Saturday, Feb. 29, 1896
February 29, 1896
Summary
The writer thanks those involved in aiding in the defense of the Lunenburg Case.
Transcription
The trial of the Lunenburg County prisoners will soon commence and public will witness one of the most exciting trials in the criminal annals in the state.
The prejudiced elements of that benighted county, not content with having sent to their death two innocent, defenseless, penniless women and other to the penitentiary, have been endeavoring to manufacture testimony and to forge the chain of circumstantial evidence by which they vainly hope to secure the conviction of the prisoners.
It has been a long chase, and questions have been presented, discussed, and settled which could never have been passed upon in any other way. But what a record have the Christian men and women made in this contest! What could have been done without them?
We have felt well-nigh hopeless at times, but no act of ours or expressed upon the countenance showed fact, and we have cheered the prisoners and encouraged the people rallying to their defense.
We know that Mary Abernathy, Pokey Barnes, and Mary Barnes innocent. We know this outside the solemn and oft-repeated declaration of Solomon Marable that the women are innocent.
That it should be possible in this enlightened age to send them to their death is to be deplored. But, throughout this celebrated case, sublime in his devotion to his oath of office and fidelity to the support of the laws as he understood them stands His Excellency, Charles T. O’Ferrall, Governor of Virginia.
His first duty was the protection of the life of a citizen. Men who sit aghast at his exercise of his executive power were silent when they saw the laws of the commonwealth broken by men who wore the robe the commonwealth, yet disregarded all of the rules of common-sense decrees of justice.
Equally as forward in his action was the Attorney General of Virginia, Hon. R. Taylor Scott. His declaration before the Supreme Court that the object of all law was the preservation of the the life of a citizen and accordingly should never be subverted to the carrying out the decrees of a mob wat as eternal as it was emphatic.
Without complaining he with-stood the storm of criticism, and smilingly bowed to the decree of the court, annulling his interpretation of the law. What his ruling will be should a similar question be presented for his consideration should the present Attorney-General have been promoted to a seat upon the Supreme Court bench is well-known.
God grant that with the ushering in of Spring, the chirping of the birds, the budding of the trees, and the coloring of the flowers a brighter day for the prisoners may dawn.
The prejudiced elements of that benighted county, not content with having sent to their death two innocent, defenseless, penniless women and other to the penitentiary, have been endeavoring to manufacture testimony and to forge the chain of circumstantial evidence by which they vainly hope to secure the conviction of the prisoners.
It has been a long chase, and questions have been presented, discussed, and settled which could never have been passed upon in any other way. But what a record have the Christian men and women made in this contest! What could have been done without them?
We have felt well-nigh hopeless at times, but no act of ours or expressed upon the countenance showed fact, and we have cheered the prisoners and encouraged the people rallying to their defense.
We know that Mary Abernathy, Pokey Barnes, and Mary Barnes innocent. We know this outside the solemn and oft-repeated declaration of Solomon Marable that the women are innocent.
That it should be possible in this enlightened age to send them to their death is to be deplored. But, throughout this celebrated case, sublime in his devotion to his oath of office and fidelity to the support of the laws as he understood them stands His Excellency, Charles T. O’Ferrall, Governor of Virginia.
His first duty was the protection of the life of a citizen. Men who sit aghast at his exercise of his executive power were silent when they saw the laws of the commonwealth broken by men who wore the robe the commonwealth, yet disregarded all of the rules of common-sense decrees of justice.
Equally as forward in his action was the Attorney General of Virginia, Hon. R. Taylor Scott. His declaration before the Supreme Court that the object of all law was the preservation of the the life of a citizen and accordingly should never be subverted to the carrying out the decrees of a mob wat as eternal as it was emphatic.
Without complaining he with-stood the storm of criticism, and smilingly bowed to the decree of the court, annulling his interpretation of the law. What his ruling will be should a similar question be presented for his consideration should the present Attorney-General have been promoted to a seat upon the Supreme Court bench is well-known.
God grant that with the ushering in of Spring, the chirping of the birds, the budding of the trees, and the coloring of the flowers a brighter day for the prisoners may dawn.
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Lower Left Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Liam Eynan
Citation
“Saturday, Feb. 29, 1896,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed April 24, 2025, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1782.