Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1879-11-21
MORNING APPEAL.
INDIAN JUSTICE.

IL is sommon to speak of the Indians as a
"lawlsss set. A glance at their methods of
dealing with criminals will readily convince
one OF the fact that in matters of solid justice
their code is superior to ours. The white, may
have a good deal more Law than the Indians,
which makes justice more respected with
them than us. 1t might be good thing for
ths whites to be as lawless AS the rods. In
an Inaian court nothing bus the solid facts OF
ths case are taken into consideration by the
tribunal The Sheriff does not go rouad look
ing for a jury that will stand in with his
friends. Every member Of the tribe is on tho
Jury There is no change Of venue, no stay
Of proceedings, no Directing to any sort of
testimony which helps to throw light on the
ease, no appeal, no motions for new trial, no
challenging the jurors, no plea Of insanity,
no pardon, no reprieve, NO stay Of execution
The guilty man has no chance earth
10 escape. If a murderer he is taken out the
day after the trial and shot. A sQuaw who is
unfaithful to her husband is burned to the
stake, or stoned TO death. A Plute OF Washee
who takes indecent liberties with female. is
buried up to his neck in the ground and the
coyotes invited to make supper off his head
Thieves are ANONYMOUSLY kicked out of camp
and wander for the balance of their lives
among the hills, homeless, friendless wretches
What havoc the laws Of these lawless PEG
pie would make in our society There would
not be dozen men rowing around in every
town with blood upon their hands and pro-
nounced stainless by jury. The wolves of
the sagsbrush would fattsn off the heads set
out for them daily, and the forests would be
psopled with bank presidents, dishonest clerks,
renegade stock brokers, and scallawag mining
manipulators. There would also be some Gre
nations. II the Indians and the whites were
10 swap codes, the whites would be a vastly
benefited people and the Indians would be a
ruined community in one year. There are
but two vices to-day which can be considered
as characteristic trait in the Nevada Indian,
whisky drinking and short cards both the
outcroppings of a superior civilization. The
great trouble with us is too much law. There
was time, hundreds of years ago, when men
had to pay the penalties of crime. The trial
was a simple affair and no guilty man escaped.
With us, every decade has added to the
chances which guilty man may employ III
escaping the just reward of misdeeds. In an
ordinary murder case, where one man deliber
ately shoots down another, in the presence of
n hundred witnesses, it reqHlres at least two
hundred law books, ten or fifteen hours of
speschmaking and two weeks of steady work
on the part of lawyers, court, witnesses and
Jurors to get at a first decision in case. This
simply opens the ball, after which comes the
new trial, the change of venue, the wrts Of
error etc, and in year or two the guilty man
is going about the streets as usual, unless he
happens to be penniless vagabond, in which
case he is hung with little ceremony; and one
cannot help thinking that poverty and not
murder is the crim5 that brings him to the
drop.