Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-01-09
Aa1lraster frltellige,lrer.
FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 8, 1880.
Reviewing the Courts.

Reviewing the Courts.
The Carlisle TOlunteer seems to have
a queer notion of the proprieties of jour
nalism and its relations to courts and
juries. 1t is quite shocked at the mod
ern tendency of . a certain class of wri-
tiers to ridicule the jury system and to
speak disparagingly of opinions emanat-
ing from the bench" 1t should remember
that is not the jury system nor the judi
ciary, as such, that is criticised, but the
too frequent abuse of them. Everybody
knows, who keeps his eyes open, that
influences too often creep into the jury
box and determine verdicts which have
no business there. and that under the
present elective system mousing polltl-
clans crawl upon the bench whose reck-
less partisanship or incompetency are
continually being manifested. When
these abuses are certain it is the duty OF
the honest press to point them out and
to score those eSpOnsible-indeed there
is often no other remedy for the wrong
nor any other means of vindicating
the integrity of justice. The bOundlcss
power of Judge, which makes him capa-
BILE of the most tremendous and arbitrary
abuse of his functions and of yet saving
himself from impeachment, renders it
absolutely necessary that at times he
should he reviewed fearlessly in the
newspapers, and this sort of criticism is
often only gauged by the high standard
of a judiciary which intelligent Journal
ism would apply. So, too, it often happens
after jurymcn have separated and their
action is irreparable that the newspaper
discovers their verdict to have been Sc
cured by improper means, and 1t IS us
duty to expose the wrong, regardless OF
the deluSiOn that twelve sworn men !"
''follow the testimony of the witnesses. i"
The case especially under considera-
ton by the Volunteer seems to fifty Illus
trate both sides of the argument. A
woman up in its town is under sentence
of death for poisoning a neighbor. 1t
admits that "a large majority of this
community believe that the evidence in
the case did not justifya verdict of guilty
and still larger number did not at any
time in the proceedings expect cOnvlc-
ton" The newspapers Which llavec COM
mentcd Oh the affair have alleged that
there was not even adequate proof that
the alleged victim died of poisoning, that
no evidence of act or motive connected the
prisoner with the crime, and that despite
an intense popular prejudice against her
prior to the alleged crime the jury stood
six to six when they went out and were
fresh from following the testimony
of the witnesses" These statements
have not been cGntradicted and the I"l-
uHStccr's account of the state of local sen
timent confirms them and makes news
papers & hundreds of miles from the
scene quite capable of fairly calling Il
halt when Il woman has been tried, con-
victed. denied a new trial, and sentenced
to be hanged, in the face of such doubts
as to her guilt as to make 9 a large ma
jority'' of the people of the vicinage be-
lieve the evidence insufficient to convict
her and still larger majority doubted
that the six jurymen who thought her
innocent would yield to the six who
thought her guilty.
We assure the Iolu.,trc. that Tie In
TELLIGENCEH has no interest i'll the
case except by virtue of its general re-
tention i'm the case of justice. Our no
tice was directed TO it by the account OF
it published by the Herald, and if the
facts there given We're not correct why
do not some of the Carlisle people make
Il correct statement of them : Ii that
fair place wants to he disgraced by hang
ing an innocent woman it is chiefly its
own concern of course, and yet it cannot
expect the rest of the commonwealth to
keep silent.