Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1882-04-12


18th. All violations of the Sunday
laws Of the Territory.
18th. All crimes Of violence and es-
peciaiiy such as threaten or destroy
human life.
Itnow and then trsnspires, gentlemen.
that q person guilty of crIms or mis-
demeanof has tried to forstaii justice by
going before some magistrate of in
feriOr jurisdiction, confessinG himself
guilty OF an offence OF such degree as he
Is willing 80 sntIer for and submitting
himself 10 light fne. The idea Is 20
shelter himself from just consequences
Under the constitutional provision that
no man shall be put twice Ia jeopardy
for the sans offence. Sections 1871 and
l62 OF the Justice Practice Act and the
corresponding section OF the revised
statutes arc meant to anticipate any
such adro.t escape of jus. deserts. 10
the former section, il IL provided, that
" No justice shall assess tine or enter a
Judgment thereon until witness or
Witnesses have been examined to state
the circumstances of the transaction.
In tie latter section, It is made the duty
of the justice Z" in all cases arising ur-
der this act " TO Summon the injured
party and all others whose testimony
may be deemed material a. witnesses az
the trial and to enforce their attendance
by attachment il necessary" In the
former section, the words witness or
witnesses mean witness or witnesses
other than the guilty party. The sense
Of the latter section needs no elucld-
alton. No inferior magistrate can In
this Territory impose fine or enter
Judgment upon q plea OF guilty nor
upon the accusation OF the accused
himself though under oath. A fms so
imposed or Judgment SO entered IL
nuliity and will not preclude an inyesti-
CATION by a grand jury. If the Inagis-
trate should 50 far forget his duty and
the sanctity of the trnst reposed In him
by the people as to impose the fine or
enter judgment, kuosing st was in
tended as cover against Rraver pun
ishment or sentence he would III my
opinion DO liable as accessory after the
fact.
There is. gentlemen, in almost every
seaport town, and Seattle has not been
an exception, a quarter where thoss
nuisances that | have pointed out Iii
the twelfth item of the list have given
are mostly or entirely clustered. They
iuAh0 HobAbCh aAotSRAtfAbAV. ATl
depreciate the value of property in it's
neiehborhood. They make it a place
periious for honest people to pass
through of nights. They ensnars and
corrupt simpls-minded seamen. They
display even in broad daylight specta-
clos Of human degradation, unmeet for
innocence to see. They furnish the
vicious class of society those debasing
al NIT vsf t,fA 4.
pleasurelsss. They afford breeding
place, a Judgement and lair for every
guilty outcast, and every wild beast
calling itself q man or woman. Thence
issue those whose whose hands are
against every man and agains. whom is
every mans hand. And thence stream
foul infections moral and physical ram
nifying through society along secret and
crooked channels and thence spreads
around poisonous miasma Of immor-
atty continually exhaling. To break up
and root out these nuisanoes Is to take !,
great stride toward preserving the pub
lilo morals and the public health, deliver
ing the unvary from temptation and
pollution, restoring the quarter itself 20
repute, and Kidding the town and keep
ing it rid Of bad characters of every de-
tRtaou. AOa WAL w aAt tAit tlC Puo-
lie welfare demands in this direction.
Upon tho Sunday law, am expected
to say something. With regard to the
policy and unpolicy of tho law. you and
| have nothing now to do. Until the
| is decided. We have q Sunday law.
say we have it. because l do not doubt
its provisions are constitutional. We
ha thn La What int "a
the question, shall it be stayed! When
convenience. his pleasure or his profit,
he gladly submits to it. Shall he not
submit when il would, Rs he thinks,
cause inconvenience, annoyance and
loss! Here is a good test Of love to the
Am willing to obey law, when to obey
costs me something? In short, am ]
willing TO subordinate my individual
Judgment to the Judgment of the ma
jorityI IL any one fails to stand this
by bringing in your accusation of him,
he will not respect without compulsion.
proceed to another matter. Gentle
men, it il deplorable and shameful
thing to chronicle, but it Is true, that
slnco the people last assembled in their
grand jury, there have been no less than
| tive unlawful homicides in this city.
First, the policeman David Sirss. while
endeavoring to discharge his duty, was
| shot down dead. Afterwards, Oh the
18th of January last, one of our young
fellow townsmen, George b. Reynolds,
while walking, iii the evening, peacefully
| along public street, was waylaid and
murdered by two tramps. Next, on the
18th OF January, two men, going by this
names of Howard and Sullivan. who
had been arrested, examined before one
| OF your committing magistrates and
were about to DO committed to Jail
| charged with the murder Of Reynolds
wore at midday, in the very presence u
your magistrate, and when the examin.
alton WAS scarcely concluded, set upon
by lawless body of men, who snltcned
them from the lawful custody of your
officers, thrust them ont of your court.
room to . gibbst extemporized Oh the
public square and there hanged them.
And lastly, on that Same tragic 1Stn of
January, before the two miserable vic
Tins last mentioned had bsen an hour
dead, tie same lawless body Of men oi
others Of like temper. broke with great
violence into your county jail, dragged
thence a man named Payne, OF English
birth aud parentage and perhaps Brit
ish subject, who had been committed
there by one Of yonr magistrates
charged with the killing Of Sires. and
hauling him down to the place of sacri.
fice hanged him between tue other two
As 1t will be your melancholy task &c
these dark and dreadful affairs, it is IN,
privilege 10 offer You such consideration.
| ~ seem likely to animate and supper,
you in your labor. In order TO do this
| shall find il convenient. as have al
ready done, ~ refer to facts us under.
stand them TO exist. But as am no,
tcstifying as witness before you, and
~ You are the exclusive judges of all
facts 10 be found, you will no, take wha,
say in this charge ~ evidence that
any such events m speak Of have hap.
pened. II l refer 10 facts, it is simply
that what else have to say may be the
more easily and clearly understood.
According to my information-and !
have been at some pains TO get at thefacts
lit appeara highly probable, but no;
| beyond reasonable doubt certain, 10 INV
mind. that the man accused of shoot
ing Sircs Was the one who really did
shoot him. No one saw the fatal sho,
fired save Sirss and has assailant-or al