The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-04-14
Law Versus
Judge-Lynch
By RICHARD MARKLEY

Two gentlemen. of Four Aces. a min
ing town. were consulting as to how
to get rid of an enemy One demu.red
at shooting since a court had been es-
tAblished.
"You see. jim" he said, they'll keep
US in Jail forever waitin' to try u.s.
Don't you worry about that, Pete
said the other. This yere community
isn't ready for real law yet"
So they shot their man and stood
trial.
The citizens of Four Aces. eager to
! try the new legal system that had been
introduced, did not Inconvenience the
! two criminals at all by delay. The
murder was committed In the morning.
and by 3 o'clock in the afternoon the
/ trial commenced. A limb OF the law
named Simpson was prosecuting attor-
ney, and one Waterman was assigned
1 by the court to defend the accused
/ To save time they were tried together
! The first hour was occupied In fencing
between the prosecutor and counsel for
! the defense, the latter claiming that
/ the first shot killed the gambler, and
/ the man who fired II was the murder
, er, while the other could not be tried
| for killing corpse. An appeal to the
| judge established the fact that both
were instrumental in the deed and they
/ should be convicted or acquitted to-
| gether.
I Then the prosecutor summoned wit
, nesses who saw the shooting. The
! first was the barkeeper of the saloon.
who was standing behind the bar at
! the time. lie testified that he saw
the two men open fire at the same mo-
ment on the gambler.
Question What were you doing
when the shooting commenced?
Witness Tom O'Brian had list call
ed for some pizen. and was reachin
to the shelf back O. the bar for it.
Question How could you see the
shooting when your back was turned
to the shooters?
Witness-There was big lookin
glass behind the bar seen 1t In
that
Your honor" said the lawyer, turn
ing to the Judge. II move that this
mans testimony be stricken out He
did not see the shooting. He merely
saw a reflection"
Tho fnIn o.
then decided that reflection was not
thing In itself. therefore the testi-
mony of The barkeeper was not to be
considered by the jury.
There were several other persons I'm
the room at the time OF the crime. but
counsel for defense proved that the
eyesight of one was bad. that another
was so deaf that he couldn't hear
cannon fired, to say nothing Of a re-
volver. while third had been sitting
at table In II jog In the room where
he could not see the group In question.
Friends Of the accused swore that they
had known them for years, both had
ever carried a revolver-indeed, they
would not know how to handle such
weapon.
The prosecutor endeavored TO i'm
peach the veracity of these witnesses
but when he called on citizens present
to swear that they wouldn't believe
them under oath one OF the witnesses
announced that II any man dared to
question his word or his sacred honor
he would let daylight into his carcass
This effectually prevented the impeach
ment of any of these witnesses.
When the lawyers had got through
with the case there was an impressive
silence In the court. The Judge seem
ed averse To instructing the Jury TO
acquit the murderer, but he could not
see how lie could do anything else. He !
was scatching his head when Oliver |
Budd, prominent citizen of Four |
Aces and leader of the late vigilance
committee that had ceased operations
In view of the introduction of law into |
the place. arose and said:
Your honor. these yere men have
been tried accordin' to law, and the /
evidence shows that they are as inner. |
Il
that before givin' up our former meth |
cd we try 'em by the Lynch system. |
jist for TO see how the two compare"
The judge accepted the situation and
gave up his seat-a cracker box before
his desk, board between two barrels
to Mr.. Budd, who took his place and
said:
Let all the witnesses for the prose.
cution stand up In line"
When the line was formed Judge
Lynch or Mr.. Budd said to them:
These we're two men air charged
with the killin' of Charles Benton.
gambler. All of you who know for
sarten that they done it hold I'D your
hands"
Every witness held up hand.
Tb It'll do said Mr. Budd: then.
turning to the large number of spec.