The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-09-08
- a,4u of thn sheriff and his damn.

ties tle CITY lIldISld ullu lllo pOAiNN
other prosecuting officers, at once to investi-
cate the matter. But these officers cannot
80 everything, They are not omnlpresent
nor omniscient Persons lntend ding criminal
acts do not invite public officers TO witness
the crime. These acts are Done IN Ihe aa H.
or in the presence of those upon Whom the
law does not lay the special duty OF bringing
Offenders to Justice, but upon whom really
the officers are mainly dependent for the
facts necessary to convict. lt Is 1asnlonapie,
l know, to pour the Walls OF Wratn upon tne
heads Of public officers, charging upon them
the responsibility for all the ills that nesh is
heir to. for the existence of crime and VIOLA
ton of law, forgetting that duCy aiso iests
upon all as members of society. ana cltlzens
of the State to aid the prosecution by max
ing complaint and furnishing information
and facts. No doubt there are dellnquencles.
The officers are not angels; they are not per-
feet, but subject to the weaknesses OF ordl-
nary mortalS.
While sitting upon this bench, have had
the assistance of thee sheriffs and their
deputies, representing both political parties;
four city marshals, with the police of differ
ent political opinions; but | have neyer. yet
seen a case lost through any neglect OF ef-
fort to convict on the part of the officer,
while l have taken verdicts of not guilty
and have been obliged to allow entries OF
mol pros by the score to be made by the
County Attorney in consequence of reluct-
ant and forgetful, and lying, and double
testimony alone conviction could be OBJ
tanned.
OF the 1898 eases for violation of the liquor
law which have been disposed of since Octo-
Der 49, 1878, the day first sat in this seat,
the entry of mol pros. has been entered in
$685. or twenty per cent. of the whole, and L
have no hesitation in declaring that con-
victions could have been obtained in nearly
all Of them if certain unknown persons had
come forward and furnished the proper
authorities with the facts they possessed.
When a murder is committed the officers
can very easily obtain everything that is
known by everybody. The whole COM
munity is aroused and all become detectives
When burglary or larceny is committed all
except very few are ready to supply the
officers with all facts in their knowledge
But when the domain of misdemeanors is
reached people generally seem to regard it as
the duty of the officials alone to ferret them
out.
Gentlemen of the grand jury, it is the duty
of every citizen having knowledge of any
fact tending to show that any person is guilty
fact to the attention of the public prosecutor
or magistrate or to lay it before you as the
grand inquest of the county. If he fails to
do it let him forever hold his peace as to de-
lin9uencies of public officers.
While it is true as general principle that
all violations of law should be brought to
| light and punished, while it is true that the
courts in the administration of the criminal
law should adhere to this principle as close
ly as circumstance will permit, still an I'M
deviating application of this principle, like
strict application of every general rule oper-
ates harshly in particular cases. The law
| makers have ever recognized the fact that
crimes differ in wickedneSs and hence diff
ferent penalties are provided for the several
crimes, and also that violation of the same
penal statute may vary in enormity. Hence
the law allows the judge presiding who
knows all the facts of each case great lati
tude in the imposition of sentences. In man
slaughter the judge may impose fine C one
cent or he may send to State prison for ten
years.
1t has also been the practice of our courts
for centuries when justice would seem to be
promoted thereby to suspend sentence alto
with the other alleviating circumstances
there was apromise of good behavior made
by the party asking mercy, and with dis
tinct understanding on his part that heavy
sentence would be inflicted if the promise
was broken.
During my term of service here probably
so boys, between the ages of Is and
20, have been brought before me for
larceny, it being their first offense against
any law. They yielded to some temptation
and found themselves for the first time
convicted criminals. A sentence in State
prison, where they would go if the vindictive
element of punishment were alone to be fol-
lowed would ruin them for life. l have
tCdACu W ulGlCy SluG, uOplDR IudG THESE
boys might be saved to the community and
am glad to say to you today that out of the
80 or more boys, in whose cases l have tenn
pered Justice with mercy, not more than six
or eight have, ever to my knowledge, been
guilty of other crimes. When, however
such ones have again appeared in court, JUS
tice pure and unadulterated has been melted
out to them.
At the September term, 1888, Nos. 80, III,
147 165, 205 and 2SS on the docket of that
fern AGAINST tho for viz
lation OF the liquor law, were in order for
sentence, and the sentence was imposed.
The respondent went to jail for nineteen
months. AT the same term of court three
complaints and one Indictment, (Nos. 285,
2S6, 2S7, 334,) were entered, to which demur-
rers were filed. At the September term,
| 1884, these cases were in order for sentence,
but the respondent was in jail, and contin-
ued there until April, 1885. At the May
term, 1855, he appeared in court, stated pub
| licly his purpose to abandon the liquor bust
ness, acknowledged that the way of the
transgressor was hard, but expressed his
willingness to receive sentence in the four
| cases if l thought best. / told him that [
months of imprisonment had had upon him
before sending him to Jail again, and urged
| him to engage in some legitimate business.
| That while so engaged he would not be
troubled with these cases. but that the full
penalty would be imposed if he ever again
appeared in this court as a convict. His
| four cases are part of the 146 cases of sus-
| pended sentences before referred to, and his
| is not solitary case. The man has neither
sold liqusr nor drank liquor, habit he was
| formerly addicted to, since his release from
jail. He knows what will happen if the
promise is violated, for no man has violated
such promise and escaped punishment.
So you see, gentlemen that while the gen
eral principle is correct one, the law and
the practice of ages have conferred discre-
tionary powers upon the courts, cognizant of
| all the facts, to mitigate the severity of its
application in particular cases, and it has
been the testimony of all who have ever had
| personally anything to do with the admins
| tration of the criminal law that such dis
erection judicieusly exercised not only drives
men out of crime, but keeps them out
Crime has existed from the earliest history
of the race and law even at times under the
direct sanction of God never has been able
utterly to extirpate it. The penalty of death
did not prevent theft in England, nor does it
now prevent murder wherever inflicted.
Larcenies then occurred and murders are
now committed, and violations of law will
always occur until the saints inhabit the
earth All that law can accomplish or can
reasonably be expected to accomplish is to
I