Wilmington journal., 1874-07-24


for the purpose of appending toit the
certificate of the Clerk of Brunswick
Court. t.-EDs. JOURNAL. ---=--~ ---.------
Judge Russell has some strange
ideas about the punishment proper
for people who have violated the law.
We have already printed an account
of case in which a negro convicted
before him of stealing oats was turned
loose upon the payment OF costs
and bound over to the next term OF
the Court, to secure his good behavi-
our as it were. That was in New Han
over county. ..-.' - -
This morning we lay before our
readers the facts of another case IN
which the Judge saved man convict
ed of a gross outrage from properpun-
ishment. This case occurred in the
county of Brunswick, and is about as
follows: .....
Mrs. Ward, q resident of Brunswick
county, and a very respectable old
widow lady, has a store house upon
the same premises with her dwelling.
She and her husband had been in
quiet peaceable possession Of the
premises for thirty-fve years, pay
ing taxes regularly all the while.
The Hilburns, the parties from whom
the Wards bought the place, had been
in peaceable quiet possession Of the
premises, paying taxes regularly for
more than thirty years. Indeed, we are
informed that the title to the property
is remarkable for its clearness and
plainress. Mrs. Ward kept various
articles of property, family supplies,
chiefly, we believe, in the store house.
While the premises were thus quietly
and peaceably in her possession, a
man named Jacobs, Radical, went
| there, and the door being locked and
the key in the possession Of Mrs.
Ward, broke open the door with a
crow bar, threw Mrs. Wards property
into the public road, and took and
! held possession of the house. Mrs.
Ward was then and there present, pro
| testing against and forbidding the
whole affair. Jacobs was indicted for
| forciblo entry and detainer and was
tried and convicted at the last term OF
Brunswick Court, Judge Russell pre-
siding. E'.
For such q gross outrage upon an
OLE widow lady one would naturally
think Judge would have inflicted the
| heaviest punishment the law wo1lid
permit Judge Russell thought other
wise, however, and suspended the
| Judgment Of the Court altogether,
upon the payment of the costs, and
| Jetcobs holds possession Of Mrs. Ward 5
| houec t0-dou,
What motives control Judge Russell
in TINS shielding criminals from the
vengeance of the law we neither know
I 1aor care It is sufficient to know that
! he DOS thus shield criminals from
punishment. The result to the people
Of tnis judicial district is precisely the
same, nc matter what the Judges mo-
tive may be for allowing criminals to
go unwhipt of justice.
It seems difficult to conceive Of .
case Of grosser outrage, without VIC
lence to the person, than that commit
ted by this man Jacobs in forcibly
taking possession OF the house Of al
old widow lady, and throwing hel
goods and chattels in the public road
II there is anything that appeals more
strongly to ones pity, or to ones man
hood than the desolate unprotected
condition of helpless old widow wo
man, we know not what it is. But The
appeal to Jacobs pity was as vain as
that to his manhood.
How much more effective was the
appeal to the Court =? How much bet
ter than Jacobs is Judge Russell
How much more pity did he have fo,
the poor widow than Jacobs had
Jacobs took forcible possession of hel
house and the Judge kept Jacobs from
receiving any punishment for it, save
that of payment of COSTS Do the
/ people Of this District want man OF
the bench who refuses to right the
wrong done to the helpless, even after
the verdict of q jury has declared that
wrong? Do they want Judge upon
the bench who deliberately refuses to
poor old widow woman the protec-
ton our laws guarantee to her, and
gives it to the convicted criminal who
has wronged and oppressed her? Who
deserved the sympathy of the Court,
Mrs. Ward or the man Jacobs Who
got the sympathy of the Court-the
helpless old woman or the criminal
who wronged her !? The Radical
Jacobs stood before Judge Russell
convicted by the verdict of jury,
after q fair trial, OF q gross outrage and
violation Of the law. Mrs. Ward, a
poor old widow woman, stood before
Judge Russell as the helpless victim of
| tlldI tt(ttt u StttS tItC 1LLNtcUt
Jacobs and not his helpless, acidoUed
rictint HsGt received the turor Of the
Court!
A Judge is put on the bench to ad-
minister justice by an impartial execu-
ton of the laws. The laws are made
for the purpose of preventing men
from redressing their own wrongs, and
to protect the weak against the vio-
lence and oppression of the strong
Do the people of this District think.
when man by open violence, takes
possession of helpless woman's
house, throws her goods and chattels
into the public road, and is tried and
convicted therefor, that the Judge is
administering justice when he stops
the execution of the laws and shields
the criminal from punishment, and
that too while the criminal still re-
tains possession of the property thus