Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1925-10-22
Judge Waugh Severity Arraigns Pris-
noers for Dastardly Crime Severe
Criticism of Attitude of Public To-
ward Officers of the Law.

IAoy II " duSH yesterday d1JeiHool
sentenced Mrs. Peachie Green and
Elmer Ryder to eighteen years i'm
prisonment for the murder of Con-
stable G. H. Daniels at Valley Head
last August %.
In passing sentence on the man and
woman, Judge Waugh took occasion
to criticise the attitude of the public
toward officers of the law.
Judge Waugh said in sentencing
Mrs. Green and Ryder:
''You have been ably and faithfully
represented by the attorneys appointed
by the Court to defend you; your the
DRY Of the killing as we'll as that Of
the State was presented by the in
structions of the Court, which / be-
4ieve gave to the jury the law of
such cases; a jury of your country
men, free from bias and prejudice,
mas returned it's verdict of murder
in the second degree against each of
you, and I can see no cause for dis
tnrbing these verdicts. 1t therefore
only remains for the Court to fix
your terms of imprisonment, and in
determining what shall be your
term of Imprisonment, the Court
must look to the evidence, not for
the purpose Of fixing the degree of
your guilt, which has been settled
by the verdiets of the jury, but to
ascertin what shall be the period 9E
your confinement, On those YER
diets, within the limitations prescrib-
ed by statute-not less than five nor
more than eighteen years.
"You were justly charged with the
murder of c. H. Daniels. Stripped
of immaterial facts, the evidence in
brief shows Daniels, a constable Of
the county, accompanied a deputf
sheriff to the scene of the murder to
arrest you, Elmer Ryder, and return
you to the road gang, from which
you had escaped. These officers
found YOU and your co-defendant at
your house AT hand were two guns
that you had but recently cleaned
andloaded, as verify believe, in an
ticipatioa Of the coming Of the of
fcers; and when the officers arrived,
you armed yourself Immediately
with one those guns and refused to
submit to arrest The officer dealt
with you, Ryder, more justly than
your conduct merited They would
have been fully warranted in shoot
ing you When the officers had dis
armed and were about to overcome
your resistance by means much less
severe than they would have been
justified in using, you aolled for the
assistance OF your confederate And
then, you, Peachie Green, came read
lily in response to that call; armed
with the other gun, you approached
the scene in a threatening manner,
demanding Ryder's release, shot and
killed the officer, But you attempt
to excuse your act by saying that
Daniels drew pistol and threatened
to shoot you. Suppose he did,--at
mat very moment he was graphing
with. Ryder, trying to force him to
submit to arrest, and when you APP
preached with gun in hand, demand
ing that he. release. Ryder as you. say
you were, he would have been fully
within his right if he had actually
shot you. He had right in the
light Of your conduct to shoot you,
and you should not be heard in your
effort to seek refuge behind his
threat to shoot.
Whether Daniels presented his
pistol and threatened to shoot you, or
not, is absolutely immaterial so far
as your guilt is concerned. Daniels
was clearly within the law, doing not
only the thing he had a right to o,
but the thing the law required him
to do-doing it with more leniency
and less force than could have legally
been expecting of him. Daniels was
acting rightfully; you, Peachie Green,
were acting wrongfully, and being at
fault you should not be heard to say
that you were frightened by Daniels
threat if such threat were made 4
Daniels not only had right to
threaten to shoot, under the cireum-
stances, but he had a right to shoot
you. m
"The only criticism of the conduct
of the officers in the trial of your
cases, is that they did not use moro
drastic means; that IS. not ? ra+tcr
about which syou will be heard to COM