Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1865-07-15
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The Military Murders.

sitting on the parties said TO have been
implicated in the assassination OF Mr.. Lin.
coin, has executed its commission. ~
Organized, as a high officer of the Depart.
ment Of the Navy has doclatcd such bod.
les to be, "for the purpose of conviction
'Ibe Military Commission has deter
minated its lawless violence 10 the blood
OF four American citizpns
/ The Military Commission we have de.
clared on authority Of law to have been q
usurpation of the functions Of the judiciary
The malice which the law alleges, as q
general principle in that case, we have
shown to have declared itself in the course
Of the proceeding under an undoubted evi
dence of fact. The violent attack Of the
Bench upon one of the counsel for the &C
cused, we repeat, showed malice. The
shaping Of leading intorrogativss by the
Court in manner calculated to obtain O
specific answer showed malice. The brow.
beating of tho witnesses and the counsc
ior the defense, wo repeat, showed malice.
The disappearance, previous to recall for
cross-examinaton, OF many of the leading
witnesses, showed malice. The extraor.
dinary concurronc ce Of the volumiuous per.
jury of The witnesses points, we re-afirm
to unity OF suggestion, demonstrativo Of
malice. The execution Of the sentence
almost Immediately after it's approval, iu
anticipation Of pubic remonstrance, aud
in contempt Of the order of the Judge char.
ged with jurisdiction in the case, is incon
testible testimony in support of the pre-
sumption Of law that the taking of life
which has just been perpctfatcd at Wash
in ton, was characterized, in fact, by the
malice which makes The taking of life
murder,
But forms, some men will say, in the
stolidity Of their souls, are of very little
importance in cases that do not involve
substantial injustice The gross stupid
ty oil those who meet the crime involved
in the death Of Mrs. Surratt and her as.
sociatcs with expressions of indifference
for the forms of law, is precisely the stuff
on which power fa'tcps into the gro;sness
of despo.ism. Outside forms of freedom can
find no dwelling Place in the habit ,tions
of men Technicalties, rules Of law, bills
of right, declarations Of independence ,cou.
stitutonal limitations Of po wer, are them
selves not merely the tenement but the
very body! Iudifferen, to forms Forms
are rights forms are privileges; forms
areJreedom
Mrs. Surratt, people will was inno-
cent. We care very lit.le for Mrs. Sur
RAFT; We care very little whether she was
guilty or innocent: we ignore all knowl.
edge, one way or the other, presented in
the chaos Of truth and perjury which we
have seen, in the form Of tcstim ony, taken
before the usurpation whi ch overthrow, in !
the City OF Washington, both he law and
the judiciary. "A committee executing the
Sloody code Of Judge Lynch having seized
a party Of our fellow citizens. good or evil
as they may have been, and having, altcr
a presext OF trial, executed upon them the
penalty of death, must not dare presume
to plead to Us reports Of It's infamous pro.
ceedings, in extcnuation of a crime thai,
placed uuder the ban Of both God and
man, knows no other name, in either nor
rails or law, than murder,
Whether Mrs Surratt was, or was lot
guilty, We repeat we neither know nor
care to know, Whether Atz.rot, Hayue,
Herold, were, or were not co-conspirst
with Booth, We are not aware, nor at this
moment are We disposed to inquire
How ca@ we presume to know In SOL
'mn duty to our trui as an agent of the
eternal vigilance which has been well
said TO DO ''lhe pIice of liberty" we are
pound to reject with scorn all the accounts
81 the proceedings of the violent men who
had the insolence to subject Mrs. Surratt
and her companions to mockery of trial.
The lnnocoPce or the guilt Of that woman
md her associates has never been put in
'0s(e''ce unless we are to suppose lynch
aw to be entitled to the reverence due
he civil law and, therefore, 10 deter
mined adherence 10 the sacred forms
hat enshrlne liberty, we shall hold Mrs.
Surratt and all her fellow victims, so long
IS they stand so under benefcien. pre-
'umt'on OF constitutional Justice, entitled
Till to the supposition Of their innocence,
Lynch law can,we repeat, make no one
guilty, To accept its proceedings u jus.
fcation Of its murders is substantially to
compound with felony Innocent in the
'ye ot the lay, though all the convictea
Ind nnconoictcl persons who were yester.
lay put to a violent death in Washington