Sunday-Law Persecution in Tennessee
We have received quite a full report of a recent case of Sunday-law prosecution from Mr. Cyrus Simmons, attorney at law, Nashville, Tenn., to whom we here acknowledge our thanks. The case came before Thomas R. Nelson, judge of the criminal court of Knox County. The accused criminal was Davis Cruze; the awful crime with which he was charged was chopping wood on Sunday. A motion to quash was overruled. The prosecuting witness, Samuel Coward by name, swore that on Sunday morning at six o’clock, May 16, 1909, he saw the defendant chopping wood, and also on other Sundays saw him working and chopping wood. The witness was asked if he ever chopped wood on Sunday. He said he cut wood or kindling on Sunday, but he did not make as much noise about it as the defendant. He also charged the defendant with working and making a noise on Sundays and disturbing the religious services conducted in the church near by. On examination, the defendant, Davis Cruze, said that he was a Seventh-day Adventist; had been working hard the previous week late and early away from home, and did not have time to cut wood during the week; that the wood he had was stumps and knots obtained from a neighbor; that early on that Sunday morning, about six o’clock, at the request of his wife he cut a little wood; that he only chopped about fifteen minutes, and that with as little noise as he could on stumps and knots. That was the first wood which he cut, and it was several hours before the church meeting. He always made it a point to keep his family quiet during services on Sunday and to conduct himself as a Christian, so as not to annoy or disturb his neighbors. His testimony was substantiated in every particular by two other witnesses, D. R. Bird and Horace Edington, the latter of whom said that Samuel Coward had malice and prejudice against the defendant because he was a Seventh-day Adventist; that on one occasion he heard him say, “The sooner the better we get shed of these d—— Adventists.” It was also shown that it was customary in that mountainous district where the defendant lived for the neighbors to chop wood on Sundays. After instruction by the court, the jury retired, was out five minutes, and returned the verdict of “Not guilty.” Our correspondent adds: “This is one of the many cases where the Sunday law has been used for the purpose of gratifying personal revenge, or as a means of religious intolerance. We are told by the books that it is better for ninety-nine guilty men to go free than for one innocent man to be punished. If Sunday legislation works such partial and iniquitous prosecution and persecution, is it not self-evident that such a law does more harm than good?”