﻿“THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE NOT INTERESTED” 

 
Quite right, my friend, the opinion, through only one-half crystallized, is general: that any red-blooded logger should have no objection to spending a dozen years in Washington’s model penitentiary for the sake of having injustice tested and weighed in the balance, with a view of using it as a substitute for tradition, custom, [s]law, clemency and civilization. 
How the “Centralia Victims” feel about this in their twelfth year I, of course, have no means of knowing. But I do feel that they, being reasonable creatures, are of the opinion: if injustice doesn’t stick in twelve years the cement of human enmity is rotten; that further efforts to sanctify injustice is a waste of penitentiary time . . . 
Ordinarily a worker is well aware of and acquainted with injustice in its many forms, to the extent that it is said: none but a worker can recognize injustice when it is wrapped around with patriotism and stiff-necked legal procedure—amen. It is, therefore, quite possible that those eight innocent workers tumbled to injustice the minute it raised its head in the courthouse of Montesano, Washington, on that fateful day, when jurisprudence undertook to find a substitute for-good old fashioned justice, (the blind blonde) and took unto itself a helpmeet of loose morals. I can see Britt Smith, the serious Britt, take one look at the layout and say: “I’ve seen that Jane before—she’s no good.” 
Such a turning of justice outdoors by law in its, what should be, age of discretion is unreasonable; they two, law and justice, having lived in the same house so long that people upon meeting law would mention it as “I ran into law of justice today—he was out walking ALONE. Law ain’t gonna get away with that stuff—the neighbors shall object.” 
The kicking of justice into the streets and the taking up with a hussy, injustice, is just a little more than the virtuous people can stand—such a union shall not prosper. 
Governor Hartley is one of those neighbors He lives right next door to the house offlaw and knows precisely what is going on . . . 
Wise men in Olympia, when they framed this union of Law and Justice did anticipate that sooner or later Law would start cutting-up and they provided that in such pin- instant the governor of the State of Washington shall have the POWER, willy-nilly, to boot injustice from the house of Law anti re-instate, re-establish, justice in her lawful demense. 
I have often marvelled at their marvelous acumen. What greater justification (of which there are many) can the good governor demand than this far-sighted prophecy of lawgivers that “mistakes” shall happen, that this very miscarriage of justice shall occur—to recite the grounds here would be a hateful thing to do. The governor has the facts, outside of possibly the extent to which these eight, and others, were subjected to tortures the least of which was the several murders other than the so-called execution of legioners by Wesley Everest—so proved. Not one of those men, now in Walla Walla, ever committed any crime at any time in their lives so far as has developed in this or any case—even if present incarceration were for crime they would be first offenders— 25 to 40 years, how shall that jibe with law and with humanity? The governor knows the sentence is an illegal sentence on the face of it. 
Unless I mistake my man, Governor Hartley shall take to the warpath pronto and require that heavy explanation shall be done without finger in the mouth and explanations not forthcoming he shall act. 
Note:—The sentence being illegal on the face of it regardless of the merits of the position of offense, if any, any action taken by Governor Hartley, regardless of what satisfaction or dissatisfaction it creates is perfectly justified in view of the mess created by illegality running wild. Whenever the occasion arises that courts cannot convict according to law it is the bounden duty of the governor, in this state, Washington, to take cognizance and see to it that no injustice is donEe.