Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-01-23
JUDGE PATTERSON.
The Drift Of Public Opini0n-Expressed
Within and Without HIS Claimed Juris-

Lawyer Hiestand's Examiner.
1t is not our purpose now to express any
opinion whether an officer of the court,
who may happen to also edit a newspaper,
can say through his paper or print with
immunity assertions that the court is cor
rupt. The whole question will no doubt
be thoroughly argued and the law. so far
as this court is concerned made plain be-
fore the public.
A Violent Presumption.
Lawyer Warfel's New Era.
Had the editor of the Nep Era charged
tie court with being implicated i'll a
prostitution of the machinery of justice"
without being able to sustain the charge,
the court would clearly have had no right
to proceed against him for contempt of
court. lie not being an officer of the court
nor having committed the Offense in the
courts presence. How far the fact of
Messrs. Steinman and Hensel being attor-
neys, and thereby officers of the court, may
extend the jurisdiction of a judge over them
is question which never directly interest
ed us sufficiently to investigate. 1t is to be
presumed that Judge Patterson looked
into the law OF the matter before taking
the course he did, or that he will salts fy
himself on that point before ordering the
rule to be served. 1t is a question which
seriously concerns him and those who act
in the dual capacity of editors and lawers {;
but it isn't exactly one of our funerals. On
the other hand, Messrs. Steinman and Hen
sci deny the right of judge to proceed
against them for contempt for an act done
outside the court, and quote the act OF 1868
and an opinion OF Chief Justice Gibson,
and the supreme court Of Kansas to sus-
tanned their position. The same act above
quoted gives the aggrieved party, Che he
Judge or laymam the right to proceed
| against the offending parties by indictment
| for libel or in an action for damages before
jury. SO, if the contempt itself should
fall into contempt, the public may rea-
sonably expect to be entertained with an
other little diversion on account of 1.-The
best workers in the waru.'
| Barking up the Wrong Tree.
Philadelphia Chronicle-Iierald.
AS we understand the case between the
Lancaster lNTELLIGENCER, its editors and
the Lancaster court, the said honorable
court is barking up the wrong tree. 1t
happens that the editors OF the INTELLI.
GENCER are also practicing attorneys. The
court was sharply criticised in the INTEL
LIGENCER, and Judge Patterson worked
himself into state of mind so that he viii
not permit himself to be happy until the
said attorneys have shown cause why they
should not be stricken from the rolls fol
being also editors of Il newspaper which
occasionally rasps court officers. 1t viii
be interesting to learn what kind of law
the Judge had in his head when he issueC
the rule to show cause. OF course, III
can't disbar the attorneys for what t!li
editors said in their newspapers.
An Exhibition of Ignorance and Assumption
Altoona Daily Sun.
That the judiciary should be held apart
from politics is proposition that few vii
dispute who care anything at all for tht
purity of the ermine. That the judge who
pantlers to partisan prejudices, or permits
his Judgment to be warped hy selfish ant
mercenary considerations, is unfit to hold ;
position upon the bench as well as becOm
ing thereby fit subject for newspaper
criticism, is also fact no more to be gain
said than the first. We are led to these
expressions by an event which occurred
yesterday in the court house at Lancaster
his honor Judge Patterson upon the bench
1t was no more nor less than TIN
citation before the bar Of th'
court of Il. J. Steinman and w. L
HcnseI, csqs., to answer in the capacit,
of attorneys practicing before the court
for an alleged contempt i'll criticism:
through the columns of the INTELLIGEN
GER newspaper, of which the gentlemen
mentioned are the prOprietOrs and editors
the action of the court i'll the trying of ;
certain cause. For this alleged offence
committed in their capacity as editors ant
publishers, this wise and most Learned
I % %o1r l., TO f,.1ly
their names from the list of attorneys
and assumption never disgraced ant
commonwealth, and precious littl
honor will ever be reaped by a,
attorney, in such a field, unless
be when he is held under con
tempt. Perhaps, before proceeding fur
thcr. Judge Patterson might with advant
age per,lsc. and, if possible, digest tn
plain meaning of section Z, of the bill o
rights in the constitution of Pennsylvania
1t covers the case at issue completely, ant
is as follows.
Our brethren of the INTELLIGENCER will
have the sympathy and support of TIN
press as well as all fair-minded peOpl'
throughout the country, and if a tyranni
cal despot on the bench dares to do wha
he has threatened, they have an ample
field in the sanctum and magnificent Op
portunities will be presented through
which they will be able to get more thar
even.
All hail Il free, untrammeled pOess.
Tears Him TO Pieces.
EellefOnte Watchman.
Possibly others may, but the editors o.
this journal never, have heard of more
outrageous assumption of power on the
part of 4 judge than that of 6
Judge of one of the courts OF Ian
caster county, named Patterson, who ruled
into court, ON Wednesday last, the editors
of the Lancaster INTELLIGENCER, both OF
whom are members of the bar in that city,
to show cause why they should not be
stricken from the list of attorneys, for al
editorial in that journal of the day before
In the days of Jefireys this might
have been expected or later, when
puritaniSm was rampant in New
England, such an attempt to muzzle
the press and punish those claiming
the right of free speech might not have
created much wonder but in these days
such action OH the part of court is Sc
surprisingly outrageous that We can
scarcely conceive it to be a fact. If the
facts are as stated in the dailies of yester-
day Judge Patterson, for his unwarranted
assumption of power, deserves, not only
the contempt of the editors of the INTEL
LIGENCER and every other good citizen of
the commonwealth, but should be booted