|, resulted In general uprising or clti-
zens was narrowly averted when 1t
J was found that Tom Dean and Lacy
Ftncher had assaulted Walter Brisen-
dine, a round house employee. The
J story OF the fight is told by Brisen-
dine and is about like this: About
.. seven-thirty that evening, he was on
his way to work when he passed the
J two men who we're standing In front
OF the Spradling store and a bottle
was thrown directly in front OF him
almost striking him. He inquired
what the men meant by such treat
ment OF him and then one of the
men attacked him. He is small and
a young man and was in no way
match for his assailant. He ran ac-
cross the street and was again at
lacked by one OF the men.
A one armed man, McAfee OF Lang
don, saw the start OF the trouble but
could not help the boy who seemed
TO be getting the worst of the en-
counter. A crowd soop gathered and
deputy sheriff Sid Long took Tom
Dean and Sheriff Homer Edison, Les
Fincher. The two officers turned
the disturbers over to the city mar
shal, Dean resisted arrest and
crowd Of citizens assisted in taking
them to Jail where they would have
been confined had they not plead
guilty to lighting and disturbing the
peace. Both were fined $25 and let
loose.
The next day, the county attorney
Clyde Il. Commons, had Dean arrest.
ed on four counts, that of assault and
battery on Walter BrIsendine, for ap.
pearing drunk on the streets, for
disturbing the peace Of citizens gen
orally and resisting officers. Tom
! Dean was released on $500 bond and
will appear for trial at the June
term OF court.
The penalty for these range from
81 to $500 and from thirty DAYS to six
months in jail.
A good deal OF criticism has been
! heaped upon the city marshal because
1.-THE men were not confined in the jail
|. and kept there. The very fact that
the one man was still allowed to walk
! the streets and threaten Long
who arrested him, also TO boast that
no one was big enough to take him
! to jail elicted contempt from the
people who do not believe In letting
man under the intlnenee of liquor
: take possession of the town. And 1t
, is only a good fortune TO the men
who mlstreated the boy that the mob
did not deal violently with them.
While the city marshal may be de-
) serving of criticism and no doubt
made a mistake In his endeavor to
perform his duty, yet, there remains
the fact to be considered, that weak
officer shows, 10 a great extent, a
weak public behind them. And that
a good many rather slack things are
tolerated here is not to be denied.
Who is TO blame for it?
This is not the first time that pub.
lie officers have been lax or ignorant
in performing duty. Is it all together
their faults? This Is not the first
time that one of these men created a
disturbance. Why has it been allowed
to get TO this end OF the grme? No
one man should be given either
blame or criticism for a public act as
long as there might be other acts for
criticism, yet 1t does not follow that
this sort of disturbance should be al
lowed. But the question naturally
arises, will these same people protect
and stand by an officer who will at
tempt to do his dutyY Is the upris-
Ing OF the first Of the week an awak-
ening or is 1t born Of the moment to
die out when perhaps some one else
may transgress?
We are heartily In favor of enforc
ing law and also in favor of enforcing
it regardless Of whether friends or
foes come within the pale of the law.
. AS we have said before, time will
tell whether the people were sincere
In demanding a strict enforcement
OF law.
\ Later reports have 1t that BriseD-
dine is contemplating suing both
Dean and Fincher, alleging damages
has been done him. While the affair
is a deplorable one, If the regard for
common decency and manhood can
be instilled 10 men who will persist
in things like this, then this lesson
taught to these men and Others who
may perhaps wind up as unfortunate
: ly, comes now as good lesson. No
ones blames Brlsendlne for the pub
: licity which the affair promises to
assume, and it is only matter OF
n.otootiur, binocaIf fbat ha has nro