Daily Los Angeles herald., 1884-07-25
AJudIcini Eeecntricity,

In his highly interesting work upon
India Bishop lIober has grouped n num-
ber OF very peculiar things. Amongst
the rest he describes q great national
hospital. fostercd by the State and at
tended by priests, in which beggars arc
collected together for tho purpose OF pro-
viding, in their filth and wrctchedness-
and they are chosen for both--nourish.
ment for the insect tribe known as
pedicuius capitis. or. in the language CT
the vulgar, the very common insect
known as a louise. In this eccentric
form Of benevolence no account ia taken
OF the agonies Of the human bped,
whose writhing submission to his insect
tormentor would, one would think, ap-
peal to anything but distorted senti-
ment OF beneiicence. We have intro
duced this parallel 10 emphasize fea-
ture OF the administration of justice in
Ban Francisco. Most wholesome people
were appalled, by the repulsive circum.
stances which characterized the strang-
ling of his mistress by liutchings, in San
Francisco. the other day. As to oil de
tails OF this disgusting enormity there
can not bo the slightest difference OF
opinion, nor is there anything in tho
narrative which would suggest doubt
Of the gravity and horror of the crime.
Tho brute who committed the enormity,
for wonder, seemed to be impressed
with its responsiveness. AT every stage
Of the history following the criminal
climax which annihlatcd a helpless hu-
man being he showed q most logical fac
ulty. He had done something for which
he ought to be hung, aud he pro-
fcssed his willingness to submit to
the just penalty of his crime,
When arraigned in Court for murder,
ho pleaded guilty-thc only respectable
thing he could do, under the circum-
stances. TAe law recognizes the right
Of murderers thus arraignod to confess
the enormity Of their crime. 1t also
takes account of that moral agent known
ns remorse. At this stage OF u peculiar
infamy appears one Judge Wilson, OF
the Superior Court, who oompels Hutch.
ings, Notwithstanding his own protest,
iterated and reiterated, to withdraw his
plea of guilty. Under the duress OF
the court, Hutchings, protesting all the
while. IL compelled to put the city and
county of San Francisco to the great OK
pense of trying him for murder most foul
and unprovoked.
As matter of fact, the State OF Cali
fornia, comprising not quite one million
Inhabitants, has more judges than the
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
including the appanage of the principal
ity of Wales. Perhap, Judge Wilson
thought that the phenomenal and
indefensible number of judges which
the city and county of San Fran
cisco possesses could only be justified by
stretching every trial to tho last tension
of outlay and triviality, and that such q
judge-opprcssed city could not allow any
criminal to confess his crime and meet
his deserts without depicting the public
treasury and turning justice into farce.
Were Bishop Heber alive to-day, and
were his fine faculties OF observation
concentered upon San Francisco and
California, instead of upon Iudia, we
are inclined to think that he would re-
gard the East Indian vagary OF nourish-
ing the peiiculus humanus upon INDECENT
beggars as far more than surpassed in
eccentricityb by the performance of Judge
Wilson. Perhaps, indeed, he would
find in such judges greater evil than
the peiicuias caphis which occasions
such exquisite agony to people who neg
lect to keep their persons clean.