The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-05-01
The Adams Trial.

The habeas corpus case in which
Willis Adams was granted bail on
Tuesday at Dallas is one of that order
of cases so often found on the crini-
nal dockets of Texas. The result of
the examination for bail is common
one. The blood of the victim cries
helplessly from the ground, outraged
justice pleads her own abuse, and the
law-abiding instincts of the people
are choked and outraged, that because
a man h; ten thousand dollars, be-
cause lie can make a ten thousand
dollar bond he may murder with
impunity. Impunity? To be sure
it is that and nothing else. Does
any sane man suppose Adams
will show up for trial, unless indeed
he knows beforehand that his dainty
neck is absolutely safe. If he sup
poses the brave county attorney is
able to get an honest jury, a speedy
trial and an unprecedented judge, will
he not jump the bond? Wasn't it
made for that purpose? Will ten
thousand dollars pay the public for
the fatal stab this case gives to JUS
tice? Our Dallas dispatch yesterday
graphically grouped the situation. On
the one side stood the noble Clint con-
tending bravely and devotedly against
a power too vast either for himself
or the cause of justice. A bank
er's brother can not be hung in Texas,
although he murders a helpless man
wantonly, and with all the provoca-
ton on his own side. This it is which
renders the cause of justice in Texas
a broad farce. This is why. no man
obeys the law in this state, in regard
murder, unless he wants to do so. If one
man in his lecherous energy looks upon
another's wife, and attempts to seduce
her from the ways of virtue, that hus-
band may be killed with perfect i'm
punity, if only the seducer has money
enough. In heavens name, what sort
of a country is ours when such things
| can be done?
We are not surprised at the result
of the examination of Adams on ha-
beas corpus. In fact, we would have
been genuinely surprised had there
been other result. Had Adams been
refused bail and remanded to prison
| the whole state would have tingled
with a real surprise. 1t would have
constituted an anomoly in justice. It
was pitiful to follow the brave exer
tons of Clint as we did, knowing well
as we did and as he also did, that there
was to be but one outcome to the
affair. Justice stands no show before
money. Money steps in and snatches
| the red-handed murderer from the
clutches of the law, and the groans
of the victims, the tears of
his family and the rude as
sault upon the good name of
the community go for nothing. They
are not taken into the account. The
heart turns sick before events Of this
sort. The hopes of the law
abiding art withered. The low
ers Of justice and the patriotic
who value the fair name, and who
tremble at the injury such things do
US in Texas, are all sick at heart. Not
because of this one crime. Not be.
cause this one wretch escapes, but be-
cause his is only one of hundreds of
cases exactly similar. There is no
hope. There is no prospect of amend
ment. We but go on, and on, and
from bad to worse. Our courts are but
broad farces played out for the
amusement of the curious and
the prurient. Had there been more
Clints-had each prosecuting attor-
ney in the state battled as nobly for
justice as he has done there had been
more judicial fibre, more judicial back
bone and perhaps different result in
this case. The only wonder is that
the judge could have had the heart to
make the bond at ten thousand, one
thousand, or five at the most, would
have been the limit. 1t would have
been so much more satisfactory to the
wealthy banker and the warm friends
who will crowd the jury box should
Willis Adams ever stand before the
bar of justice CD
What farce! What jibe
upon justice What arrant
nonsense is all this. We boast that
in this christian land our laws
are based upon the laws of God. Is
there one law for the rich, another for
the poor2 Because one has a rich
banker for brother may he shoot
down his fellow man as he would a
dog and go unwhipped of justice?
In what way do we differ from the
savages in land where such things
are tolerated? How may we meet
the red tide of murder which has so
long laved the very pedestal of JUS
tice? Is there, can there be,any hope of
amendment, so long as these things
are permitted? This case will do more
injury to the cause of law and
order than-an hundred executions of
negroes and poor white trash can
wipe out. All the evil influences of
the state are encouraged. The law
less of every character and rank in
life take heart when they see the alb
solute impunity and complete safety
which money is able to purchase.
It is high time to ring down the
curtain on the broad farce. The public
taste is stated. The public have had
enough of it. Too much, and justice
should be permitted for season to
take her course, or else we will surely
have taste here in Texas of the hot
Indignation expressed SO recently by
the mob in Cincinnati.
The Medical Association.