Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1864-07-27
A CHAPTER ON THE NATURE OF
EVfDNNCH. r-s- sy--1

II Is IN tnat ponron thar Judge North
now stands sgraigned at the bar of pub
lie opinion. With an air Of conscious
innocence he demands "a the proof of the
charges alleged against him. He appears
to regard and speak of "proof' as a tam
gible body of certain shape, weight, color
and other material properties. to be lock-
ed up. laid away carefully, and to be pro-
dueed upon occasion as one would pro-
duce the signet ring, the murderers
knife, or the "long lost wiz of sepsa-
ton romance. Unless this sort Of tails
manic "proof' can be produced by his
aecusers. Judge North believes that he
shall be able to walk in the broad light Of
day, arrayed in the bright garb Of inno-
cence unstained and justified in the esti-
nation of his fellow citizens. BE seems
to suppose that the only evidence Of his
guilt that win strike the public mind as
at all convincing must be that A, B or C,
has placed in the Judicial hand, bag Of
gold. in exchange for carefully drawn
instrument, duly signed with the judicial
siSn-manual, and sealed with the Judicial
signet, covenanting for and in considera,
ton of the gold so paid and delivered,
the rendition of Judgment Of the effect
and tenor nominated in the bond. The
proof Of the payment of the gold, the pro-
duction of the damning bond and the
record of the court containing the precise
Judgment agreed upon, should in the
Judges estimation all be necessary to as
sure the people that corruption had been
resorted to. Such. however, is not our
view of the matter, nor do we believe
that the public are so foolish as
to expect proof of that character to
verify the widespread belief that corrup-
ton is the rusle in our courts, and not the
exception. The methods of corruption
are various, as is the character of proof to
establish its existence. A judge is cor
rupt, who is influenced in any Judicial de-
cision by any motive of private gain, how
ever that gain is to be accomplished.
There are no limits to the variety of modes
by which corrupt purpose may be ex-
ecuted, save those which bound the in
genuity and cunning of those interested in
Its accomplishment, and in escaping de
lection. The modes of proof are equally
various. In case of the bribery of q
Judge, the utmost pains are taken to con-
ceal the transaction both by the briber and
the bribed. One is equally guilty with
the other; they escape together or they
are together convicted. Their interest in
the concealment of the crime is identical.
We may as well hope for the open confess
sion ofthe bribed judge as the evidence of
the party who paid the bride. If the
people look for the press to produce the
evidence Of the briber, or of one who has
seen bribe-money paid, they viii be dis
appointed. and may as wen fold their
han1s at once, and SIT down patiently and
submit to the high-handed corruption that
they feel certain is tramping upon their
necks, but Of which they fail to recognise
the proof. They may writhe and groan,
and feel the yoke for years, but if they
ever are able to produce that character of
proof, it viii be an instance unparalleled.
The corruption of judge may be directly
by the payment of specific sum of
money, or it may be indirect, but none
the less easy and certain by being cloaked
under the forms of business transaction,
the corrupt intsnt being in the latter case
the thing to be concealed. Third persons
-go-betweens-are introduced, in whose
names the affair is conducted. By these
and thousand other ways, investigation
is baffled and conviction made difficult it
being, in all cases, the interest Of those
who k,aop the facts to conceal them.
We apprehend that an officer suspected
of corruption is not to escape, simply
because the afidavits of those who
are participants in his guilt cannot be pro-
duced or because an eye witness is not
forthcoming. A chain of circumstances
may lead to the discovery OF truth, as well
as the most direct testimony and in all
transactions which, like bribery, are secret
in their nature, this sort of evidence must
be relied on. Neither, to convince the
public of the guilt Of these Judges, Is il
necessary to make case which, like that
required in legal prosecution " excludes
the possibility of reasonable doubt"
We remember to have read, some time
since, that a prosecution failed in San
Francisco, becauseof inability to establish,
by competent legal proof, the character Of
a notorious house of il-fame. The ac-
cused escaped the legal penalty, yet were
the public so fully convinced of the char
acter of the premises, that any women seen
to enter therein would have been spurned
from society. Itisuseless for Judge North
to fall back on his official dignity and call
for "proof he understands the term.
We are giving proof, day by day. his
purpose viii not be served by this silly
subtefnge Of demanding fact" when
facts are staring him and staring the peo-
pie in the face day after day in the public
journals. We will reeapitulate for his
delectation few facts on one of the char
ges against him Of the nature of which he
processes such profound ignorance.
You are charged, Judge North. with
corrupt eolluaion with the Gould 6 Curry
company. The following facts, among
others. are stated to sustain the charge.
While important litigation, to which that
con,nanv- was a partv. was pending before