The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-04-12

- :, WIZ ACdSOllnS cannot
ne called in question. The advice ia
eAceilent' although it comes late in
.he DAY for unhappy Cincinnati. with
us shc"ing ruins. its blood. stained
streets' and its sullled reputation
nut IL VIII be grave miscaIculation
II tne moraists limit their warning
10 the city which now needs If Iass
perhaps than any other in the land.
experience gained through fire.
slaughter and piIIage NAV be de-
pehded upon to put an end TO most.
II not all, the evils and abuses of
Clininal procedure in Cincinnati.
but Is there not reason to believe
that the laxity of administration.
winch has opened way for lawless.
lesS' destruction and bloodshed there.
prevails throughout the country? Is
!. NOT true that the whole body DO
,Itlc IS suffering from this disease .
mas there not been iamentable de.
cine IN public respect for law and in
confidence of all classes of peopIe in
the agencies and tribunals of Justice
throughout the country? These are
serious questions which should not
% lightly set aside. Cincinnati is not
ny any means the only community
"hich needs adnomition concerning
'ne dangerous tendencies of confused
legislation and reckless administra-
'ioh IN regard to crime. Its blazing
court house, where justice has been a
Venal trade and roaring farce, loom.
up as in ominous warning to the
country.
Few illustrations are needed to
point the general application of Gin
cihnatrs lesson. To begin with Ma.
tlohal examples, the Guiteau trial,
Whlie 1T resulted in conviction,
brought lasting reproach upon Amer
ican criminal law. The prisoner was
allowed for nearly three months TO
act the mouDtebank before grinning
audience and to insult counsel, wit
nesses and the bench itself; and the
effect of his blasphemy, ribaIdry and
eHrontery was intensified by the
coarse harangues of his chief defender
and by the levity and buffoonery of
the audience. That trial was most
gIarlng illustration of the decadence
OF American criminal procedure, The
otar Route proceedings, occupying
SIX months for the second trial alone,
afforded another startling example of
the paralysis ofjudiciaI dignity. The
hrSt trial ended in an inexplicabIe
Judgment of the jury, which had to
be set aside and the second trial re-
suited in what was generally regard
ed as miscarriage of Justice.
Passing rapidly from National to
State tribunals, we have only to mem
ton such notorious failures in crimi-
nal law as the acquittal of Dukes and
Mutt in Pennsylvania, of Dunn in
Chicago, and of Thompson in Ken
lucky, in order to illustrate the laxity
In judicial procedure which is now
prevailing. Instances might be null
tiplied by the score. The dealings of
State authorities with public outlaws
In the West, the acquittal of Frank
James, and many other scandalous
compromises and alliances with crime
enforce the same lesson. In too many
communities, criminal law is neither
respected nor feared. The inviolable
sacredness of human life is principle
which is no longer generally recog-
nized. Murderers are screened from
punishment, their crimes are explain.
ed away either as hereditary taints
or as unavoidable accidents, and their
appearance in courts of Justice is the
signal for pettifogging devices at the
bar and the mock heroics of morbid
sentimentalists. Bench. juries, courts
of appeal and Legislatures are con.
tributing, here little and there very
much, to confuse the public mind in
regard to the criminaity of murder.
The equity ofthe day leaves the sixth
command Of the Decalogue open
to Individual option-often directly
sanctions the taking of human life.
sometimes even seeks to dignity and
ennoble it. Cincinnati does not stand
alone in the laxity of its criminal pro-
cedure. Human life has been syste-
matically cheapened throughout the
country. The majesty of the law and
the terrors of judicial tribunals have
fallen into decay. Cincinnati gives
timely warning of one of the most
dangerous tendencies of American
life.-M Y. Tribune.
His Slippery Glass Eve