Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-05-08
.rne Judiciary of Vermont.

We respectfully submit that the man.
who could deliberately write such sen
tence as the one we shall hereafter quote
in reference to the Judges of the ou-
preme Court of Vermont, IS either
Young man without brains and grossly
IGNORANT of Vermont and Vermonters,
or wilful. malicious libeller and malign-
er of the fair fame of Vermont and her
most trusted public servants. This
specimen of independent journalism
is dilating on the fact that judges have
railroad passes" Hear his ignorance
or Islander, whichever, with charity for
all" you may be pleased to term it.
Railroads have only use for judges OF
yhe living. A pass given to Judge
would BE useless unless his judgeship
might be made useful to the railroad.
He could not be useful TO the road unless
a case came before him in which 1t was
party, and he allowed the pass to bias
his Judgment. We will confess that
this smacks strongly OF boyish ignor-
ance, and this may furnish an excuse
for the gross attack upon the purity OF
our courts contained in the inuendo OF
the words. We presume all of our
Judges Of the Supreme Court have, for
years, been furnished with passes by the
different railroad companies OF the State.
We sincerely hope that they have. With
the miserable, contemplate stipend
they receive for their services, it is
sufficiently difficult undertaking for them
TO endeavor to exc oat a respectable and
comfortable support for themselves and
and families, without charging them
with ''being used" and "allowing pass
to bias their judgment, because by using
one they can save something of their
miserly salary, with which to clOthe and
feed their families. Who have been the
Judges of our Supreme Court from the
foundation of our government to the
present day? We need not call the hon
ored roll of the dead and living. Thank
God that never before has their integ-
nty been questioned Never before has
it been intimated that they could be in
fluenced, bribed, "used," or "allow a
pass to bias their judgment" Go back
to the old Anti-Masonic times, when it
was charged-aye and believed, too, by
some honest, well-meaning men-~that a
Free Mason was incapacitated from act
ing as Judge, juror or in any other ca
pacity. This, too, was the cardinal
principle of their political faith They
carried this State upon that issue, and
secured a majority of the Legislature.
Did they, even, malign and SANDER the
Judiciary of Vermont Not even in
words did they dare do it, anG By their
action confessed the purity and IN. gritty
of Vermont Judges. Whom does this
writer thinks was elected Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court of Vermont? Ii
was an honored and-if zoe may be per-
mitted to say it-beloved and reyered
citizen of Rutland, who has long since
fallen on Sleep" and was, at the time
Grand High Priest of the Grand Chap
ter Of Royal Arch Masons That he was
not considered a corrupt Judge was evil
denced by the fact that he was, for
years after, unanimously reelected to
that high position. Recall the names
of those who have occupied the bench
since, what we may call, railroad
times There was Stephen Royce,
Pierpoint Isham, Isaac f. Redfeld, AL
dis, Pierpoint, Kellogg-but why con-
tinue the list We and the citizens of
Vermont know them, and honor and
respect them The idea of their being
used" bribed or CHASED" is as boyish
or stupid as the next proposition that a
lawyer takes his pay from railroad
company in ''pass' This caps the
climax and displays such utter ignorance
that we are almost ashamed of having
noticed the article at all. Our only eX-
cuse is, that we have known more or
less of Vermont Judges, almost from
early childhood down TO the present
day, and this is the first and only time
they have ever been maligned and SLAM
dered in Vermont newspaper-or, in
fact, in newspaper published in any
other State. This, however, is another
phase of independent journalism. T"
Vermont and Vermonters everywhere
can point to her Judges and say "these
are our jewels" So can these same
Judges point to verdicts rendered by
iuries under their charges, and to their
decisions in railroad cases." reported
in the vermont Reports" and say these
are our justification, here is an offset to
your ignorance and a refutation of your
vile, infamous libels We have said
more, perhaps, than the boyishness or
SANDER of the article called for, but the
fair fame of Vermont, her statesmen
and jurists is dear to us, and we cannot
allow an attempt to be made to cast a
stain thereon, without entering our fee
BILE protest.