Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-10-23
CRIMINAL RECORD.
Cases Disposed OF During the August
Term Of the United States Court
at Fort Smith.
twenty Men Tried for nIurcer-vast Busi.
ness Done by tho Largest Criu,tsal
Court In America.

after a busy session OF ABOUT seVenty-nYe
days, your reporter took occasion TO ex-
anime the records, and ascertained that
during the period above mentioned the
following cases had been disposed Of by
Jury trial, plea OF gully aid
nolle prossequi: For murder,
ten cases were tiied in four
of which the defendants were found
guilty OF murder, two manslaughter one
mistrial and three acquitted. In one OF
the cases flrst mentioned there were two
defendants, which makes five men
doomed to the gallows at this
term. In one Of tie cases
reduced to manslaugbter there were
nine defendants, and in one OF the cases
where verdict Of not guilty was re-
turned there we're also three defendants,
making total OF twenty persons tried
on the grave charge Of murder.
For assault with intent to kill there were
I6 cases disposed Of; blgamy 2; larceny
SO; violating internal revenue law, intro
ducIng and selling whisky In the Indian
country, embezzllng mail, cutting timber
on government land, perjury, ETC., Sc,
making total OF 1871 cases. OF these, 30
were convicted by iuries, 81 acquitted, III
nolle pressed, and GO entered plea of
guilty. OF those convicted, are await
ing sentence for murder, are standing
on bond pending motion for new trial, Al
have been sent 10 the penitentlary at Ches-
ter, H., and the balance have got off with
jail sentences ranging from ten to ninety
days, with fine attached. These jail
cases are all for introducing whisky in
the Territory, and in many instances
the cases are very trlnlng. The fact
of this class Of cases being brought
I.v Ia ulN
gether the fault of the deputy
marshals by any means, but are the re-
suits OF little fueds in many instances,
when one party has a spite at another and
reports that he has introduced or sold
whisky In the territory, making the arrest
of his enemy an easy matter to be ac
complshed II he can point out two or
three witnesses to the Offense. The rea-
son why there are so few jury trials In
these cases Is because when man Is put
in iail charged with a violation OF the in
tercourse law, and is assured of short
sentence he can better afford to plead
guilty, even II he be innocent, as the
chances are he would get jail sentence
OF about thirty days, whereas If he
pleaded not guilty and was unable
TO make b. nd he might have to lay in
jail two or three months before he could
ktL u liiAis Ab an lAubLuuNc VI WuuL u vast
expense II Is to the government to en-
force this prohibitory law, one case may
be stated, OF which there are hundreds OF
similar ones during the ,ar: A man by
the name Of Lynch was arrested at Gaines
vile, Tex, for taking whisky TO the
Chicka6aw nation. A deputy sheriff
from Gainesville and a deputy marshal
from Dallas brought him TO this place via |
Texarkaua and Little Rock He remained
here in jail few days, was arraigned, |
and entered plea Of guilty; his
case was stated, and the court
sentenced him to twenty days in JAIL 1t
appearing that he was engaged hauling
goods for parties in the Territory, and,
among other things he had taken few
bottles Of whisky across the line, OF
course his case was reported by some de-
signing person TO the officers, who arrest |
ed him, and they had right to bring him |
and collect their fees the same as II he |
had been horse-thlef or murderer |
Many cases are brought in here that are
at once discharged by the commissioner,
and in all such instances the deputy gets
no pay whatever for bringing them unless
he made the arrest on "court wrlt.n
This rule has been enforced
by the court for years, and Is good one,
as It saves the government several thou
sand dollars every year In marshal'E fees.
The court is now engaged on the civil
docket, which Is quite large, and will oc-
cupy 1t until the beginning of November
which convenes the first Monday in next
month.
There are still IN jail at this writing
tlfty-six prisoners, six OF whom are await.
ing sentence for murder, thirteen serving
Jail sentences, and the balance awaiting
trial on various charges from murder
down.
The annual report of the jailer for the
year ending July /, 1856, Will give fair
idea OF the vast amount OF criminal basil
ness transacted by this court. 1t shows
that during the year 1913 prisoners were 1
ceiyed by him, as follows; :"
Murder OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
Assault with intent to XII . ."r,u-, 80
Introducing and SELF ...,,,,., ...,,, 200
dian Territory ing whisky IN the IN
vi oie ~ ..enai revepuelaw ,...,,,.,,., "
Con- q postal law ...- -.. .,.t+''''''+''' Al
.Jontemptof court .........,.. ,".,",..... 81
Attached Witnesses ,....,... .,-...,....... 81
Rapes...,,,.,,.,.,.. ,,.,...,. ,,tt't'Ftt,',.. y
Arson. .,....+..,,t, t.ss tt,s's,is .'tt,stss.t
Perjury .,..t,....,.., .,...,...,..,.,, FL
Personating United State onlcer.,.....,.,. II
hobhlng train nt,,...'.., .'t'''..'''.'''''
Manslaughter ....,.,,.,.,. ,.,,..,t. l
Cutting timber on government land ,...e. Al
Passing counterfeit money. ,.....,.-...t.
Intimidating witness ,,,,,,., ,,.,.,,..,,.,,. II
-
Total northumberland. s23
OF the above number, iGl were married
and 500 single Two hundred and
eighty-three Of them were whites, PSI
Indians, and 1859 negroes, including
fifteen females, six OF whom are white,
six Indians, aud three negroes, OF the
entire number, POI served short jail
sentences.
The large number OF cases tried by the
court In which the defendants are on
bond, and being acquitted are never
registered at the jail, do not appear In
the enumeration contained IN the jailers