Oxbow Incident Essay

646 Words3 Pages
The Oxbow incident was a very tragic incident. Three men were wrongly executed for murder and cattle rustling. People thought the men were guilty but had no evidence of guilt. There was one man who stood up for the accused because he knew they were innocent. He wasn’t trying to be a Christ. He was just being a man. Mr. Davies believed he is responsible for the death of the three men. He believed that he killed the men because he had an opportunity to stand up and state their innocence. He was also given a gun but he refused to use it to stop the violence. He believed he should have used Martin’s letter to prove that the three men did not kill Kinkaid. Mr. Davies took a leadership role to argue that the three were not guilty and he thought it was his responsibility to convince everyone of their innocence. The difference between leadership and responsibility is Mr. Davies believed that because he assumed leadership it was his responsibility to finish the task successfully. When the men were hung, Mr. Davies thought he had failed at his responsibility and was a poor leader. Mr. Tetley believed the three men were guilty and he convinced most of the people to believe they were guilty. Mr. Davies has a very strong argument but I, personally, cannot agree with it. He did the most he could to protect their lives. If he had shared Martin’s letter to his wife, the men would not have been hung, but Martin asked Mr. Davies to keep the letter private and he respected Martin’s request. Since Mr. Davies was a well respected man, people listened to his argument for the men’s innocence. A few people were convinced by Mr. Davies’ arguments. He tried his hardest to convince everyone but the posse wouldn’t change their minds. The posse was sure the three men were the rustlers. Sins of commission are the sins committed by doing something wrong. Sins of omission are
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