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

to Washington Territory
md this district. Never since l have
,ser in this Territory has the Law al
owed a Juror to be excluded on the |
round that be has formed or expressed |
IN opinion. ard never 40 far as / know |
1as one been excluded on such ground. |
in Washington Territory are !
n the highest degree untecAnlcai. and
are bv express statute made sufficient
and have by the Courts been repeatedly
held sufficient. If the &C: or omission
charged as crime IS clearly and distinct
Ly set forth in ordinary and concise Ian
ruaoe. in sUch a manner AS 10 enable
person of common understanding TO
Know wnlt il Intended. Postponemelt
of a criminal thai Is a rare thing IN this
TERRITORY, and Is never granted without
good causs shown. while expensive and
criminal trials, such rs we
once in while hear of elsewhere,
the tue press, are so far as
know things that never have occurred.
Witnesses sometimes have to be brought
great distances, and ths mileage and pr
diem We pay Is nigh. SD that costs some
times mount up to considerable sum.
but that is due TO the sparss settlement
of our iIainense domain and TO our dis
position 10 compensate we'll those whom
we compel TO attend our Conrts.
By the records of this district
it appears, that during ths last
twelve years-and cannot 60 back fur
Their because the records are imperfect
there have been thirty persons arrested
and indicted for homicide under the
Territorial law: of these none that |
know of escaped before trial except one
temporarily, and only one was dis
charged without trial. Twenty-nlne
out of tine thirty were tried The trials
of twenty-one came OF within eight
DAYS after indictment. Two of the
twenty-nine trials occupied four days.
one three days and none of the rest to
exceed two days. Only six con:lnuan
css for one term were granted aud three
for two terms; one OF the former be-
cause the jury disagreed; one because
the prisoner was woman great with
child and could not be tried without en-
dangerin. the life OF her child as we'll as
her own; one of the latter because at
the fist term the prisoner could not get
his witnesses and at the second had es-
capped into British Columbia; and tho
rest by my predecessors for like ade-
quate reasons no doubt. Out Of the
txensy-nine trials, nineteen convictions
were had, each for some grade of GRIM
inal homicide, seven for m0rder in the
first degree. turning now from our sur
vey of the whole district TO inspect the
record OF the Court, which is held at
Seattle for the counties of King and
kl:sap, and what do We find! Suppose
80. ,,v
ming January LIST, 1866, and ending jan
uary LIST, 1857, and We discover the
whole number of persons accused of
homicide. as shown by the indictments
found, ars fifteen, not quite one for each
year, on thS average. Three of these
have not yet been arrested. The re-
manning twelve have all been arrested
and tried. None of tho trials lasted
more than two days, except one which
took three. Only one of the twelve has
been acquitted. In case of one, the
jury disagreed. All the others have
been convicted and senisncod. Six of
these convictions were for murder in
the first degree. two for murder in the
second degree. and txo for mansiaugh-
TOT. This IS Inos. astonishing record.
Where can Its parallel bs found! Of
all The persons held TO answer for hon.
ici.ie IN this Court for the sixteen
years ending January LIST, 1882, only
ono escaped-only one out OF eleven
completed trials has resulted in ac-
quittai! Why, on this showing. to in
dict man for homicide in this Court
IS TO convict lin almost as sure as lac is
caught. lie has oa!Y ons chance in
eleven to escape. Ant yo5 The cry is,
that the Cocrts arc iiieIii,.i1.i,
Crimes OF violence IL this district for
the last twelve yo rs have not. ~ far as
/ can ascertain from oar Cont 70 lords,
been IL eXeasivs rs,tlo to iii. population,
as compared with sIca c.s,S n other
States OF Ills tu.Jn. and t.i+, RAID has
besn couss sntiy de1-e ,,IIS. iir.minal
statistics fsr TIN, ieri..tr; have. .iways
shown lbs ratio Of ;r3:is. not only as
compared -, I ~ - af o.l,r Terrific
ries but wit,. i.er1 az suf.,,, e Tie sedat-
est OF the sos..isa. NG.t ..fe the sup
posed abuses IL "a is3,i Courts? I
have searched tine records and the news
papers and listened Ut the street cor
nefs to find them, and have fonnd none.
If any exist, why are they not published.
If they do not exist, then why should
WV puppy VA CostStACs Va a AIdCtlOu Vi
them, at the expense of the taxpayers of
King and kitsap counties, rise up to
protest against real or imaginary abuses
supposed To afiilct the far Off populace
of New York or Washington or San
Francisco?
No, gentlemen, the excuse which is
rendered, that this lynching was the as
sertion of the sacred right of revolu-
tion--that it was tho peoples revolu-
tionary protest against imbecilo Courts
will not do. A revolutionary protest
by whom? BY the people. Against
whose Courts! The peoples. Why,
the very protesters are tho material of
the grand and petit juries, who decide
all questions of fact, all questions of
guilt or innocence, absolutely and with
out appeal. They are the Courts. Are
the people protesting against them
selves! Was that which animated
them in their violence the spirit of
those, who approved by all the sober
and the wise assert for just cause the
sacred right of Instruction? Was that
their spirit when they shattered the
Sheriff door to wrest from the lawful
custody of their own officer the two pris-
oners he was holding for their sakes?
And when they stood facing over that
threshold the pistols of the Sheriff and
his aids, was theirs the spirit of Pym
and Hampden and Samuel Adams and
George Washington?
There could have been no reasonable
doubt. on the 18th of January, in tho
mind Of any sensible man, unswayed by
passion, that if justice were left to take
Its ordinary course, the guilty men
would have been safely KEEP: and GER
tainly brought to the gailows. Did ever
n guilty man escape merited doom.
when the whole current of public opin-
ion set dead against such crime as his.
and the wrath of the entire community
was focused upon him? Did ever jury
in this Territory anywhere, acquit CON
trary topositive and overwhelming evil
dence! Was not the last case Of homi-
cidc which went to verdict in this
county, live years ago, mos summarily
disposed of by conviction and death
sentence. and was not the convict in
due course executed? Then. rs l recol-
lect it, the clamor was, that Courts and
luries hereabouts were too vigorous.
and that an accused person did not have
a fair chance to show his innocence.
Ii may he said. that those who killed
Howard. Sullivan and Payne were driven
to 1t by sense of duty. But no act
contrary t. law is justliiable or excusa-
bic on the mere ground that it is done
pursuant tn n sense Of dUtv A senSo of