Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1874-09-03
Drunk or sober.

TAe following from the New York
Trj5une may be applicable or not to
our present election. At any rate, it is
interesting reading
Saltwater in Minnesota held nuni-
, ciDsl election 0n the 1st of Aprii, 1873.
There is nothing intensely interesting in
this past and gone fact except that
( Michael Walsh voted twice. Now 9th
er citizens Of the natRJnality Indicated
by Mr. Walsh's name have voted not
merely twice bat twenty times at the
same election, and nothing was said or
done about il The popularity Of this
Z Saltwater case is, that something was
said and done The. repeating Walsh
was indicted The statute Of Minnesota
: afiirms that to vote more than once at
Z an election is felony EIspce the case
|of The State VS.. Walsh. The evidence
! e" sset-ts.i7l. tse insfictmeat showed. that
4 tlie defendant after voting ia Ward l.
I liked the. sensasi,sIl1 so Hinch that he pytlDt
I t0 Ward II. and voted there. But the
4 evidence also Showed that when Mr..
/ Walsh thus inGulged himself he was ia
a high state of Baeehus, considerably
( eorned, Enthusiastically swipey and una
/ snally set up. Hence arose the nice
/ law question when Michael was found
I guilty, whether man who repeats his
/ vote under the influence of ardent spir-
/. its is q responsible creature to be pun
ished for his drunken deeds. eyes,
! said the State ''No," said Michael
1 .Walsh's lawyer. Yes, said Mr.. JUS
/ tice Young when he had heard the APP
/ peal Drunk or s0ner, Michael did
/ wrong and must take the consequences.
T The act was none the less criminal be-
cause committed when the defendant
was intoxicated. All men are presumed
to intend their voluntary acts. There
/ being no evidence that the defendants
act was not voluntary, it was the duty
| of the jury TO find the intent in accord
ance with the legal presumption. The
! judgment and orders appealed from are
affirmed ..-
We must say that there is q great deal
[ of common sense In this decision. If
! the rounders are to successfully plead
/ E'rumminess' there viii literally as well
/ as .geometrically be no end of "round-
/ ing Most of the. convenient patriots
[ who surround the polls, and who are
/. quite ready to sell not only the vote
! which is legally theirs, but good many
I other votes which are not theirs nor
[ anybody elsea-all these hucksters of
| the musings are usually little jolly. A
courageous voter of this sort is almost
always sustained by the stimulants
which he has absorbed, and comes to
/ his work with a conscience saturated
into insensiBilitY. 1t win hardly do to
allow him to fuddle himself, or allow
others to fuddle him, into state Of
responsibility. An elector may be
| very drunk, and yet vote with great
persistence and alacrity. Indeed the
drunker he is the more facile tool does
he become of his ,captors. ....
We suppose that it would be of little
| use too long for a political Utopia. We
must take constituencies as we find
them, drunk or sober, honest or dis
honest, intelligent or stupid, peaceful or
belligerent But when we do get into
our Paradise of Politics, in that good
| time which, alas, is always coming and
never comes, it will net be ouly the
/ drunken man who votes twice who will
I be fined and imprisoned, but the inebriate
who insults the majesty of the Repub-
lie by voting even once. in a state Of
alcoholic exaltation. Thebest of voters
will sometimes make mistakes and vote
foolishiy, but he who voluntarily units
himself for the exercise of TIE fFeemanis
greatest priGilege, Tor the performance
OF his most sacred public duty, commits
a kind of treason which may not be of
the high old sort, but which certainly is
not petty a crime of which the head
ache next morning is a quite Inadequate
retribution. - -. --.-.... ........,. 4. ~.