The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1875-01-22
A Malicious Prosecution.

The readers of THE ARGUS will remem-
Der that on the 4th of July last high words
passed between E. f. Castle and Jacob
Stofer. of Illinois City, and that serious
threats against Stofer were said to have
been made by Castle. The next day Cas-
tie was arrested on a warrant issued by L.
V. Reid, J. P, on complaint Of Stofer, who
invoked the aid Of the law and asked that
Castle be required to give bonds to keep
the peace. Reid is timid man, friend
of Castle, and afraid to offend him By do
ing his duty. He therefore managed to
bring about an arrangement by which a
jury of FIVE persons was called to assist him
in taking the responsibility of requiring q
quarrelsome and dangerous man to keer
the peace. Four of the jury were in favor
of requiring bail of Castle, the other voted
to let him of. 1t was plainly the duty Of
the Justice to require bail, but Reid dared
not do it, and has not decided the case tt
this day, showing that he is utterly UNI
for magistrate, and ought to resign, or b.
limpeached.
I Now for the sequel: At the last Sep
TENDER term of circuit court this man Reit
was one Of the grand jury, and through
the management Of the Castle clique, o
which Reid is one, they got Stofer indicte'
for the larceny Of hog. Stofer is butch
er and drover, and three of his hired men
,, Thomas Haln, Charles Blanchard an
John Crabtree, were also indicted as acces
sorry, Hahn turned states evidence, thong
he didn't know anything worth knowing.
u The trial of Stofer took place in our Cir
! cult court on Wednesday. The names 9
the Jury were r. Champion. c.. Dodge, .
I; G.. Blythe, w. II. Sanderson, h, AshdowI
I J. Edgington, W. Durbin, j. Roseborougf
j. Bengston, P. Miller, G. j. Long, au
G. A. Doellinger. The jury acqultte
Stofer within FIVE minutes after the cas-
was given to them. There was absolutel
nothing of the case-even with the t4rI
e coat evidence of poor, drunken Tom dai
THE stool pigeon of Castle, Reid y 20.
The cost to the people Of the county
D some two hundred dollars, and witnesse
are on. of pocket as much more. Ther
! were some dozen or fifteen witnesses, som
of whom have been on expense here ft
two weeks, and they are out of pocket frol
SIS to $50 each, to say nothing OF loss
time.
Nolle pros was entered as to Hahn, Cral
+ tree, and Blanchard -,
+ Sweeney 4 Jackson for defense State
. Atty Parmenter for prosecution.
There was anotherindictmen against st
- fer, tor selling liquor without license, tn
d was stricken from the docket without tris
le So, it seems that there was no occasion i
D. any Of the indictments against Stofer. A
=, of them were failures, and big bill
" costs must be paid by the people.
If anything will disgust the people Wi
the grand jury system, such spite Wo
ought to, and cause its adjustment. Tn
he secret inquisition is relic of barbaris
H. and ought to be done away with. Let PIT
IA ties be arrested and brought before ma
! istrate in open day; let the fullest inqui
o. be made into the case, and if probable gu
exists, let them be held for trial. But Il
RS secret inquisition is an outrage. A
% clique can conspire to get the best man
a the community indicted on some trumpe
"a up and malicious charge and then let
lie matter drop. They can throw it up
,e- him and his children, for the balance
SO their lives, that he has been indicted, a
thus have their revenge, though no cat
for indictment ever existed. And the de
ms people are taxed to pay for the farce.