The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1881-09-23
NEGLECT OF DUTY FOR WHICH TIL
PEOPLE MUST PAY,

stbat about the 15.h Of February the
seditor ofthe GAZETTE caused a war
Grant to be issued for defendant
gagainst the advice of the Dept'y Dist.
aAtt'y, and that after trial the defend
CANT was discharged. Now first, the
3 present firm of Yantis & Woodcock,
Nsswho are the editors of the GAZETTE,
! swas formed on The first day of May,
1851, SO that the present management
s'coul1 not have had anything to do
'swith the case referred TO-.
q Second, Mr.. Yantis, who was the
sssatto ney who procured the warrant
#referred to, was not justice of the
Speace, but simply an attorney, who
:sbiased by the story of his client, pre-
Spared and submitted the affidavit fol
sSarrest, and llr. Wrenn hinaself issued
sthe warrant.
q But We are not at this time, nol
Swere we at the time the leader referr
fed 10 was written, intending to throw
3 blame on Justice Wrenn, for after
Gan experience Of several years at the
EsCorvallis bar, we must say that Mr.
sW. has used as good, and we think
Egenerally much better judgment than
%his predecessors in the matter Of issu-
sing warrants in these cases. In short
Sit is not the man but the system we
Care after.
q In calling attention to the case of
3 which Mr.. Wrenn refers to in his
s,letter, we did not mean to cast any
PREDICTIONS upon Justice Wrenn any
sfurther than to furnish an illustration,
4 @because we are we'll satisfied that
gMr Wrenn has been fully as careful,
eff not more SO, than most Justices
5are in issuing warrants. But we con
Sdenan' the system as practiced all
Cover the state as being ruinous to
speople who have to pay taxes. The
sfact that an attorney or a deputy
sdistrict attorney, or any other person,
sdirects justice to issue a warrant,
Cor that some other person informs the
justice that lie has examined the pros
secutlng witness, and that there is
xevery reason to believe that crime
shas been committed, does not afford
"a sufficient reason for the justice to
grail and neglect TO carry out the pro-
lvisions Of the statute An attorney.
swhether he be district or deputy, can
snot fulfill the duties incumbent upon
sthe justice to perform. The Justice
s,alone takes his oath to perform the
sduties of his Office according to the
CLAWS, and there is no attorney or any
ssother person who can fulfill the re-
squirements of that oath for him. In
short, when the statute requires that
gthe justice shall take dispositions of
sany witnesses which the complaining
sparty may produce until he is salts
sfed that crime has been committed
.and that the party accused is the,
guilty party belore-he issues a war;
rant, the statute means that such
sjustice shall take such depositions'
5be'ore he issues the warrant for the!
sparties arrest. fit did not mean for
shim to do so the statute would mott
say SO; and when the statute imposes:
these duties upon him it don't mean|
that he can neglect these duties andI
stake some attorneys word for it.
If this statute was strinctly com
splied with, it seldom ought to occur'
that man should be arrested and|
,the expense of preliminary exami-''
ssnation incurred, who could not be!
convicted on final trial in the circuitI
court. 1t matters not whether all orj
sanY of them would be convicted sol
sfar as the point under consideration
lis concerned, but when our code prof.
5yides that officers whose duty 1t is to-
administer the laws shall do certainI
things, they should rot neglect them; !
Especially when such provision is oneI
zcalculated to protect the public treas
Jury. We call special attention. to ALI
swho may be interested in this subject
sthat the statute of whicI, we claimI
shas been violated so long and all
sover the state does not say that the
magistrate may take the depositions
sof witnesses before he issues war
sSrant, thus leaving it what might seem
ssomewhat to his discretion as to
dwhether he shall take them or not.
sBut it says positively that he shall
take them, thus making it his absolute
sdnty to take them before any warrant
Tissues.
-Four years ago there was but one
aRepublican Senator in Kentucky.
This year we have nine. There is no
mistake about it, republicanism Isl
n