The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-06-26
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compHsneu DelDg partial clearing OF
the criminal docket; that relating to the
Common Pleas and Equity having never
been reached. It is q commentary on
the laws under which we live, and the
manner in which they are administered,
that the entire term of the court should
be absorbed in the disposition of cases;
involving every grade of crime. to the
total exclusion of those in which are
represented the property aud interests of
nearly the entire community. At the
preceding term, the business was con-
Quoted in precisely the same way, and
under similar conditions. In breaking
laws. as in the framing of them, negro
supremacy asserted itself, and Stolbrand
and the penitentiary gathered rich
harvest from Judge Boozer's prisoners.
We feel justified in expressing our just
and righteous Indignation at the
thorough disregard of the important.in-
terests-interests so general, and so Pc
culiar embraced in the equity and other
divisions of the court. When it is stated
that to so many OF our citizens, widows,
orphans and minors, q class of persons
specially helpless and dependent upon
the action of the court, the determine
ton of the equity business was Of the
last consequence, and n result with Which
their maintenance and support was init
mately and closely connected, the alb
r
does appear n hardship and cruelty.
Judge Boozer, in recognition of this
state of things, has consented to hold an
extra term in August. That may be q
partial relief, but the unfinished business
in equity, accumulated by want of pro-
per tribunal to dispose of them, will pro-
badly require more time than any Judge
can we'll bcstow. We want n separate
and distinct court to determine cases of
crime; one which has, in its sitting, no
connection with, or control of, other
business than that of the criminal dock
ct. The experiment has been tried
throughout the entire State, and we
think it i'll bounds to say with one and
the samo result, viz: the criminal docket
utterly excluded the other branches of
the court.
1T is worthy of note that the ubiqui-
tous freedman is, in the majority of the
cases, the chief and prominent actolPan
these little dramas of aason, larceny
burglary; and surely it is not asking too
much of the State as it now stands, who
has considered the negro in every other
relation, that it will do so in that of
crime, and provide special Judge and
court to determine the nature and extent
of his guilt.
The valuable time and knowledge of
the entire bar has been employed in the
gratuitous conduct of these criminal
cases, appointed by the Judge-each
and all, from the veteran counsel to the
recent graduate, have courteously and
ably responded to the voice of the court
Even when, by this unpaid labor, they
were debarred from prosecuting legiti-
mate causes in which their income and
support were nearly related. It is just
and proper that we should have O special
criminal court and we deem the reasons
so cogent that We feel assured they will be
sustained by the bar and general opinion
throughout the whole State.
The Judge pronounced the following
sentences:
Alfred Dawkins, colored. Robbing o
train on the Greenville and Columbia
Railroad. One year in the Penitentiary.
John Dozier, colored boy twelve
years old. Larceny. One week in Jail.
Henry Scott colored. Burglary and
larceny. Eighteen months in the Peni-
tentiary. This prisoner committed one
of the most daring robberies that has
ever occurred in our city.
George Robertson. Stealing game
chicken. One month in the County
jail
VIM. Avery, colored. Assault and
battery. One months Imprisonment in