The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1922-06-02
PUTTING A PREMIUM ON
MURDER AND CRIME


If any further proof was needed to
demonstrate to the people of Missou-
ri the miserable failure and utter in
competence of the Hyde administra-
ton, that proof has been furnished in
the Governors absolute pardon to
Samuel A. Cheatham. murderer, and
his parole to G. W. Finch, bank rob-
Der. Cheatham pleaded guilty to MUIR
der in the first degree to save his neck
from the hangman's moose after one
of the most foul crimes which ever
blotted the criminal annals of St.
Louis. Hyde's maudlin defense of the
liberate murderer was allowed to go
free and the state waived all further
jurisdiction in the case because
Cheatham had a good prison record,
his attempt to seek public justifca-
ton for releasing the slayer after he
had served less than ten years of a
life sentence, all ring shallow in the
ears of citizenry which believes in
tempering justice with mercy but
condemns foolish pardons and paroles
that merely put a premium. on murder
and crime.
Samuel A. Cheatham murdered Geo.
J. Wurzburger. clerk in his fathers
pawnshop. for the purpose of robbery.
He shot him. bound him. dragged him
to coal bin in the cellar and left
him there to die while he deliberately
rified the store. There were no ex-
tenuating circumstances surrounding
the crime. 1t was planned and execut-
ed deliberately. No remorse over
came the slayer. He confessed only
after arrest when he realized that a
clean breast of the whole thing and
plea Of guilty would save him from
the black cap and the trap door which
leads to oblivion
This is the kind of a man Hyde
had granted free and unconditional
pardon after a term of less than a de-
cade in the state prison. Hyde speaks
of mercy, Hyde pirates of giving him
another chance, Hyde mentions his
previous good social standing as if
high family connections should have
anything to do with wiping away the
stain of murder. Hyde may explain
until he is blue in the face but neither
Hyde nor all the other Governors in
Christendom can restore the breath of
life to the buried fran of George j.
Wurzburger as it lies under the sod,
or bring back departed joys to the
slain boys family.
Go forth and rob, assault and slay,
some persons will read in the Govern
or's uncondition pardon. Strike down
the youth of the land as they stand at
the threshold of vigorous and useful
manhood, bring the sorrow that is
worse than death to aged mothers and
fathers, wreck homes, blot out the
family circle with crimson splotches.
Go forth and do all this You probah-
ly won't get caught and if you do you
can serve few years like Samuel A.
Cheatham and then get free and IN
conditional pardon from the hands of
a lenient governor. OF course, Gov.
ernor Hyde does not proclaim this
and does not mean it. But we say
with all earnestness, if ever there was
an invitation to criminals to ply their
trade that invitation is written in the
pardon Cheatham.
The parole to Finch is scarcely less
noxious than the pardon. In time
when bank and payroll robberies are
of almost daily occurrence in the larg-
er, cities of the state. it does not seem
as if the parole of bank robbers will
react with any great moral effect.
Finch, once life-termer in the pris-
on of an adjoining state, had his sec
ond chance to Ego straight" and
failed. Mercy is fine thing but it
should not be over-worked. In an Of
fetal defense of the parole to Finch it
is stated that his bungling methods of
robbing the Gravois Bank were re-
garded as favorable factors in passing
on his parole. Are We RAPIDLY reach
ing the stage where lenient Govern
or shall extend clemency to all crimi-
nails who lack finesse SO much to be
desired but so seldom acquired? If
we are we NAV as we'll prepare to
scrap the penitentiary.-State Jour
nal.