Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-02-16

even decent LOuisianians ashamed
of their State and surpass the crimi-
nality of the reputation of her
State debt by Mississippi"
Per contra read the answer of the
New Orleans Democrat to- Sher-
mans and Anderson's impudent
charge of a packed jury:
Anderson's opinion of the jury,
we fear, is cOl0red deeply by his
apprehensions of the law. 1t has
been many years since such jury
as the present one was impaneIed in
the city. Heretofore the people
have complained that the juries
were stocked in the interest of law
breakers, and it is a healthful sign
when that class complain that the
jury has been stocked in the interest
of society. The personnel of the
present panel is very high /; it is
composed of men of intelligence and
of business and social standing, who
have as little motive in or inclina-
ton TO convict an innocent man as
they have to permit a guilty one to
escape the penalty of his crime. If
Anderson is innocent, as he claims
to be, he has nothing to fear from
the jury. If it be proved that he is
guilty, we have no doubt he will be
convicted, because his jury is likely
to be composed of good and true
men who will protect the sacredness
of the laws and the Well-being of
society. The fact that there are no
Republicans on the panel is a mat
ter of no consequence. The jury
commissioners filled the jury wheel
with the names only of good citizens,
and if no Republicans are found
among them the reason is not that
| the jury has been stocked, but that
there are few or no Republicans
among the classes from whom the
| jury was selected.
1t would be idle to deny that there
is much strong feeling against An
dersOn and Wells in this cOmmuni-
! ty. But if that were a sufficient
reason for change of venue where
! is the habitable spot in the Ameri-
can Union to which the trial could
| be transferred? The feeling here,
decided as it is, is not so strong as
to render it difficult for Anderson
to obtain a fair trial. The crime
with which he is charged was per-
petrated more than year ago and
much of the bitterness it aroused
have died out. For months tie
press of the State has had little to
say about the subject. The Demo-
crat, which from the first commend
ed the authorities for those prosecu-
lions, as the time of trial approach
| 81 81 10
accused it desired that when they
were brought to the bar of justice
they should have an impartial and
unpreiudiced hearing. The press
and officials of the State have been
exceedingly judiciously just in this
respect, and we are quite ready to
believe that these men will get a
more impartial hearing be-
fore Judge Whitaker than they
could get in almost any court out
side of louisiana. Whatever injury
their cause has sustained from re-
cent events has been the result of
their own acts. Their desperate
efforts to obtain a transfer of their
trial from the State to the Federal
courts did not cOnciliate public sem
timent in the least; and their hasty
and needless flight into the Custom
house, when the transfer was re-
fused, has been very naturally ac-
cepted by the country as almost a
a confession of guilt, while the inso-
lent attempt of the Federal officials
in that building to protect them
has excited considerable indig-
nation. For all these things the ac-
cused have themselves to thank.
But we do not believe that this
case has been in the least prejudiced.
The people are calm, and they de-
sire only that justice be done; the
jury is one of the best ever drawn
in New Orleans; the prisoners have
able and energetic counsel, and ar
raigned before an honest and able
judge, with the right of appeal to a
Supreme Court, the high character
and scrupulous integrity of which
have never been surpassed any
where. Justice, therefore, strict
justice, we think, will be melted out
in these trials to the members of
the Returning Board.