There are many people who think that capital punishment is wrong, that the State itself has no right to take human life. Despite this opposition to killing people, we find that some officers seem to think that they have the right to shoot people on the mere suspicion that they have violated some law. It would be interesting to know how many people have been shot at in North Carolina in the past 10 years by over-zealous officers. It would also be a matter of considerable interest to know how many officers have been shot by persons whom they were attempting to arrest. Tere has been a good deal of shooting by both sides, too much of it in fact.
The recent killing of Mr. Holt, a Smithfield lawyer, by Wyatt, a Raleigh detective, has caused a great deal of comment and much unfavorable criticism of the officer. He had no warrant for the man he killed, no evidence that any one in the car had done any thing wrong. Merely suspected that it was a liquor car and proceeded to shoot at it and kill a good citizen. The officer seems to have acted like a fool and chief of police Bryan, who was sitting by him, also appears in a bad light. The occurrence was inexcusable, and Wyatt ought to be severely punished.
The prohibition law does not make any friends by such performances as that of Wyatt. Selling whiskey is a violation of law and those who do it should be punished, but not by death. There are four crimes that carry the death penalty in North Carolina, but even in such cases the accused parties have the right of trial by jury. Policemen, deputy sheriffs and prohibition officers have not yet been invested by law with the power to kill people at will, although some of them seem to think so.
From the editorial page of The Beaufort News, Carteret County, Thursday, June 11, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn91068210/1925-06-11/ed-1/seq-1/
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