Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1886-03-19
"The Reign of Law
From the Quincy Journal.

From the Quincy journal.
EDITOR JoURNAL-The sledge
hammer blows which Macon" is
dealing through your columns,
like those of the Black Kni ght at
the front door of Front De Boeuf' S
castle, will have the desired effect,
aided, as they will be, by the COOP
Grafton of the right-thinking peo-
pie of the First district of Missouri.
In the meantime, while the forces
which are to do battle in the COM
ing campaign are silently chrys-
talizing, it is good time to look
over the field. The moral senti-
ment of the people is gradually
recovering from the evil influences
of the war. A generation who
were not familiar with the scenes
of crime and bloodshed which
necessarily characterized that, as
all other conflicts, are about to
take the helm. Society is gradu-
ally adjusting itself to this chang
ed condition of things. The great
mass of the people are nearly al
ways right. They move slowly
even ponderously, but never back
ward.
Men like Jesse James, Charles
Guiteau or Bill Lonely are no
longer admired as heroes. There
is a loud demand for stricter en-
forcement of the laws and a more
certain and positive condemnation
of guilty offenders. 1t is, there
fore, with much surprise that we
read in the Unionville New Cen
fury the following:
Because he criticised some of
the official actions of the prescott
ing attorney of Schuyler county,
Bro Miller, of the Glenwood Cri-
terion, was assaulted and beaten by
said attorney a few days ago"
Now, remember, that the prose-
cutting attorney IS elected by the
people, placed under bonds and du-
ly sworn to execute the law and
prosecute those who break it. Yet,
he appears before the world as a
violator instead Of defender of the
law. A bad state of affairs, one
would naturally say.
But how many have forgotten
that it is only a few years since
indeed, during his present term of
ofice-that Andrew Ellison, the
Judge of this circuit, committed an
assault upon the editor of news
paper published in Kirksville who
had presumed to criticise ruling
of Ellison's in court. After hav-
ing to his satisfaction punished
the editor for exercising that free
dom of speech guaranteed by the
law which the judge was sworn to
enforce, he promptly and volunta-
rily appeared before police JUS
tice and paid his fine. And this
misdemeanor was committed I'M
der the shadow of the State Nor
NAL School, in which he was a
curator, andunder the shadow of
the Christian church, in which he
was leading member. That the
benefits of this example was not
lost, We are assured by the recent
conduct of the prosecuting attor-
ney of Schuyler county in his dis
trict. But what must the people
say who find their laws defed,
public worship disturbed by row.
dies, whiskey sold without SEM
blance of concealment because the
feebleness or the connivance of the
guardians of the law are so well
known.
Is it therefore, any wonder that
so frequently an outraged people
with judge Lynch at their head
snatch the scales of justice from
impotent and often guilty hands,
and proceed summarily and with
an iron arm to visit that vengeance
we'll meant but i'll directed-on
the guilty, and, unfortunately often
too, on the innocent, which the law
intended for the guilty oniy9 Is
our boosted freedom of the press
to be struck down by the very men
placed on guard to defent it? Mr..
Robertson, of the New Century,
has been recently engaged in
bitter newspaper discussion with
Mr.. Thomas Barry, the prescott
ing attorney of Putnam county, |
concerning the matters of which |
this article complains the feeble !
ness with which our laws are ex-
,cuted. for here too un6er tba