Peck was scared into pleading guilty
and he was railroaded to the peniten
tiary inside of ten minutes, sentenced
to life imprisonment and actually
served twelve years for a crime of
which he was innocent, for according
to the evidence of the coroner, there
was absolutely no evidence of an
assault But for the fact that Peck
was railroaded to the penitentiary, he
doubtless would have been lynched
and never had a chance to prove his
innocence, but what redress has he
for the twelve years of penal servi
tude? Now that he is again a free
citizen he should seek some compensa
tion for his labor from the state of
Ohio. It was not enough that an in
nocent man was set free, the state
should be made to pay heavy damages
to this citizen, who for no other rea
son than the color prejudice of its
other citizens, he was held in durance
vile for twelve long years. Peck has
good reason to thank God that he was
not lynched, good reason to be very
grateful to those who helped him to
freedom and he doubtless is, but he
ought to be compensated for labor
and for his loss of good name and
liberty. Think it over.
THE APPEAL acknowledges the re
ceipt of an invitation from the Board
of Trustees and the Faculty of the
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial In
stitute, to be present at the Thirty
second Anniversary Exercises, Sunday,
May 25 to Thursday, May 29, at/Tus
kegee Institute, Ala.
