The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1883-08-16
MARSH T. POLK
From the Editor of the Decatur,
Ala, News.

From the Editor of the Decatur
Ala, News.
The trial of Marsh T. Polk, ex
state treasurer of Tennessee, lndict
ed for embezzlement of publi
funds, concluded at Nashville las
week. Nearly two thousand juror
were summoned before a panel wa
selected. Much has been sait
about the ignorance and imbecil
incompetency of the twelve mel
who sat upon the case and returned
a verdict of guilty. Gentlemen o
the legal profession have criticised
in unmeasured terms the action o
the presiding judge in dissolvins
the panel after seven jurors haC
been critically examined and ac
cepted by both the prosecution an(
defense. The press has likewise
pronounced in no uncertain way
against the severity of the charge
in some instances characterizing i
as a dictation to the jury to find the
defendant guilty and assess hi:
punishment as heavy as the Law
will allow. Pending the trial mucl
occurred that is without a parable
in the annals of American courts
Those who read the daily pro.
ceedings were impressed with the
idea that there was an unusual de
gree of acrimony, reflection and re
elimination upon the part of nearly
all officially and professionally con
nected with the trial.
These things, however, are past
and will soon be forgotten. The
judge and the jury will meet and
mingle as though there had beer
no chiding, and the future to each
OF them will be as 5right andas full
of hope as If the doomed man ha6
never fallen.
But how will it be with poor
Polk? Perhaps no one thought
the sentence would be so severe
and seldom has it been the case, sc
say the old lawyers, that both the
sentence and the fine extend to the
limit of the law. There are two ex-
tremes and most generally one OF
the other is followed. Mr.. Polk
came from an honored family and
and was himself an honored repre-
sentative of a noble ancestry. He
achieved high reputation both in
civil and military life. His charac-
ter was above suspicion, his habits
exceptionally good; his immediate
family moved in the most elevated
walks of social life. All these
things were well known to the pub
lie and often since the crash came
have been the subject of converse
tion and referred to as a probable
preteXt for an acquittal, or, at least,
q light sentence, until popular opin-
ion had become prejudiced against
him by reason of his antecedents.
1t is no wild speculation to as
sumo that the twelve men, generally
understood to be uninformed, poor,
and perhaps by family genealogy
far removed from the proud ances
try to which he was linked, had be
come victims of this sentiment, and
wishing to free themselves from the
possibility of being influenced in
their verdict by the royalty of his
family or the pride of his name,
took the opposite extreme and rem
dered verdict under such feeling
We are no apologist for crime or
wrong doing, but we have an mex
pressible contempt for the theory
that teaches that one offender is
to be made an example to deter
others. Law, neither human nor
divine; was ever made to punish
men, but to restrain them, and if
it's strong arm is not sufficient to
hold back those inclined or tempted
to violate it, we are not willing to
see one poor fallen offender held up
to its tortures simply to awe others
from following in his footsteps.
Polk's crime is no greater because
of his good name and family con-
nection, nor is it any the less, be-
cause of these, and what he has
been in the past should have had no
bearing in determining his punish
ment. Nor does his acts affect
those whose name he bears or to
whom he is related.
To those who are loud in con-
demning the unfortunate man and
constantly referring to his family,
it may not be out of place to sug-
gest that his punishment and the
deep modification of wife, children
and relatives, is already sufficient.
Manned in the defense of his loved
south, advanced in years, full OF
physical infrmlties, broken in spirit,
under a sentence of Imprisonment
and hard labor that will certainly
reach beyond his natural life, with
no earthly fortune to be1ueath to
his loved ones, and the constant rec
objection of the evil hour when he
yielded to the tempter, all these are
enough without the jeers and tan
talizations of the outside world. II
there is one word to utter let it be
of comfort,