An
extract
or
two
from
the
newspapers
of
the
day
will
furnish
a photograph
that
can
need
no
embellishment: Oh,
there
was
no
excitement
about
it—he merely "remarked"
the
small circumstance!
Four
months
later
the
following
item
appeared
in
the
same
paper (the Enterprise).
In
this
item
the
name
of
one
of
the
city
officers
above
referred
to
(Deputy Marshal
Jack
Williams)
occurs
again:
This
efficient
city
officer,
Jack
Williams, had
the
common
reputation
of
being a burglar, a highwayman
and
a desperado.
It
was
said
that
he
had
several
times
drawn
his
revolver
and
levied
money
contributions
on
citizens
at
dead
of
night
in
the
public
streets
of
Virginia.
Five
months
after
the
above
item
appeared,
Williams
was
assassinated
while
sitting
at
a
card
table
one
night; a
gun
was
thrust
through
the
crack
of
the
door
and
Williams
dropped
from
his
chair riddled
with
balls.
It
was
said,
at
the
time,
that
Williams
had been
for
some
time
aware
that
a
party
of
his
own
sort
(desperadoes) had sworn
away
his
life;
and
it
was
generally
believed
among
the
people
that
Williams's
friends
and
enemies
would
make
the
assassination memorable—and useful, too—by a wholesale
destruction
of
each
other.
It
did
not
so
happen,
but
still, times
were
not
dull
during
the
next
twenty-four hours,
for
within
that
time a
woman
was
killed
by
a
pistol
shot, a
man
was
brained
with
a slung shot,
and
a
man
named
Reeder
was
also
disposed
of
permanently.
Some
matters
in
the
Enterprise
account
of
the
killing
of
Reeder
are
worth
nothing—especially
the
accommodating
complaisance
of
a
Virginia
justice
of
the
peace.
The
italics
in
the
following
narrative
are
mine: Reeder—or
at
least
what
was
left
of
him—survived
his
wounds
two
days!
Nothing
was
ever
done
with
Gumbert.
Trial
by
jury
is
the
palladium
of
our
liberties. I
do
not
know
what
a
palladium
is,
having
never
seen
a palladium,
but
it
is
a
good
thing
no
doubt
at
any
rate.
Not
less
than
a
hundred
men
have
been
murdered
in
Nevada—perhaps I
would
be
within
bounds
if
I said
three
hundred—and
as
far
as
I
can
learn,
only
two
persons
have
suffered
the
death
penalty
there. However,
four
or
five
who
had
no
money
and
no
political
influence
have
been
punished
by
imprisonment—one
languished
in
prison
as
much
as
eight
months, I think. However, I
do
not
desire
to
be
extravagant—it
may
have
been less.