The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1854-05-05
THE WARD TRIAL.

THE WARD TRIAL.
We have taken occasion TO condemn In We.
~ emphatic terms the outrageous course Of
the New York Tribune and the New York
Times, in their wholesale assault upon Ken
lucky juries and the vindictive attempts to
produce the impression that the murderer OF
Butler was permitted to escape because his
victim was native of the North. We in
yoke these journals not to Judge the South by
the habits of their own section. White and ne.
gro murderers at the North have been per
mitted to slaughter inoffensive Southern gen
tlemen, visiting the North on lawful errand,
and their blood still cries in vain from the
ground for vengeance. Their assassins have
scarcely been subjected to the farce of a trial,
and their acquittal was hailed with enthusi-
asm by the people and the press. VAST be-
cause they were Southern men that their
murderers were permitted to escape, and ap-
plauded for their crimel The South does not
carry sectional vengeance to such an extent
as this. The Northern citizen residing
in her borders is treated by all gentlemen
with that uniform courtesy to which he is en-
titled His rights are protected-his person
is more secure, and if he be poor man, his
feelings are more respected than in the North
1t is true, that when Northern emissaries of
abolition are found in the South, they receive
the punishment they deserve. Nor do we sup.
pose Southern criminals in the North are
treated in different manner
" Al Al -
in the Ward case was totally unwarranted by
the facts. Wessay now, as we have said be-
fore, that we have never known a clearer
| case of murder than is shown by the testimo-
ny in the Ward trial, published in full in the
Louisville papers. A man prepares himself
with loaded pistol, goes to the room of an
individual, who is proverbial for his peacea-
BILE and quiet habits, commences quarrel
with him, calls him id liar and strikes
him, and then, because the assailed man
strikes back, or, as some Witnesses testify,
pushes back, the armed man points pistol to
his breast and shoots him dead The Jury
which could upon such evidence acquit pri-
soner deserves, in our opinion, the strongest
public censure. A jury is public body it
is composed of public men its verdict is a
public act; its action involves the safety and
| well being of society, and in our opinion it is
a high duty which the press owes to society,
| to discuss and condemn verdicts which prac
tically nullify the laws of the land, which give
immunity to crime and strike at the founda-
ton of social harmony and order. AT the
same time, there is no excuse for such sweep
ing imputations upon the motives of the jury
in the Ward case as were contained in the
Tribune and Times. We do not pretend to
know their motives, but their verdict was in
the very teeth of the law and the testimony.
As to wealth, it has no more influence in
kentucky than New York 1t has too much
influence in all the States. England, with its
proud and ancient aristocracy, hangs peer
as soon as peasant. Nowealth nor title can
screen criminal at British bar But it is
not so in the United States, and least of all is
it so at the North. God forbid that the inno-
cent rich man should suffer from preiudi-
ces against his wealth any more than the in
nocent poor man should suffer from preiudi-
ces against his poverty. The only safe rule
for the guidance of Jurors is the law and the
testimony. And it is because the verdict in
the Ward case has been in fiat contradiction
to both these, that without impeaching the
motives of the jury, we have most decidedly
condemned their verdict