The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1854-05-04
Morris and Essex Railroad.
From the NcW York Tribune.
Kentucky Justice.

Kentucky Justice.
The extraordinary result of the late tri-
al of Matt. Ward echoes andwill long echo
through the columns Of the press. 1t
shocks the public sense and calls forth
indignant commentary in every unbiased
quarter There never was a clearer case
of deliberate, premediated murder. Mat
tlew Ward, who has now been acquitted
went out and purchased pistols, came
home and loaded them, and, avowing his
intention, proceeded to the school house,
and there after few words and no conflict,
sent a bullet straight through the heart of
the teacher Butler. 1t was done in open
daylight, and before the face of Wards
own brother and whole SC hool-house full
of children 1t is impossible to conceive
of a more palpable case of premediated
assassination. That the man should be
tried for the offense and be was acquitted
outright of killing his victim surpasses be-
lief Yet so it is.
The fact is sufficient to call forth the
gravcst censure and the most unqualified
rebuke and condemnation, and it is no won
der that the public voice swells loud and
deep in its denunciation of this shameless
verdict. What is its cause? Ward be-
longs to what in the slave States is pecu-
liarly the Ruling Glass of society. He
belongs to an old, rich, and fashionable
family. The Glass to which he belongs,
forgetful of their duties to society, forget
full of the claims of the offended justice,
and remembering nothing, and observing
nothing but the wound which Ward con-
viction would make in the petty circle OF
which he was member, combined to Sc
cure his acquttal at oil hazards. To do
this, the trial of the case was transferred
to a rural community unused to distinc-
ton except in the humble Office of defer
ring to it, and here Jury was selected,
and upon this Jury was concentrated the
full power Of some of the most distinguish
ed names of the State, in order to con-
strain its judgment. The jury that ac-
quilted Matthew Ward was a simple
country Jury, such as the names of Guth-
rie and Prentice, and Marshall and Crit
te nden could awe into deferential submis-
sion. All these men, and others appear
ing in the capacity of ministers of the gos-
pei, were present as witnesses or as coun-
sci in the case, and all upon the side o!
Ward. Under such pressure he was
discharged from custody and sent back
upon society with not one of them all
witnesses, counsel, or jury, disbelieving
his guilt. He was acquitted through the
positive and direct influence of the Ruling
Glass in Kentucky. Who make up that
Glass we have briefly described. 1t is
Just such class as does not exist and can
not exist in a free State, for its basis is
Slavery. 1t is the Master interest in a
State cursed with servitude. 1t is COM
posed of the wealth and the fashion
and old family names and influences
existing throughout the State. 1t is
the dominant force in a commonwealth
divided into Rich and Poor. 1t is that
Privileged division Of society existing in
our slave States and existing nowhere
else in our confederacy. And that Glass
has dared thus openly to break and defy
the laws ostensibly made for all, and to
trample under foot the sacred name of
justice
Such a proceeding will not 60 unaveng-
ed. The class which has committed this
wrong and inflicted this dishonor upon
the Judiciary, will pay the penalty there
for. 1t is an example which will not be
lost upon the youth of that State where
it has been perpetrated. 1t is apparently
offering them an immunity in violence
and crime, which will be taken full ad-
vantage of in the future This trial will
bear fruit in Kentucky after all the actors
who have taken part in it shall have gone
to their graves. 1t will not only excite
one class to outrage, but another to resist
ance and bloodshed. Its natural conse.
quence is to set Lynch Law above Legis-
lative statutes. Such results loosen soci-
ETY. at its foundations. If justice is found
dethroned by her own high priests in her
own temples, the very idea of respecting
or regarding her will be mocked by the
many, and all institutions of society be
menaced by common ruin.
But the immediate effect of so unblushing
wrong will be as certain as its remoter
results. The individuals who had been
concerned in it cannot esca pc their direct
personal share of the penalty it imposes.
There are men prominent in this trial
who have made themselves accomplices af-
ter the fact in the murder of Butler
Such are they who have sought by their
testimony to screen the murderer from all
punishment, and such are they who by ex-
traordinary proceedings as counsel have
contributed to that same end. What are
we to say of the testimony of the clergy
men Of the parish to which Ward belongs