Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-07-31
A GROSS WRONG.

4 Girl arrested for Horse Stealing Who Is
Wantfestly Innocent---A Case Witch Ap-
peals to the Public for Interference.
A day or two since an officer from the
sylvan shades of Wright county brought to
ant appearing country girl charged with the
masculine crime of horse stealing. crime
of that character perpetrated by young and
apparently innocent girl of twenty years of
age seemed SO preposterous that a GLOBE
representative took occasion to interview
the young woman and learn, as near
as might be-, the exact facts in the
case. The young woman answered by q
food of tears, which, of course, was s" mp
tom of innocence. She then told, briefly, a
straightforward story about hiring horse
from Swede near Howard Lake, with the
view to carrying some clothes to sister who
lived as @ domestic near Atwater. The
Swede of whom she hired the horse misun-
derstood the fact, and thought that
she only wanted the horse
to go to Howard Lake. And
just here appears to be the misunderstood
ing. To shorten the story, the girl took the
horse and started for Atwater, stopped with
friends four or five miles distant from the
place of the Swede owner of the horse, and
next day continued her journey. The Swede
became uneasy, went for an officer, started
on the broad trail of the female depredator,
overlook her near Atwater, recovered his
horse and caused the arrest of the
girl. She was taken before bull-head JUS
tice of the peace named Bull, in Cokato, and
held in nds OF 5000 for her appearance at
the October term of the district court in
Wright county.
The crime the girl appears to be guilty of
seems to be poverty-a most henious effense.
certainly. By some unfortunate circumstance
a law stands upon the statute books of this
progressive State, giving from the State
| treasury reward of $500 for tho capture
md conviction Of horse thief. The owner
of the horse, the constable and others, might
possibly form ring for the purpose of send
viding the swag. Itwould be much easier and
| safer, you know, to convict poor, destitute
GIRL who could not show fight at the time of
her arrest, and had no money to fee lawyers
afterward, than to harness on to a full sized
tnan who had the courage to steal horse
and the ability and grit to try to get away
with it.
The GLOBE desires to do injustice to no
PASSS Va
littleness just as it comes to it, and from
only one side. Now let us
reverse the picture, and gaze upon
it in the light which Mr..
Bull and his ring would have shine upon
it, Even suppose this poor friendless girl
had stolen the horse, mallciously and felo
niously. She is young, ignorant and hardly
responsible for her acts. Is it not large
work for half dozen full grown men to sci
themselves up to prosecute her to the verge
of persecution; will not their future life be
happier, better-will they not feel more
manly because they have bounded this poor
girl behind the bars of Jail, and possibly
started her toward sure destruction, be
cause she has technically violated a statute
Shame, shame upon these towards, that the.
did not spread the mantle of their strength
about her weakness, and protect this young
helpless girl, instead of thrusting her into
felon's cell upon the puniest sort of q suppo
sitiOn