The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1854-05-13
SATURDAY MORNING, MAY Is, 1854.
The Ward Case---Public Indi gnation.

The Ward Case---Public Indignation.
The Press OF the country, including large
majority of the papers published in Kentucky,
are commenting with just severity upon the re-
lease by Kentucky jury, ofMatt. F. Ward, the
murderer Of peaceful and inofensiye citizen
of Louisvile, who was preniedtantly assassin
ated, in cold blood, last November The &C
counts of the public outbreak in the city OF
Louisville after the trial () had been conclud-
cd, have reached our readers through other
sources. A gentleman who was present at the
time informs US that the published accounts of
the Indignation meeting, and the mob spirit
displayed in front of the dwellings of the Wards
and one Of the attorneys for the defence, Wolfe.
fall far short Of depicting the actual degree Of
evaporation which swaycd tie incensed crowd
However much this mob spirit may be dcplor-
cd, it WAS nevertheless to have been expected :;
and had those against whom the Indignation
was aimed Ieen discerning men, they would
have expected much harsher treatment than
they received. AS an instance Of the high state
pffccling, We are informed of the fact, that Col.
Preston. the representative in Congress from
the Louisville district, who came home to tcs-
tify to the general good character of Matt
Ward, on the night of the meeting was loudly
Kissed, and SO much interrupted that he was
compelled to forego indicating the mcagre
part he played in the legal mockery at Eliza
BEETHOVEN. Any one having a knowledge, as
we haze, of the place which Col 7. has hereto
fore occupied in the hearts of the people of
Louisville, can readily judge that &c commit an
act toward bin Of this kind, the crowd would
have been ready TO take summary justice into
their owE hands with very little additional fuel
administered 60 their already infamed senses.
Col. P.-and mcritorioasiy TOBIAS heretofore
stood as Bays before that people" sans
Icur, sans rcpreehe --nnboundediy popular
and with unlimited influence, the reward of his
cMva,ric honor, nnimpcachable integrity, ma
turai goodness Of heart. and manly bearing in
all his Intercourse with his fcllow-citzcns His
popularity was such that whenever he was up
for Office, his political sdyersaries, even though
the district Was close, had no hopes OF success
fully opposing him. We conclude then from
the manner in which be was treated, that the
indignation against the Wards and Wolfe had
deeper hold in the breasts ofthe Louisville cit
liens than could have resulted from a mere or
binary appeal to the mob spirit.
We presume no one in the land who has &C
,r,ainted himself with the facts of this oura-
gcouS farce upon legal justice, prctends to doubt
that goH did not save Mat. f. Wards neck
from the halter The act is stigma upon the
escutekeon IF Kentucky that can nevc, be OBJ
liberated That State has stood for the last
half century as thc embodiment of every thing
noble, chiralr:c. brave and Just : but il will re
quirc a far different course fron, that pursued
by one ether courts in this Ward affair, to re-
tain her proud position. Contrasting The award
of justice administered hy a Massachusetts,
court to Che murder in high life, which occurred
in Boston few years since, with this one at
Louisville, and with what whitening contempt
can the SONS of the old bay State look down
upon the trucking and nhrhttabIe jury OF IIar-
din county, Kentucky.
The st. Louis IntcIligcnccr has some very
proper comments upon the rule, which is be-
coming quite in vogue with courts, of forbid
ding newspaper reports of the testimony to be
published daring trials Of wealthy and iniuen-
tial culpr;ts. We sulJoin portion of them:
One question which arose and was much dis
cussct, TAT the Ward trial. was whether news
papers should publish the facts and evidence
IN relation 10 such matters. We are satisfied
that without general law, which would invade
the freedom of the Press to such an extent that
a bill to enact it could not pass any legislative
body i'll this country or even receive IA respec-
table support, the publicity SO much deprecated
in some quarters cannot be prevented, and we
doubt whether such Il law, if passed, could be
enforced in single ease.
AS to comments and expressions of opinion
by the papers, they amount to little or nothing
ii the facts presented do not Justify them. The
people can and do draw their own conclusions
from the facts. or popular government and trial
by jury are humbugs. For a paper to say that
an outrage Is an outrage, or on the other hand
to characterize as such an act which the facts
1t publishes slow 10 be no such thing, does not
really Interfere with the course of Justice how
ever foolish it may he in the conductor of the
paper: or if it does, then a censorship of the
press in this respect ought to be established
and enforced by general law, instead of lcav-
ing it to the arbitrary discretion of a Judge to
intcrpose after the mischief has been done. and
is beyond his reach. We have better opinion,
however, of the good sense of our feilow-citi-
Z"nS than to believe such restrictions upon the
press to be necessary; if we had not. we should
so for a Government like that of Louis Napo-
leon Mt once. We say to the lawyers and judges,
and the few editors who agree with them in the
fogy notion, that the facts of criminal outrages
and the opinions naturally suggested by them,
ought to be suppressed just let us know dcfin-
itrly and intelligibly what is to be done about
it. We can see no sense in halfway doings, such
as the occasional and worse than useless inter
position of particular judges or courts. Let US
just come out like men and go for general
and ciiectual censorship at once. or revise those
ali Lara Snl
The partial or occasional. and wholly worthless.
though vexatious censorship that now exists.
EX-PRESIDENr VAN BrREN.-A letter from
Rome, dated April 4th, says Among the ex-
pcctant Oriental travellers, is our distinguish
ed citizen cy- President Van Buren,. who has
been wintering at Rome lie leaves to-day for
Naples with the in tention of passeng the sum
mer in that region. perhaps at Sorrento. 1t is