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ittBeB1I1SI The bid Sian Chevalier.Editor Record:I sometimes wonder whether in lift* grave the old man starts in his sleep as he thinks he hears once more the {rush of the engine, whether he feels j again the shock of the sixty tons of ’1 iron, impelled by the invincible forces of nature, whose impact crushed the life out of him. I suppose not*'If he takes his taking off as quietlyas the people of Lawrence do, his rest ^ ! must be as profound as could be de-‘ sired._ | It seems a great pity that nothing _j could be done to ascertain who was ^ \ guilty of his death and if possible r* bring the offenders to justice, j { A coroner’s jury would have had but one question to answer, was the e train running at an unlawful rate of t speed? If they had determined that a the train was running more than six : miles an hour and had determined * i who was running the train then itI would have been the duty of the cor-? oner to make the arrest ana so set in “; mouon the desired prosecution. The a law reads as follows:' i Section 126, f 17S6. If the inquisl-II tion find a crime has been committed 5; on the deceased, and name the person 3 i whom the jury believes has commit-11 ted it, the inquest shall not be madeI public until after the arrest directed ' i in the next section. (G. S. 1868, ch.‘ 25, Sec. 126, Oct. 31.)Section 125, f 17S7. If the personcharged be present, the coroner may order his arrest by an officer or amy ' j other person, and shall then make a j warrant requiring the officer or other “ j person to take him before a justicrof the peace. (G. S. 1S6S, ch. 25, Sec. 127, Oct. 31.) *Section 12S, * 17SS. If the person charged be not present, the coroner may issue a warrant to the sheriff or any constable of the county, requiring them to arrest the person and take him before a justice of the peace.(G. S. 1868, ch. 25, Sec. 128, Oct. 31.Section 129, % 17S9. The warrantof a coroner in the above case shall be of equal authority with that of a justice of the peace; and when the person charged is brought before the justice he shall be dealt with as a person held under a complaint in the usual form. (G. S. 1868, ch. 25, Sec. 129, Oct. 31.)Section 136, f 1790. The warrant of the coroner shall recite substantially the transaction before him, and the verdict of the jury of inquest leading to the arrest: and such warrant shall be a sufficient foundation for the proceeding of justice, instead of a complaint. (G. S. 1868, ch. 25, Sec. 130, Oct. 31.)In answer to the first question was the train running at an unlawful rate of speed, there are ‘‘clouds of witnesses.”A gentleman by the name of Geo. Newcomb says the train was running at a rate of 15 to 20 miles, per hour, when the old man’s blood and brains were spattered over the front of tho engine.T. L. Marshall spent 14 years of his life on a locomoti ve engine. When he sees a train moving he knows itp rate of speed. He says the train that threw Chevalier into the air and finally dropped his mangled corpse onto the ground, sixty feet from the place where the engine struck him, was running at the rate of 30 miles per hour.Mr. John Dillon, at the paper mill, saw all the sickening details of the assassination. He says the train was moving at the rate of 20 to 25 miles per hour.There is no lack of testimony, if testimony is what is wanted, but it seems in this case that the more testimony the people have the worse off they are.The officers seem to be like the bear hunter who abandoned the trail because it was getting “too dam fresh.” It is net evidence that is wanted, but v- i an officer to set in motion the ma-s j chinery of the criminal law. Enforce s | the law and teach a lot of reckless and irresponsible trainmen that assassination is an expensive pastime and manslaughter a diversion that has to be atoned for. e I The public seem to be bound hand * .1 and foot. The railroads buy members i.jof the legislature in the capital as- j sheep are bought in the shambles.- i Judiciary and state and county offi-| cials are silenced with passes, and the j citizens apparently thinking the case! in ah in nnntliiFj»i♦f1raBByirB8eis hopeless, look on in apathy.oldaChevalier is a good old Frenchname. It reminds one of a littlej ! French history that it would be well ! enough to look at just at this time.! Everybody knows it by heart. Mon-' _ i seigeur the Marquis, in his coach and ! four horses went whirling by the pub-j lie fountain and the wheels crushed j the life but of Gaspard’s child. Gas-I pard was do vn in the mud and wet n j howling over his dead child like a wild animal. Monseigneur the Marquis threw Gaspard a” coin and inquired of the postillion if the horses 11 were injured. He threw another to e j Defarge, and when this last one was -1 thrown back into the coach, Monseig-a j neur the Marquis called the people £ J “dogs” and the people stood as cow-) { ed and silent as the peeple of Law-i j rence stand in the presence of the y omnipotent corporation whose wbirl-t ing drive wheels tossed into eternity* 1 a citizen of Lawrence, the old man 11 Chevalier. There is another truth that must be men tioned. Madam Defarge stood by silently knitting into her embroidery, in invisible characters the long roll that was checked off In the fateful and fatal days of the French revolution. * *
Newspaper Details
Lawrence Weekly Record
Lawrence, Kansas, US
Fri, Jul 03, 1891
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Lawrence P.
KS, USA 24 Apr 2023
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