The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1884-06-26
THE eREAT FARCE.
0uiFsgsOus Abuse Of the Pardon Power
BY Gev. Click.

Infamous and unWaTranted acts in
Overriding the courts, the iuries and
good government was the uncOndi-
tional pardon Of the six convicted sa-
loon keepers Of Salina. The citizens
Of Saline county, without regard to
the questions Of Republicanism or
Democracy, prohibition or Rnti-prO-
hibltiOn, temperance OF anti-temper-
ance-are Overwhelmingly in favor Of
the enforcement Of the prohibition
law as well as other laws. With the
exception Of a very few persons whose
fairness has been warped by extreme
prejudice, there is a belief that the
saloon men had fair and impartial
trials. The judge was fair, the prose
ecution was fair and the fines which
were imposed were moderate. There
was no uRfairness, no oppression and
no disposition to deprive the law
breakers Of any rights which they
were entitled to in a court of justice.
The attorneys for the saloon men
found no flaw in any Of the proceed
ings, aud even took no steps TO carry
the cases TO the supreme court, as is
usually the case when there Is error
in any OF the proceedings. The Gov
ernOr without any foundation for the
act whatever has insulted all who are
in favor Of good government, and
aroused the righteous Indignation OF
30 large a portion Of the voters of Sa-
line county that he will be showed
under many feet deep in the coming
election.
We give below the flimsy pretexts
on which the Governor Is said to have
based the pardOns:
SALIVA, KANSAS, I
June l6, 1884,
To His EEceHency, Geo. w. Click,
Governor Of Kansas:
SIR have been requested by
some of the friends of the parties to
state to your exeellency my impress
siOns Of the fairness and impartiality
Of Judge Prescott In the trials Of VIM.
H. Sweeney, Gustav Behr, Jacob
Mugler, VIM. Huebner, Peter Mug
Ter and NJ. J. Ludesl on the charge Of
violations OF the prOhlbitOry liquor
Law, ct the May term of the Saline
county District court.
was present nearly II not quite all
the time the case OF Gustav Behr, the
first tried, was on trial. 1 heard so
much Of Judge PrescOtt's manner and
way Of doing things and had heard
that he had boosted there should be
at least one judicial district in Kan
sas where the prohibition law could
and would be enforced, that 1 watch
ed him very carefully during the
trial Of the Behr case In order TO sat
isfy myself whether the unfairness
charged against him in such other
cases had any foundation in fact.
l can now assure your eXeelieney
that In the trial of that case his man
neF, conduct, rulings and decisions
impressed me as being those of a
highly prejudiced judge, and made
aud carried on for the express pur-
pose Of cOnvieting the defendant.
noticed several times when the
defendant, through his attorney,
made challenges for cause TO a juror
that the judge would question the
juror and do II in such way as TO
clearly indicate what answers he
wished from the juror 10 sustain his
competency, and in such eases the
juror would invariably respond TO the
judges ind icatiOns and the Judge
would then override the defendants
challenge.
l do not pretend TO cite instances,
and cannot Of course describe the
judges looks and manners which to
my mind clearly indicated his preju-
dice and partihlity.
Your eXcelleney will know from
your experience as a lawyer At the
bar how easy It is for judge on the
bench TO indicate by his manner aud
his looks what verdict he desires, and
how easily jury is somewhat inilu-
enced by judge without the judge
necessarily saying anything that
might be regarded as error on pro-
ceedings by appeal. His conduct as
far rs saw II was much the same in
all these cases.
I am very respectfully,
OLOF FORSsE,
Sheriff Saline Co