The Morning herald., 1878-03-18
IS justice BLINDr
ARE THEY re DIE

z
The course of the HERALD, relative to
Chambers and Collins, has been sadly mis-
taken by many of our people. We have
not implored mercy for the doomed men,
but demanded justice. This mode was
adopted to save our Stste from the deep
disgrace Of hanging twomep, upon the unsup-
ported testimony of lying harlet, and her
perjured paramour. ~ .-,.-,~-.,-s-..-
We are anxious to uphold the law, and
have as much interest in doing so as any
citizen in the State, hence any sttempt to
evade the question of the justice of the
sentence Of Collins aud Chambers by i'm
pugning our motives, will not do. The
case Of these men has special claims upon
every lover of justice they are poor, lowly,
frirndless, and doomed. Are they guilty :
II they are guilty beyond uoubt, let them
suffer. Here it is that the question assumes
serious aspect, and one casting upon the
Governor grave responsibilities. Inconse.
quence of the constitutional inability of the
Oyer and TermiDer to interfere with its
judgements, except within the term in
which they have been rendered. our judi
ciary are powerless. The Legislature, If
In session, could possibly grant relief, as in
the Schoeppe cas- in Pennsylvania a few
years ago, but they are not. Hence, as
already stated, the Governor has the entire
accountability vested in him, and is answer
able for its proper exercise. It is needless
to recapitulate, euffice that the testimony
on which the men we're convicted according
to the light then thrown upou it was suffi-
cient, and no man in the State with an
honest purpose to see the law of the land
would have interposed an cbjec-
tion If the case rested there. We may as
well say here, that our cotemporary, the
Gazette, as well as Its correspondents,
Justice, and Samuel Townsend, are right
In assuming that the vile character of the
woman Is not to be considered in abatement
If the negroes are really guilty her person
was entitled to protection within our
borlers-but 1t must not be lost sight Of
that as professional prostitute, she may
hsve been q consenting party to cohabita-
tiou, as averred BY one of the convicts. II,
after the examination of Smith and his
alleged wife, who alone testified to the
outrage, competent testimony had been
offered to show that he was Clegg, a vaga-
bond tramp, living in open violation of the
law of God, and that Mrs. Smith was Kate
O'Toole, a low prostitute, instead of th Q
humble wife of workingman THAT she
was utterly depraved and without charac-
ter-!s their man In this county would
have laid the guilt of their conviction upon
bis soul9 Is there Judge in this State
who would have failed to apply the old
maxim OF the common law Folsus in
uno, .talsus IN ensnibus," and request yer.
1ict Of not guiltys We have too high a
respect for our judiciary to believe that
taey would have failed to be guided, by this
ancient and wise rule of evidence. To
.vAde the power of this position it is
averred that they confessed haying con-
nection with the woman; even so, CO.
pulation is not felonious outrage, and
to the rule of evidence, upheld
successfully, by our present Chancellor in
tho West case, the confession must be
taken as whole, and If 1t contains excul-
pstng words, they must 20 to the prisoners
benefit. If Vests case be law, the comics.
sion OF the convicts was insufficient without
as they contained an aver-
ment of exculpation;and the only corrobora.
tion of the alleged confession was the per-
jury of pair, who acted out the role of
married couple, until they got their witness
fees, for perjury-and then confessed the
The corroborative power of the
Smiths evidence was conclusive, so long as
their testimony were uuimpsachcd--and the
Jury rightfully believed it. If it were then
as it now is, with adultery and
perjury, would the jury have believed 1t ?
No ! The two pieces of evidence against
the convict. are both insufficient.
The law in Vests case-whlch has been
The settled doctrine Of the common law,
without question for thousand years,
st ,mps the confession of the negroes as in-
sufficient. The cth-r falls to pieces before
sae maxim of tue law already quoted" False
n one thing; false in all. ,a'.-"l
These copvicts are poor, ignorant, and
their case demands ex-
their blood Is clamoreh for, be-
,ause like crimes are unavenged.