The Arizona copper camp., 1915-12-03
EDITORIAL COMMENT
ON FLORENCE FARCE

S"'E'e'PoiS oVlHce an unInlSIaKaDle
unfrendly attitude toward Governor
Hunt in their editorial comments on
the refusal of r. B. Sims. warden of
tne state prison, to hang William
t'altin, convicted of murder and con-
demned to die last Friday. The gen
eral assumption of the press is that
Sims acted with the full knowledge
and approval of Hunt, who appointed
him.
Even the Phoenix Gazette (Dem.)
which for years fought for the aboli-
ton of capital punishment, declares
that Hunt and Sims went too far in
their anxiety to prevent an execution
taking place at the prison. Says the
Gazette:
"lt Is the Law"
Inc Gazette was in favor of the
abolition of capital punishment sew
eral years before statehood was
granted. The electors of the state in
tnelr wisdom, decided otherwise and
imposed upon the executive powers of
the state the duty of enforcing the
death penalty when imposed by Judge
and jury, and this is the law.
The Gazette has never changed it's
mind on the question At the same
time, like all citizens, the Gazette
must obey the law as it is-not as it
might wish it to be- = It's
reason is. that if one is allowed to
disobey or disregard the law in one
point there is nothing to prevent him
dlsregard1ng it in a thousand others.
And this is just what is happening
in Arizona today.
The governor has assumed to set
himself above the law. He has per-
mitted the law to become a mockery
and delusion in the Faltin case and
has thereby put himself in the atti-
tude of mind that makes him largely
regardless Of any law"
we have. no earlier records of such
an outrageous setting aside of the
law by those who have taken a
solemn oath to support it and en-
force it, as that action at Florence
yesterday, resulting in the postpone
ment of the execution of William
Faltin, the brutal murderer" says the
Phoenix Republican (Prog.). 1--WE
have not been surprised by this dis
regard of the law; we have been ex-
regard it has been evident ever since
January-1 of this year, when the un-
restricted power of the governor to
grant pardons, paroles and commuta-
tions was taken away from him by
the people after his wholesale abuse
of it. We do not believe that
these outrages upon the law commit
ted under the cloak of the law. y
They removed from the governor, or
thought they did, the power to do
these things"
The Prescott Journal Miner CRep)
reprints the Republican editorial
without comment.
"Rules of Civilization Outraged"
Arizona is earning an unenviable
reputation for lawlessness,' declares
the Globe Record Oem) ''The fic-
ton writer's who for many years have
been depicting this state as the home
of the bad man had little enough
justification for their assertions in
what were known as the frontier
days here, but in this enlightened
age might find plenty of material for
giving Arizona and Arizonians a
Black eye Nowhere else have the
rules of independent civilization been
so outraged as in Arizona under the
administration of George w. Hunt,
once we blush to say, a resident of
this county.
"The latest outrage against the
rights of the people of the common
wealth was committed yesterday when
Warden Sims, a Hunt man, ignored
the law and the mandates of the peo-
pie by flagrantly violating his trust
in his refusal to execute William
Faltin, a murderer. These occur
rences have become so frequent and
so flagrantly audacious as to be sick
ening to anyone who has the faint
est respect for the law, order and the
will of the people And the most dis
gusting phase of the situation is that
Hunt and his cohorts commit these
offenses against the people who have
named them as their representatives
with a hypocritical pretense Of aim
ing at the public good.
Governor Hunt gave his word to
the people of ella county-in a
speech delivered at the Globe high
school just before the last state cleo
tion-that if capital punishment were
approved by the voters he would
carry out the mandate and prepare
Roman holiday The promise was
a bluff, like most Of the lest of the
governors words of honor"
"Playing Horse With the Law is