The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-08-20
Making the Law Il Joke.

News ana -hoo' 1c-I
Having brought Fox and Cap
pins from Georgia, where following
their arrest by the officers Of that
state they had been safeguarded
for nearly q week, the South Caro-
lima autho critics appear to have tax
en- the position that the demands
of the situation have been fully met
as long as these prisoners are safe
behind the walls OF the Charleston
county Jail.
AS soon as the sheriff of LeXlng-
ton county had turned them over to
the sheriff of Charleston county ne
and his deputies took the train for
Columbia and they have not been
back. To all intents and purposes
the Lexington county sheriff ap-
pears to have washed his hands
of the whole business.
Why should these men charged
with a murder committed in Lex
ington county, be kept in jail IN
Charleston county, nearly 1oO
miles away? II the authorities OF
Lexington county are not able TO
safeguard them in the Jail at Lex
ington why are they not taken to
the state penitentiary at Columbia
and incarcerated there?
The obvious answer is that the
state authorities have been intimi-
dated by the threat of armed men
in and about Columbia that if these
prisoners are brought back to the
state capital they will be lynched-
This at all events is the way the
average citizen interprets the sit
uatiOn and in such circumstances 1t
is out Of the question to expect the
average citizen to nave much re-
spect for the law and the govern
ment
Whether there is any real like
lihood of an attempt being made to
seize these men from the Jail in
Charleston and lynch them we do
not know There have been ru-
mors Of the possibility that this
would be undertaken, and as a re-
suit of these rumoFs the several ru-
raj policemen of the county have
been called from their regular
work since Sunday and held most
Of the time at the county Jail and
the members Of the two military
companies OF Charleston have been
subject to CALI
This means that while no formal
orders have been issued the officers
and members of these companies
have been given to understand un-
officially that their services 1nay be
required. Pride in their organiZa-
tions is enough to cause them to be
ready in such circumstances to
meet a possible call Immediately.
1t is poor arrangement and one
which it would be hard, we think,
to defend. If the state authori-
ties need the militia companies to
help put Fox and Gappins in the
state penitentia,y they should say
80 and call them out for that pur-
pose No valid reason for expect
lUS luC udi QSHlSIl " NC iShNJ III
definitely to help safeguard these
men in the Charleston Jail suggests
itself. Surely tha; is not the char
acter of service for which these
companies exist.
This last is only an incident Of
the situation. though an important
one, we think. The main thing is
the disresnect for constituted au-
thority which the public cannot
fail to entertain when constituted
authority. in the language of the
Spartanburg Herald, hides out
from the mob.
If the authorities properly re-
sponsible for the custody Of Fox
and Gappins are not hiding OUT
from the mob what are these men
doing in Charleston-
1t is a serious situation because
of the effect it is bound to have
upon the attitude or the people To-
ward the law In such a situation
the seriousminded people Of the
state expect that the governor of
the state shall taSe the measures
that are necessary to vindicate the
law and prevent it from becoming
a Joke. Let him act vigorously and
effectively and they Will back him
to the limit.