The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1883-02-13

l
The manner In which the case OF the
| negro Reeves, who stole slit Of clothing
from Mr.. samuel Meyers Friday night, was
disposed of does not appear, to one up 4
tree, as in strict accordance with good law,
good sense, or public good, The fellow
| confessed his guilt; there vas therefore no
ground whatever for doubt. The prisoner
is brought into court by the officer who ar.
rested him, Wins with the intention of
giving him preliminary examinations the
case is docketed, and witnesses are sum.
| moned and are present But because OF
| the inconvenience 81 which he would be
put TO prosecute the prisoner in the circuit
court, the victim of the robbery refuses 10
testify against the prisoner at the prelimi-
nary examination, offers TO compromise
with the officer aud the court BY paying
the costs Of the procee Sings as TAR as they
have gone, on condition that the prisoner be
released; the officer and the court accept
the Offer aud the seIf-confessed thief is i'm
mediately released. Now, what manner Of
proceeding is tins. We have here daa-
geroui precedent, one which, to our under
standing, presents q complete reversion OF
one OF the fundamental princi pies of Hi.
nois criminal law, This principle is, that,
in all criminal cases, the people are the
compliments and the prosecutors not the
victim or victims, and there must be no
compromise with crime. Under this prn.
ciple Mr. Meyers, the victim, was not at
liberty to Withdraw from the prosecution,
and the Officer was not compelled to re.
lease the criminal because of Mr. Meyers
refusal to prosecute. But even il Mr.
Meyers h id been At liberty to refuse h
testify, there would still have been ample
proof against the prisoner to enable the
officer to satisfy the court
that there was guilt; and even
il there had bean no proof against
the prisoner, his own confession would
certainly have furnished ground for pre-.
sumption Of guilt, Il ground sufficiently
strong to Justify the court in holding him
to bail for trial by higher court. But all
this seems to have been ignored the st.
curity of the people in their possessions,
the outraged law and the prisoners confes.
sion of guilt were al lost sight Of in the
eagreness TO save Mr.. Meyers the trouble to
attend the prisoner trial at the court house,
and to save the people the expense Of such
trial, which ia view of the fact that the
prisoner pleaded guilty, would have been
but slight. Had the case been minor Of.
Tense against O city ordinance, say vagrancy,
the prisoner would at least have been given
choice between the calaboose and i'm
mediate departure from the city, In this
case it 10 felony, Of kind which have
been altogether too frequent in the city of
late and which the officers, and courts too
have labored hard to suppress, but the
prisoner ia simply set free, The officers
motive in doing this WAS not bad, OF that
we are sure, but this Judgement was, The
county jail is full of transient criminals,
criminals who worked our neighbonpg
cities without being caught, and who, com.
Ing to Cairo, ran into the hands Of a vigi.
liant police force and landed in the county
Jail. This county, by stopping snd pun.
ishing criminals on their way north. pro-
tects the counties above il from the rava-
yes Of these wandering thieves, and thus its
burden Of convicting criminals is fully five
times greater than that OF any other
county IN the state excepting Cook. Bu,
this burden must be borne; thieves who
work their profession here must be pun.
ished II caught; to permit any considera'
| ton Of economy to restrain law and Justice
ia case so serious "a that Of Reeves is
dangerous and ought not to be permitted.
Chief Myers took this view of the matter
as soon as he heard Of Reeves release,
swore out warrant for his re.arrest and
sent officers out to make diligent search
| for the negro. But at this writing Reeves
is still at large