The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-04-07
APRoPos THE CINCINNATI RIOT

OF attitude ON the part OF society toward
wrong-doing. What is now the attitude
maintained? 1t is one either Of indiffer-
ence, or one suggestive of paralysis of the
bower of Indignation, and of every faculty
needed for the repression of crime. To.
ward the criminal the attitude of the pub
lie is that of weak pity, not unmingled
with admiration. The criminal is an uD-
fortunate man, to save whom from pun
ishment seems to be the chief end OF the
law Look for moment at his trial in
a court of justice The jury, carefully
selected for their ignorance, are made
judges of both law and fact; TO convict.
they must be unanimous; if they have Il
reasonable doubt OF guilt, they must ac-
quit; they are themselves TO determine
what is resanable doubt; and. to crown
all, they are instructed that it is better
IL ten guilty men should escape than
that one innocent man should be punish
ed These rules and maxlms, devised
centuries ago by merciful judges, then
met the ends OF since, as the laws were,
as against the crown officers seeking to
convict, IA person accused has no chance
Of acquittal, for he was allowed neither
counsel nor witnesses; but now they OBJ
crate to screen the guilty from punish
ment, save in few cases where there is
a general cry for vengeance against some
atrocious offender The maxim about
the ten guilty men is passed upon iuries
by every felons lawyer as the great safe
guard of private rights In truth, how
ever, the interests of justice would be
best subserved by making it read: at is
better that ten in. octnt men should suffer
than that one guilty man should escape"
Were that declared to be the policy Of the
law, juries would be made to feel, not that
the innocent were less deserving than be
fore of acquittal, but that the guilty were
a hundred times more deserving of con
viction and punishment; and the result
would he more salutary. In not one case
in million could an innocent man suffer
ard hardly one in thousand Of the gull
| ty, instead of three out Of four. as now,
| woulc escape. How necessary such a
cnange Of attitude is, may be seen from
| the constant recurrence OF revolutionary
movements of private citizens intended
to supply the defect Of the law. Because
great criminals generally escape punish
mcDt, lynching parties are OF weekly
| occurrence III our country Citizens
| associations have been found necessary
| to secure the eXchtion OF orr municipal
| law. From the announcements constantly
appearing in the public journals, that
from such day laws long in force but
left uneyecuted, would he rigialy enforc
| ed, one night iufer that the duty Of an
| executed officer is to cause the laws to
| be executed when he beases to % so, or
| not at all, such he his will.
Referring to the above the 81. Louis
| Globe Democrat remarks:
The disturbance at Cincinnati gives
| especial point TO these words. which were
written, of course, before it occurred. 1t
is rare that such emphatic evidence Of
| popular dissatisfaction with the workings
| OF our criminal laws is furnished in large
| cities. Our lynchings and kindren dem
| onstrations have been mainly confined tt
those sections of the country which have
| been too recently settled to permit Of thu
| smoote Liberation OF the legal machinery
and to the rural districts generally. The
urban mind is usually free from this SPEC
| les of excitement The outbreak at Gin
cinnati arises from no lack of courts o.
officers Of court 1t springs directly from
the fault of the methods OF dealing with
criminals now in vogue in the most civil
lied centers. The odds are all in favor o
the criminal and all against the securit!
of society. Enthusiastically the lega
| machinery has become so imperfect ant
cumbersome that ii fails to properly per
! form the functions it was created for.
| Lawyers, whose moral sense is bluntcC
| Ply the opportunities given them to cleal
men who they know to be guilty, do no
hesitate to make use of any one of tn
innumerable devices the situation afford
to defeat the ends of justice, and the Eel
custom so prevails that they do not nee
esSarily ostracIse themselves thereby from
good society. As Judge jameson point
out. the Jury systOm was rendered origin
ally strong in favor of the prisoner 70
the reason that everything else wa
against him He has neither council no
witness" Now he has both, and the bent
/ fit of all manner OF doubt besides. All
very frequently he can secure villa
amounts TO COUNSEL in the iury-boX itsel
to act upon the rest when the Jurors retir
to re try the case in the absence OF til
prosecutor As in many other things, W
have in this condition of the criminal law
a system which was adapted to "a f0rme
stage of civilization brought down TO
later one in which there are circumstance
that render it notably inefficient
Does it not appear that the time is a
hand for the careful consideration Of som
method of re-adapting the criminals trial
til the necessities Of the situation? Tin
law is ponderous thing to move. 1t
buttressed by precedents and by a con
scrvatism which it is difficult TO influence
n The feeling that, as it stands at present
0 it is "a monument of human wisdom, i
= a powerful one, not only in the legal mint
bnt, to n large extent, in the communit
| in general. To attack the jury systel
seems to many like trihing with sacre
thing; and so much has been preache
/. about the necessity Of irOn-clad proof I
!. a specified nrture, even in matters whiC
are all but self evident, that false i'd
has gained a wonderfully firm footholC
But clearly little more wisdom is necr
ed to the particular monument Of huma
e wisdom" in question in shape 10 retai
II and improve its reputation. Let Us hoI
% that CIVILIZATION is not so hopelessly he
ID in rut in this respect that it cannot Ii
T. itself out save through the painful prcce
= of anarchy The provocat ion which ga'
= risc to the Cincinnati mob WAS areal IN
40 representative one That the mob hi
lots its head and is unrcasonin@ cam
hide this truth. The circumstance ougI
to produce a profound impression upc
I thinking beople. 1t is a matter for stat
- men to dealwith as well as the soidie
n and police.
VERY REMARKABLY RFCGVEPY