The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-06-28
JUSTICE BRADLEY's DECISION.

4
The profound and righteous Judgment Of
that eminent and respected jurisconsult, Mr..
Justice Bradley, in the case of the Grant
Parish Prisoners has sent thrill Of JOY and
gladness through the hearts Of our long suffer
ing people which it has seldom been their
good fortune to experience The four hun
dred negroes who have for months past
thronged the Custom-House, and obstructed
the entrance to the court room, suddenly de-
parted on hearing the decision of Judge Brad
| ley. An enthusiastic gentleman who was
present during the reading Of that mastery
opinion, exclaimed in the transports Of delight,
GA Daniel come to Judgment! On the
streets, in the club-rooms, at the saloons,
in the family circles, the triumph OF
constitutional law and liberty is the chief
topic of conversation. Judge Bradley has
built for himself monument more enduring
than brass And when the Durells, Woods
and Beckwiths shall have passed into merted
oblivion, our chidren's children will lisp the
praises Of the upright judge who dared to do
right in the dark days of our countrys peril.
Even in down-trodden and oppressed Louisi-
ana white men still have some constitutional
rights which the nations wards are bound to
respect In these days of parstian decisions
and corrupt judges it is refreshing to read the
elevated sentiments of such a man and jurist
as Judge Bradley. 1t augurs well for the
future and inspires us with the cheering hope
that the palmy days of the Republic may yet
return
The prosecuted prisoners who dared to strike
in defense of their families and friends are re
stored to their homes and dear ones. All honor
to their able counsel, Messrs. R. H. Mari, E.
John Ellis, w. r. Whitaker and Began, who
have nobly done their duty, and who merit
and will receive the thanks of grateful peo-
pie. They have surpassed their fellow mem
bers of the bar in the other Southern States
who have been engaged in Ku-Klux trials and
are the first to obtain favorable decision
against that unjust and iniquitous statute.
Messrs Mari and Ellis have been more fortu-
nate than even the venerable Reverdy John
son, who defended the Ku-Klux prisoners in
South Carolina More than sixty innocent men
are now dragging out miserable existence in
the Albany penitentiary who were tried and
convicted under law which one of the nine
judges of the Supreme Court of the United
States, the highest Judicial tribunal in the
land, has declared unconstitutional and illegal.
We hope that the decision of Mr.. Justice
Bradley obtained by Louisiana lawyers, may
soon strike the shackles from their limbs and
set the captives free.
MIR. Mari wrote the ablest brief, and was
chiefly instrume ntal in having the lawyers
Test oath declared unconstitutional by the
United States Supreme Court and now again
his labors have been crowned with unprece-
Tented success in a case involving the lives and
iberties of our citizens.
The trial has been long and tedious one,
md the persecution of the prisoners has been
in its terrible ferocity. They
seemed to have been doomed from the first, |
md such was the determination on the part of
he official blood-hounds to secure conviction,
md so boldly aud openly did they evince their
lorrid purpose, that the hearts of the people
we're cast down, and even the most hopeful in
lulged in gloomy forebodings.
The luminous and admirable decision of
Justice Bradley therefore was as unexpected as
clap of thunder in clear sky and as re-
reshing as rain after long drouth.
Let the hearts of our people throb with pro-
ound gratitude when they reflect that from the
cry bench upon which sat the infamous Du-
ell, whose decisions bereft us Of our liberty
las been proclaimed the cheering fact that
lusively, but that under the law all men are
anal