Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-04-10
MEMPHIS APPEAL
TUESDAY, ;: APRIL 10, 1883.
TEAL ~ LIRY.

TUESDAY, Z: APRIL 10, 1883.
TRIAL RY JURY.
The acquIttal Of Dukes for the killing Of
Mutt has created profound sensation, not
only IN Pennsylvanis, but throughout the
whole country. Oar jury system is now held
up az a failure, and there ia a general
cismor Tor ia abolition or reform. The &C.
quittai OF Dukes furnishes no Just cause for
this sudden out6uFst against one of the great
bulwsrks erected by sagacious patriots and
statesmen for the protection Of the rights
and Liberties OF the citizsns. Alter writing
q hostile and threatening letter, Mutt en-
tered the private bedroom of Dukes, heavily
armed, and indicated a determination to ex-
ecute his threat. Dukes had abundant cause
TO believe that his life was in imminent
peril, and impelled by the fret law OF ma
ture-self defsnse-he killed the man who
hsd iGiruded himself upon his castle. But
the people Of Pennsylvania cannot sever the
murder from the cause that provoked it. The
letters Of Dukes were cruel and brutal.
Mutt was goaded TO desperation, but the law
does not recognize murder as the remedy for
infamous letters. Dukes was not on trial
for writing soandalous letters to q
father, detailing the shame of his
daughter. He was tried for killing
man who had rushed into his room deter
mined to execute previous threats. To save
his own life be was constrained to kill the
armed enemy that confronted him. This
was the opinion of the jury, and it rendered
verdict Of not guilty, as juries under SINH
lsr circumstances have always done and al
ways will do. But the mob in Pennsylvania
Is still bounding down every man that COM
posed the jury, because he would not convict
the author for writing infamous letters when
be was on trial for numbering a man about
TO take his own life. There is nothing in
this case 10 justify the popular demand for
aoolishins cur jury system. Sir William
Blackstone, to whose opinions on all legal
questions ihe greatest jurists still defer,
speaks OF Trial by jury as the palladium OF
the liberties OF England, which should remain
sacred and inviolate, not only from all open
attacks, but from all attempts to undermine |
it by substituting for it new and arbitrary |
modes; "for," ssys he, "howevsr cautious |
these may be at frst, yet let it be remem-
bered that delays, and little inconvenience
in the Iofms of justice, are the price that
all Tree nations must pay for their liberty J
Ia more tubslantial matters" We are, |
no doubt, more indebted TO trial by jury |
for our property, our character, our safety, |
our society, our civilization ard our liberty, |
than 10 any other single institution ia the |
Country, and the fanatical clamor about the |
acquittal of Dukes-Lor not sending him to |
tue penitentiary for writing infamous letters
when he was on trial for murder-wil not in
ducs the American people TO abolish a sys-
ten which has 90 long been the freeman's
r.f'so. We have more faith - thA verdict
OF twelve men, acting under the sanctity OF
al oath and made familiar with the law and
f-c's, than the surgipg mob, influenced by
prejudice and led by outlaws who prefer the
rule Of the mob 10 law and order. Almost
every dsy develops facts which show the wis
dom Of our jury system, and the evils that
will follow if it is TO be substituted by the
rule Of the iniuriated mob. Both are illus
t~ated in very curious case which was
terminated in Baltimore ON Thursday last.
Ia January, year ago, a woman by the
name of Elizabeth f. Gensler came TO New
York from England and charged Henry
Herman, wealthy furniture manufacturer
OF that city, with having married and aban-
doned her in England. Herman had
Just married New York lady,
and the charge was not only embar-
raising, but promised 10 land him in the
penitenlary for bigamy. He was tried on
the charge Of bigsmy, and only secured a
verdict of aoquittal after he had presented
such evidence as left no doubt that the
woman had made a mistake. At the con-
clusion Of the trial, the judge remarked that
il he had been a poor m an he would proba-
bly, have been sent to State prison. The SYM
patby of the mob was against Herman Just
as it was against Dukes. Herman was in
suited, called a bgamist, wretch who had
bssely wronged and betrayed good woman.
His acquittal did not silence the scandal.
Indeed, it was as Injurious TO him as conyic-
lion, for the facts revealed at the trial satis-
ied the mob that he was guilty not only OF
bigsmy, but the additional crime of bribing
the jury. Scorn and contumely were his
olly salutations in the community where he
b ad formerly been greeted with nothing but
friends and fortune. Conscious of his own in
n )cence, and with faith in the ultimate tri-
umph Of truth, he resolved 10 vindicate his
n me, and TO restore himself in the conf
dsnce OF friends and in the affections Of his
family, even if it cost him his entire for
tune, which had no value TO him 30 long as
he was an ouicast. With this view, Herman
employed detectives TO hunt up the husba nd
OF the woman that had so cruelty wronged
aad disgracsd him. A few weeks ago the
detectives discovered that there was a John
Gsnsler in Baltimore, foreman of Charles
Hodender & Sons furniture factory. The
men in the employ OF Herman carried Mrs.
Genser TO Baltimore, where she was con-
fronted by the man OF her own name. She
gazed at him a few seconds and then said he
was her husband. On his part, Gensler said
he was acquainted with the woman, and that
he had once lived with her in London for
about three years. 1t is said that Herman
spent $12, 900 in demonstrating his innocence.
This case furnishes a powerful vindication
of the jury system, and a strong
of the growing dispo-
sition of the masses to persecute
every juryman who dares to render verdict
at variance with the views Of the popular
mob. Obedience TO law is the first duty of a |
good citizen, and all who engage in traducing
and maltreating iurymen on account of their
verdicts rendered in a court OF justice and ,
under the sanctity of an oath, are giving aid ]
and comfort to the Communists, to lawless-
ness, and TO the return Of the ansrchy of the
dark ages, when the bowling mob ruled by
passion and hate, and the jury system was
unknown.
FINANCE AND COMMERCE.
The exchanges of the past week as exhib-
tied in the columns Of the New York Public