The Texas Republican. [volume] (Marshall, Tex.) 1849-1869, 1861-03-16

the condition OF the people 10 us' s'etfoh vi INC
State relative TO a very mpo-iab, MATTER He
said in substance. Ne have, ~ you know.
spar. population, and our ci,izens are engaged
principally in stock missing Our horses and
cattle roam over an extensive district OF country.
! I, il m easy matter fos thieves TO ecour the
prairies scec, the best horses, drive them %,
and se them Hence the country is infested
with horse thieves If We pursue and succeed in
arrcs,ing them. what them Our jails are mae
cure We are not well enough on yet TO build
good ones-and to place a rascal in one Of them.
is tau,amoun, TO turnng him oose on The prairie,
for we canno, afford 10 guard them for months.
and the result Is tina, before the Court comes on,
The thief assisted by some Of his conicdera'es,
for snch men always have confederate gets
away. to yi.i, some other locality on the frontier
and steal. For the lost year or two, the citizens
on the frontier have made practice whenever
they caugh, horse thief TO hang him. This
looks revolving TO a man imbued with Christian
feelings and who has been raised in a country of
law and order But what are VIC to do. Fer.
haps you would say take them and whip them
punish them any other way than by taking life
Win, followsl a. short time afterwards this
rascal. with Others q bis clan joins the Indians,
inyades the settlement, burns houses, drives %
our horses and cattle aud murders our women
and children The truth is, the people Of the
frontier have found that they mus, either sub
nit patiently and uncomr lainingly to the loss Of
their property or they must enforce the death
penalty agains, all thieves cough, with stolen
property in their possession, for which they can
not give a satisfactory account
Well men are hung snd shortly Afterwards the
District Court conyenes. Ci,izeus are on the
Grand Jury who are cognizant Of these hangings,
They ARE under oath to report them. " III they
do ~ II not, they pcDure Themselves The
charge is murder Lawyers have to be employ
used to get rid OF the case The people are
poor, and have their families to provide for. One
perhaps becomes witness for the other or
otherwise assists the other to get rid Of his
troublesome case.
look at our situation Thieves on one side
and the Inv on the other What are We to do'
I AN oppoel to mob law, and ! think the peo-
pie Of the frontier are opposcd,o it, because they
see tha, i, s demoraIi,ng and ruinous in It's e.
fec,s Besides It sometimes happens that the
innoccn, suffer and the guilty get away. II the
law was arranged in iis execution, that thief
when arrested could be taken belprea magistrate,
and il found guiity sent Immediately TO the pen
/ ,eutiary, there would he no excuse for mob law
and any man or a., Of men who would attempt
to take the law in their own hands would lr
I properly punished, as they ought to he in every
community where the laws can be enforced
| This summary manner Of trying and furnishing
thieves would have ,alu,ary elect, for when
men take the law in their own hands they fire.
| aueuily nc, hastily and without proper consid
GRAFTON or appreciation Of the weight OF testlmo~
ny whereas twelve men bound by the solempity
Of an oath and the prisoner having the oppor'n
nifty to set forth hirly his defence, II be has one,
Justice is more likely to prevail
Now, you have been friend to the frontier
and your Journal has, have noticed with pleas
are taken great interest in our welfare wish
You would call the attention Of the Legislature
/ to this matter, so that something mas be done
for our relief
We told our friend that We would do so at the
earliest opportunity That We had long been
satisfied that the fearful increase of crirr thr rugh
/ out the country was attributable to the present
administration Of the law not only tb.eying for
thieves were easily punished throughou, the pop
ulous portions of the Siaie) but murder and acts
Of violence. How wss it possible to enforce the
law, when criminals were allowed put on their
cases from court to court until witnesses died
out moved away, or forgot the main facts upon
which a verdict was 10 be obtained or after
wcarying tho witnesses in their attendance from
court to court, until all interest in the case had
died out, to finally get rid of it by change Of
venue' We ought 10 have speedy trials, and
we cannot have them so long IA the civil and
criminal jurisdictions OF courts OF justice ARE
united There creh, in our judgment, TO be a
special Judge in every county, who should be re
qulred to hold court every month and before
whom every criminal should be nrraigued, and
preliminary examination exhibited illcient
evidence to believe that an individual had com
United crime rendering him amcndabe to the
law, to place him at once or ms speedily as pos
sible. on trial An the evidence compatible
with the ends Of Justice, can AMI ongbt TO be ob
tanned within FIVE or ten days This places men
nearer on an equality than the lrsen' system
II man cannot obtain justice in county, let
him have change Of venue, bat With The pro
vision tina, the trial is to take place Immediately
There certainly ough, to be come .peedier and
more certain mode OF administering the criminal
law than at present Society gr,uns upder the
infection of the present system. viii the Leg
stature not take the matter in hand. md legi,-
late in this particular, not only for the frontier
ba, for the whole State'
pns- We learn that G.. W. Whtmore. who
was requested by the almost unanimous vote of
this county to resign his seat in the Legislature
has not paid the slightes, attention 10 that re
Guest, bu, has gone on to Austin. Not con,en,
with incorporating Harrison county in the
late conyochton Of the Legislature, he has gone
back there again, regardless Of the openly ex
pressed wishes Of his late constituents In the