Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-04-04
MISCELLANY.
THE JURY A FAILURE.
Tho atlantic wants some process
levised whereby justice may be done

Tho atlantic wants some process
devised whereby justice may be done
10 criminals. 1t says:
"Of the utter incapacity of the coun-
try to punish crime we have an illus
tration in the murder, last week, of
s. S. Jones. There is no probability
that that man would have been shot
had the person who contemplated the
shooting had before him any vision
of gallows or a lifelong imprison-
ment. Between ignorant and inn
moral juries, and weak judges, and
governors, tho idea of pun
ishment has quite faded away. If
Pike has any fear of punishment be-
fore his eyes, he must be man Of
powerful imagination. History does
not justify any such fear, unless Pike
is man without friends or is ne
gro. Before the eyes of white man
having party, political, or religious,
or social, back of him, and fear of the |
law must be the result of ignorance
Of the history of crime Of late years. |
Murder is not the only perfectly
justifiablc oifcnse. AS a venial line
of conduct, to steal hundred thou
sand, or million, is almost as small
a matter as murder. But all these So
called acts of transgression have be-
come almost as small matter as
murder. But oil these so-callcd acts
of transgression have become much
whitehead in this generation by de-
PRAYED juries and pardoning COVER
nors, and are rapidly passing out of
the category of crimes. After being
viewed time as indiscrctions they
will perhaps slowly turn into virtues,
and q white man will come to be es.
teemed according to the number of
scalps he may wear on his belt, or
hang up in his wigwam.
The army of acquitted or pardohed
murdcrers now abroad In the land
would amount to many thousands
The only sight that could compare
with this for fearfulness, would be
the vision of the many thousand MUIR
dercd ones, could they rise from their
tombs and ask the land what had been
done by the courts ofjustico over their
bloody graves.
4 AS result of our present jury sys-
tenn, society will soon be driven back
TO the sclf-defense of a vigilance COM
mittec, or else to the southern prac-
tice Of permitting the nearest relative
as in old bible times, to be an avenger
of blood. That things can long go as
they are now going, does not seem
probable. We must either reform
the laws, or must expect a murderer
to be taken care of by the nearest rel
alive of the slain. The sense of JUS
ticc in the community will burst forth
like long smouldered flame.
A grave mistake of the public lies
in its scolding at the criminal instead
Of at the laws, the juries and the gov.
ernors. If man commits crime
that is his fault; it is the fault of The
public if he is not punished. W.
cannot expect the criminal to attcnG
to both parts of the business. Wher
, a murderer goes free the public
grows red in the face and hurls angry
words after the escaped offender
But when an offender is discharged
the public should look at the machin'
, that let him 60 and spend there its In
dignation. Ithas no right to blam,
the bird that escapes a torn or badl,
l thrown net, but would better ment
the net and study better its own art
Now, the chief net for the catching
of offenders is called jury. TIL
) name means an implement for find
g ing the right. In the olden time an,
8 single tyrant could inflict any punish
, ment, for any cause or no cause
Men were imprisoned for years an,
were starved or beheaded at the whin
4 Of ,0v, n1, hn 1,1
s revolt in favor of q trial before twelv
n men and for definite offcnse. 4
: Jury implied exact right, the divin
: righteousness.
+ A good instrument this was for at
l. quitting the innocent, and for convict
ing the guilty. Its primal cause wa
however, that of rescuing the limo
u cent from the caprice or cruelty @
n an individual despot. A Roma
d matron once put slave to death TO
v imperfectly dressing said matron
= hair, and the Roman Vedius ordere
70 servant to be strangled to death 70
breaking goblet. 1t was to chez
d this kind of business that society dc
l. manded the jury and the definite in
:, dictmcnt, and into those parts of praG
tice there entered no plan for clear
9 ing the guilty. This instrument, ono
IL so valuable, our times have almos
h wholly ruined, because; whereas, i
v old times the jury was made to pre-
!. . vent tyrants from Furnishing the il
u nocent, it is now transposed so as
b enable twelve ounces to acquit tn
g guilty. Instead of making it imper
n alive that the twelve men must b
citizens of well known intelligence
and wcll-tested honor, our laws i'm
n PANEL this twelve from the clas
: which possess the most of ignorance
o of all facts, or the most willingness Il
p swear falsely to an ignorance of al
facts. Thus the way is open to eithe
a blockhead or rascal. Thus q jur
trial is made bankruptcy suit SO tina
a man can pass through 1t, not to b
changed, but that he may suffer no full
j. Their molestation in business or plea
urc.
- 1t would pcrplcx common min
a to decide why judges for the benc
n should be chosen from the highest o.
a der of integrity and information an
"a the jury from the lowest. The case
Il laden with the most of good or i'll Il
= society come not before Judge BIZ
q before jury, and hence what bloc
]. heads there are in the criminal cour
should be always upon the bench ratl
er than in the jury box. TO ha,
them in both places is of course, ,
u bad as bad can be. After an apparea
il crime has been committed vcnil
IN should be issued which would brin
II in hundred Of the VIGOROUSLY be
% men of the city or county, and shout
d not send the officer prowling aroun
At in the shambles or the poor. house
ct find men too ignorant to know dut
= or too vicious TO perform it. Let IL
y heart bent on mischief feel that
IT must be tried by twelve honest mel
Ut and murder will soon cease to be q
)f amusement.
70 And it is not only integrity Of pu
y. pose that jury needs, but 1t needs
at form of mind that cannot be dana.
he ed much by by the paid-for eloquent
ne of ingenius lawyers. To place GENT
at the bar and dummies in the box
the final touch, the coup de grace I
l. our system. A osecution can sc
If dom work itself up into such sui
~ lime fervor as marks the defense, fl
20 while the former appeals to the 10
n the latter plunges into tears on
a. sympathy. Genius at the bar shoul
9 be met by intelligence in the box, an
Il hence to call in group of men, wi
N never heard speech before, and the
20 to demand that they should SEQ ju
a tice (if they should SO desirc) beyon
If all that eloquence and weeping, is
+ add one more joke to that grim seri'
~ which bids fair to ruin the countr
If
Il REMARKABLE DEATH.
:. n Young Coal Msner at Logan d Ca
:. fields Dies from the Effect of StriI
'yl ing the "Crazy Bone" or HIS Ay1
" One of the most remarkable cas-
We of death of which we ever had an
ID knowledge, occurred at the coal min,
n of Logan & Garfield on Thursda
n morning last On Monday two Weel