Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1873-03-12
VERDICTS OF THE MAJORITY

1t is admitted on all sides that there
is great as well as frequent default of
justice by the bad working Of our. jury
system, particularly in criminal cases.
This default renders it very doubtful
whether conviction and punishment
shall deal with crime, and, while it
affords culprits a great many chances
Of escape, it alarms law-o w-observing cit
lzens ny leaving IL douDrrul whether
proven guilt shall be punished. On
criminals themselves tho effect is
worse, because it leaves them SO many
loopholes for escape. When trial
after trial takes place, and every cir
cumstance Of guilt is proven, tho too
frequent result is, not the verdict Of
"Gnilty," which has appeared incvita.
bic, but a declaration from the jury
that they caLnot agrcc. There is
nothing left but for the judge to dis
charge the jury, and the accused is
either liberated on bail, or, if charged
with capital offence, is rcmandod to
prison to await the lottery of a second,
it may be even Of third trial, until
at last Justice gets tired out, and the
culprit escapes. Every criminal hopes
tina: the chapter of accidents will be
in his own favor, when escape is more
frequent than conviction and punish.
ment. .If
Tako the case of o man who, with
hatred against q particular person
ranking in his heart, walks about .
crowded city for months with a revol-
vor 10 his pocket, until he meets bis
man in a convenient place, il may be
in hotel, and shoots him very delib-
erately as be comes up the stairs en-
tirely unconscious Of his approaching
fate. Add that the cold-blooded mur-
derer is seen to do this, and that he
confesses that he has done il. In
some parts of this country-"wild"
parts, they are called-the murderer
caught in the act and oonfessing the
crime would be taken to neighboring
tree and hanged. Formerly, in Scot
land, under an ancient law which
worked out the wild justice of Judge
Lynch's court, q murderer caught 10
the act ("red-handed, it was called),
would be hanged on the spot with the
least possible delay, with tho murder
GUS weapon suspended from his neck.
IL is not quite two hundred years since
b tutor named Gabrio', ~; :; was seor
TO XIII Two OF his pupils in u piavss
back of Princes street, Edinburgh,
was dealt with in this manner, with
out the Intervention of judge, lawyer,
or jury, and the bloody knife was tied
around his neck. With US, in these
later times of lip.morality and high
pressure civilization, the murderer
who has confessed that the victim was
slain by bis hand would probably
escape by one out Of twelve jurymen
persisting, against the facts and the
confession, in refusing to agree to q
verdict Of " Guilty"
1t is irrational to expect that twelve
men, taken Unfortunately from a
crowd, shall exactly agree in opinion
whom sitting as jury to try a porson
charged with crime. In England,
however, such expectation is the basis
of all trials, criminal or civil, and we
adopted 1t in this country with other
eccentricities Of Jurisprudence, omit
ting, however, ono essential point,
namely, that once the case is given to
. jury in England they are locked up
undor strict charge Of the shcriff, who
Is forbidden to give them any food
until they have agreed upon aud deliv-
ered their verdict--this seclusion and
enforced abstinence being sometimes
continued until one or more Of the
jury Is physically unable 10 hold out,
10 which case the Judge discharges
them. In either country . single