Litchfield enquirer., 1878-02-14
WASHINGTON CONN. Feh 7tI

l W OONN., T cD. tII, tOIC.
 Mir. EDIToK-As a resident of the town of Washington, want to expressin your columns my indignation at Judge Martins sentence in the two criminal cases from this town tried be- fore his honor this term. will only speak of Craig, the miserable scamp who has just re- ceiVed sentence of eight months confinement in the county jail, for maliciously shooting down our fellow townsmen A. H. Wyant, while at | tempting to do what every man should consid- CT his duty as a citizen. If he had not & law | ful right as private citizen to arrest and de- tain this fellow, then how in the name of con- mon sense are we ever going to be ableto arrest 8 criminal?" For instance, suppose a man from Roxbury comes riding into town in pur- suit of a fellow, who he declares has been shooting and stabbing his wife and children. Have we not right for the the time being to accept this mans statement for the truth, and do our best to stop the fellow, and hold him until his case can be inquired into If he resists does the law compel us to allow him to pro- ceed and escape before we can procure a war rant :? Must we go to Roxbury and see with our own eyes whether the case is as represent ed or not, and then hunt up justice and grand juror, and have the proper writings drawn and placed in the hands of the proper officer to be served before the fellow can be stopped in his flight? In nine cases out of ten the criminal would be beyond the reach of the affair long before all this rigmarole could be gone through with.
 Weknow nothing about law, but plain cOna- mon semse says, that upon receiving such intel ligence as this, any private citizen should be immediately raised to the power of special officer for that special occasion, and have the authority, and be upheld by the laws of the state, in making the arrest and holding the alleged criminal until enquiries can be made and the case brought before the proper author ities. In Craigs case Wyant received infor- nation that he (Crsig) had been placing the life ofa citizen of Roxbury in danger (. He could not then go to Roxbury to find out the truth of the statement. If itswas fact, and such a dangerous character was then at large, then his arrest was certainly needed for the good of the public. Wyant had the informa- ton and there was the criminal escaping. It was now or never, and he proceeded promptly to arrest and detain the fellow. He (Craig) resisted arrest and deliberately shot Wyant down and tried to shoot again. That Wyant did morally right is certain, and State laws ought to conform to moral laws, rather than otce Uerso. Nevertheless, Judge Martin decides, in view of Wyant's not being an officer and not having the legal papers, that his would-be murderer ought to be kept confined in the County jail eight months
 Craig supposed at the time that he was re- sisting an officer The lesson taught other tramps and criminals by this decision is that they can resist with impunity all attempts at arrest; and, if need be, shoot persons arresting, and then appear before Judge Martin and re- ceive his milk-and-water sentence of six or eight months in the county jail. If this is law and justice then we sincerely hope the Good Lord will deliver us from any more of it. We are afraid we shall be tempted to apply the Golden Rule Do unto others as we have been done by" to the next tramp that causes repetition of the tragedy that was enacted here last October, rather than submit to the tender rulings of Judge Martins