The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-12-12

, y y
) arnse1 u ire teeth ana utterly rcck
less - human life. defiant OF OF.
fccrs, man and God Often they arc
craxy-drurk and open fro at the
sight Of an officer or suspected uffictr.
! cannot tell your exceliency how Of
| ten officers have been fired upon by
those dcsperadoes. One of them has
ing thus fred upon Osficer Flynn. =
ccnstihie in Chesterfield county. aad
escaped with an automobile OK
whiskey tried II again ON my men
! March -, 1919, at Fishers Hill. In
| Shenandoah county: While his COM
| panion IN crime held Inspector Han
and bea him fHalD over the head
with ,ottie OF whiskey, this man
| fred aus pistol three times almost In
Hall had to shoot them both; this IL
the much talked of Woodstock at
| fair. have now heard In open
court at the trial of Mr.. Hall every
word of testimony and there Is not
| r. syllable of evidence to contradict
| this brief summary of that case
and yet these brave men were refused
and so great was the prejudice
against them that there was a hung
| jury and they must be tried again
| Your exceilency must understand an I
the public should understand that
although this is technically the COM
monweaitb prosecuting these fncn It
Is actually hired prosecution and
liquor dealers IN Baltimore are be-
hind IT, For the defence of these
| men pursued by Baltimore liquor
dealers and by n Ynaddened public.
! infiamed by ever faisehood which
malice could invent. ] secured the
best defence attorneys I could aud.
! have been criticised for doing this.
cannot help IT. ] have learned to
bear criticism and I have learne i
that whatever policy may pursue
in any case involves criticism. but
in this case IL I had not provided
counsel for these men who were thus
prosecuted for an inevitable result
OF the performance OF sworn duty
would have invited very just critt-
cisrnI would not deserve the re-
spect of any man. ] viii never 1e-
fend a guilty man In my department,
but will II necessary. exhaust INV
appropriation before an innoc ,nt
man shalt be punished for doing his
duty And X ever any one was inno-
cent Of n charge these men are in
nocent under the law of any crime
on that occasion, and / will venture
the assertion that in no contested
case ever presented to a Virginia
defense. I have profound sorrow for
the unfortunate men who were the
victims of their criminal folly, my
heart goes out 10 the innocent sur
vtving members OF their families; bu.
! cannot fold my hands and see
rnonstrous injustice done the men
who try to uphold the majesty of
heneflcent Virginia law at the hazard
of their own lives.
~ npp~r, xr-YrrNs
FEDERAL AGENTS
Federal agents or the revenue
agents have frequently assisted our
inspectors raiding Illicit diStiileries
and vice versa, but nearly all OF these
cases are taken to the federal courts
for trial, for in many Jurisdictions
where "moonshining" prevails the
low that IL is useless to prosecute
before n local jury; by taking such
cases to federal court where the
venire Is selected from n wide
scope of country fair trial may be
secured. This is also hazardous work
among low and desperate people VINO
do not hesitate to fire upon the Of
ficers from ambush. There have
been several OF these sorties but this
year none OF our officers have 'een
killed or seriously wounded--ai-
though some of the federal officers
have been ICES fortunate sustain
ing serious wou nds. One of our
officers however had his property
tstore and dwelling) burned to the
ground supposedly by "noonshiners
who had been raided, and they have
been prosecuted In the courts by all
manner OF frivolous and ridiculous
charges preferred by those who arc
in sympathy with lawlessness and
hate the efficient officer
Federal officers enjoy immunity
from this petty persecution because
local officers who happen to be in
sympathy with the criminal element
tried by the federal authorities and
the district attorney defends them
not SO with our inspectors-they are
frequently hailed before a justice of
the peace who is a neighbor and
friend of the criminal and this Justice
of the peace can harrass the officers
by penalizinr him for doing his duty
and when the officer appeals TO tie
circuit court Il indicative common
wealths attorney who is not in sym
pathy with the prohibition law has 1t
In his power to do our inspectors
much hurt. This should not be SO.
In this peculiar work which calls IN
spectors to enforce n law principally
where the local officers will not en-
alleged offenses should be far re-
moved from such prejudices to iur-
isdiction where they can have fair
trial and secure justice.
MORALE
In arresting people for petty ana
grand larceny and ordinary INSIDE
mcanors and felonies officers OF the
law are invariably immune from
petty prosecutions for performing
their duty and even receive common
dation for their services; but with Of
ficers--particularly prohibition in
spectors4--enforcinE the prohibition
law in many Jurisdictions the reverse
~ the ease; the more alert and II
flcient they become the greater the
persecution If these officers would
wink at violations Of tho law and al
how the. unlawful traffic to proceed
then a storm would arise in another
direction, 81 that the lot OF an In
spector Is not a happy one-the
more however do they deserve the
communication, sympathy and help of
all law abiding citizens.
Two of these inspectors were ar
rested by local officer for carrying
concealed weapons. only for the pur-
pose of finding out what these
strangers were In town for. OF course