The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1867-06-11

spirituous LIQUOR to another colOred man. ne
facts constituting the offence we're clearly shown,
but upon evidence OF the good character OF the
defendant and the bad character of the States
! witness, the jury readily returned averdict OF
not guilty
These cases demonstrate that the colored
people can aud do receive impartial justice at
the hands of the juries of the country aud We
have no knowledge or information tending to
| impugn the correctness Of this conclusion save
one case, aud that when the jury had not the
aid OF Judges charge.
| McKenzie's case may be polluted to-the de-
fence in that case rested entirely upon the cred
Utility Of witness whose character as slave
was shown to be very good-and upon the open
ness of the possession of the article charged TO
+ have been stolen. There was no affirmative
evidence of the witness character since las free
dom, and il was shown that the owner of the
pig very seldom, if ever. passed by the defen-
dants house It was further shown that de-
ftndant had prevaricated about how he came
| by 1.-THE identity of the pig was conceded.
Twenty four men-one jury in the county and
one in the Superior Court-say that he is guilty
1t was an open question fact ADD the jury
would have found the same verdict against
white man in the same condition of life with as
| little hesitation. The jury at FIRST divided
but the argument for conviction outweighed the
other and they agreed,
There is no ground for such com plant against
the juries-or if any complains could be sug-
| gested it would be the reverse. 1t was fire.
/ uuently said when Jake and John johnson
were acquitted, that had they been white they
would not have stood SO fair chance. Absence
of proof of character and a f0rtiori absence Of
character, will however much it may be guarded
against. weigh greatly with the jury in that
~ g 81 I'm
involved. The juries have an impression that
a negro who has acquired good character can
easily establish it-more easily, indeed in gene
raj, than the white man; because since free,
/ they have been more noticed and talked of-as
a matter, to considerable extent of philoso-
phical inquiry. Again,zit is impossible for jures
to throw ont of view. in any white or black.
the whole surroundings of the accused; they take
practical common sense view of human action by
referring it to such motives and springs of action
! would affect not man or any man bat such man.
and notwithstanding the sophistry of ingenious
counsel they think that man-whte or black.
| not because the, other-who they know
has had no moral or intellectual training. who
acts by the commonest instincts of our nature
l whose associations are low and tastes depraved.
i is more apt to steal than man who is just the
reverse-and the Judge when he tells them to re-
1 gard such defendant as first described as a
:. mere stranger will not be needed for the simple
reason that it is only within the power Of a rery
fen men to argue out case in the abstract and
come to a conclusion Numerically opposite to
that which would be arrived at by viewing it in
1 the concrete. -.-..s
| By keeping this explanation in view we may
account for the number of convictions against
negroes. but should not lose sight of the circum.
! stance that many more stand accused than whites
/ their want of moral and intellectual training
their crude ideas of their new relations and the
trying temptations to which in their new condi-
ton they are often subjected, easily accounts for
! the fearful increase of crime. Good citizens
should not attempt to palate excuse crime by
i making either false issue by such a sweep
: ing amnesty regardless of the circumstances oil
\ the would tend to induce the impression
among this unfortunate class, that they may be
protected in any lawlessness they may commit
Beccaria says that it is the certainty, not the
verify of enlistment which prevents crime.
Administrations two weeks ago, some con
eern was excited by the disappearance of me-
: gro boy living with a, Mr. Stewart, on the east
fside Of the Cataw ba river, in this District Re
Gently, letter was put in circulation, purport-
ing to have been received from Columbia, S. C..
stating that the missing boy had been shot 10
that place, while attempting to steal some prop
erty. This circumstance aroused suspicion, and
the colored man who pretended to have receiv
ed the letter, was at once apprehcnded. In his
examination before magistrate, he denied, for
awhile, any knowledge of the missing boy; bu,
afterwards ack nowledged that he bad been muir
dered by two other negroes on Friday night, the
Gath of NAY, who knocked him in the head
, with axe, and that the body had been thrown
into the Catawba river.
The freedmen in the vicinity where this out
rage was committed, evinced lauda6le deter
mination to hunt up the guilty parties, ane
,