Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1880-11-12

State, it shall be the duty OF the Justice to
commit the accused, or hold him to bail for
trial in the Circuit Court; and provided the
Jnstice shall inform the accused of his right
to jury trial.
This Act was designed 10 diminish the ex-
penses OF the criminal jurisdiction of the courts
by enarging the jurisdiction of Justices, and
TO give persons charged with misdemeanors
speedy trial. Many persons charged with
misdemeanors, incapable of giving bail,
would prefer TO waive trial by jury, and
submit their case TO an impartial and intel Ii
gent Magistrate
Parties and witnesses would be relieved of
the necessity of giving bail or security for
their appearance, escape the torture of cofine-
ment whether innocent or guilty. before
trial, and have the benefits of speedy trial
at home whilst all the facts are fresh in the
memory ofwitnesses.
The criminal docket OF the Courts, it is
believed, would be reduced one-h alf and the
expenses of the Court in the same proportion.
Our criminal law, both Common and Statute,
is founded on the moral all the princi pal
offences against persons or property bel ng
forbidden by the decalogue.
In that brief summary are condensed the
dlvlne commandments protecting property
and character, for the preservation OF which
States and society are founded;
Thou shalt not kill"
Thou shalt not steal"
Thou shalt not bear false witness against
thy neighbor are the great elementary in.
functions Of divine as well as the civil code.
Whoever violates these, however he may
escape the penalties of human law, incurs the
| risk of future retriDution.
To make any system of law efficient to sup
press crime, the people must be impressed
with the sense of their duty to maintain it by
their active support.
IT is vain that the laws prohibit crime, a nd
| tribunals are erected to inquire of and pun
ish offences, if the community so sympathize
with the offenders as TO suppress all informa-
tion and screen the criminals.
To know of crime and not disclose the
perpetrators is virtually to aid and abet them
after the fact.
The object of the cognizance of PIT bic
wrongs is not only to redress the party in
Jured, by restoring him his right il possible
but to secure to the public the benefit Of society,
by prosecuting and furnishing every breach
and violation o. those laws which the sove-
reign power has thought fit to establish for
the government and tranquility ofthe whole.
Society is organized upon the fundamental
principle of the suppression of force and vo-
lence in the affairs of men and the substitu-
tion of reason, justice and right IN the execu-
ton Of the laws.
The sole object of government is the protec-
ton of the weak from the power of the OPP
pressor, OF the the accused from the malice of
the accuser The prevalence of dispassionate
justice over the fury and clamor of a mob
1t is almost insulting your intelligence 10
tell you that the right of fair and impartial
trial by jury is the inherent privilege of every
human being living within this Stale, guar
anteed by the Constitution of the State and
Federal Government; that it is the palladium
OF our liberties, to be preserved sacred an d
inVlolate from open attack and secret mach
inatonsi that the power to try and punish
offenders is the prerogalve of the State, a nd
whoever usurps it subjects himself to condign
punishment.
All summary jurisdiction is jealously watched
lest in the exercise of the authority necessary
to preserve the peace and order of the State,
the liberty of the citizen should be sacrificed
TO the public welfare. Hence no warrants for
criminal offences can be issued without oath
no commitment is good without specifying the
cause, and the writ Of haJeds corpus is granted
to every one who complains of unlawful i'm
prisonment.
These privileges and principles are the out
growth OF the experience of ages as essential
to the security Of human life and liberty
They distinguish civilized from savage COM
mnniiies and where they are disregarded
men live with halters about their necks.
The State has pledged TO every inhabitant
protection in life and limb that none shall be
arrested, none shall be imprisoned or deprived
Of life or liberty except by the Judgment Of
his peers or the law of the land.
However revolving the crime, however ex-
asperating the circumstances, however mani
fest the guilt, men must restrain their right
eous indignation until the accused has been
heard and his guilt has been established by
the mel ods prescribed by law.
Private judgment, of one or many, may be
the offspring of malice, revenge, passion and
hate.
The public voice alone pronounced by the
legal tribunal can determine the guilt or inno-
cence of the accused.
Ia the catalogue of crimes none is more
odious, revolving and exasperating than rape.
Death is the doom of the offender, and
would be infinitely preferable to the unhappy
victim. Yet the State cannot suffer its cti-
zeus to he hung by the wayside upon ''the hue
and cry OF "A rabid assembly. Life, the SUI
preme gilt OF God, can only be forfeited 10
those who bear the sword by his authority
Since our last term another of those foul
euormities of crime, which disgust and de-
grade human nature, has been perpetraled IN
our midst
The inquest of the Coroner and witnesses to
he examined will convey TO you all the shock
ing details which convulsed this community
They will show that under cover of night
and assumed DISCUSSES, II band Of men invad.
ed the Jail, overcame the Sheriff and his
guard, end carried away and hung negro
nun committed on charge Of rape
Ii the victim was guilty. his blood was not
enough TO expialc his foul offence But who
shall say that Il ulan whom the law presumed
10 be innocent was not SO, except Il jury of
the county, upon fair and full trial
The power of she State has been usurped
the province OF the Grand Jury and this Court
hns been violently invaded and II citizen fore
in iged of life without authority of law
Justice has been ravished and murdered in
the house OF her friends.
The laws of God aud of man have been
equally violated.
Vengeance is mine and will repay, saith
the Lord D"
The Common law declares, "Wantonly TO
kill the greatest of malehctors, deliberately, (
dncompelled and extraj udicialy, is murder" !
All who have counseled, aided or abetted
this act before the fact are 10 contemplation
Of law murderers in the first degree
Whatever allowance may be made for the
violence OF passion in an individual, avenginP'
his own wrong and acting upon sudden prov. n
ocation; no compromise can bekmsde wild
mobs, combining and conspiring to superced SC
the public authorities at the expense of I'D
man life. This is the second instance With Ia
twelve months, in this county, that prisone
have been wrested by tumutuous assembl
from the custody of the law, and strangled
death, in the midst of the most populous d
iricls OF the county, by the hands OF perso
unknown III
A mysterious silence, dark as the deeds
covers, broods over these transactions, aud
attempts 10 penetrate il, seems vain. Are r
To conclude from this, that the State is pov
less TO protect its own citizens; TO punishe a.
most mortal offences aud bound iu chs, m,
by some secret association which paraIs go
its energies, and, vampire like preysn al
blood God forbid & 7;
The complaint Is not that men haven en-
hung for the crime Of rape Tor such wrees ss
deserved the EXTREMIST penalty OF the lap m
But the evil is that men have been prog IN
ed, and assassinated, for crimes not lely M
proved against them without trial by vnt "a,
and tumulnous mobs, blinded by pasis, III
and incapable OF reason, defying the yer
OF the State aad usurpng its authoriund We
ssbyerting for the time the law aud thoy-