The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-02-15
A JUDICIAL OUTRAGE
The Recent Fl,grsnt Display oiPartisanIhip
on ths Bench.
Caustic Review OF Judge woods Charge to
the Jury in the Coy Bernhamer Case
Some, UnsavOry, Historic Precedents.
WASHINGTON, D. c., February 8.

cuss the evidence, to review the charge of
the Judge. Every lawyer in the land who
has studied his profession, and become
familiar with its rules, knows that the late
trial, so far as the conduct of the Judge
was concerned, was a farce. No lawyer
who has any respect for his opinion will
contend for a moment that the late
charge was legal-nay, that it was honest,
fair and manly. A partisan harangue
which succeeded in putting two innocent
men behind the bars on the perlured tes-
timony of an lnformer. No one knows
better than the Judge himself that had
the case been one OF rights OF property
alone, in which no right of liberty was in
volYed, that on such testimony he would
in the event Of r.n,sd verdict tor
without The formality of motion. So
plain proposition needs no discussion,
no elaboration.
In all the bitterness growing out of the
laie war, aye, even when the war was on
and naslefactors were brought before
Albert s White, of honorable fame, DEM
ocrats were fairly tried. Later on came
David Mcdonald, and justice was melted
out. Never before in Indiana has there
been such a melancholy spectacle as that
lately witnessed. The wrong done to Coy
and Bernhamer, the faint placed on them
selves and their families, is great; the out
Isge great; but they, In future years, will
not suffer as will the Judge. In modern
trials there has been no such exhibition.
The is, thank God, no parallel in Indi-
ana; yet, there is parallel.
More than two hundred years ago q
judge of the Kings Bench sat in England.
His anne was William ScIoggs. He sue
ceeded Sir Matthew Hale and Richard
Rsyrsford, as Judge Woods has
succeeded Albert 1. White and David Nc
Donald.
Read what his hiographer says of him:
Never was there more striking contrast
than between Chief Justice Raysford and
hi immediate successor. Scroggs had eX.
cellent natural abilities, and might have
made a great figure in his profession"
What the future will do for his counter
part in Indiana remains to be seen; but
read further on: "How be conducted him
self in civil suits is never once mentioned,
for the attention of mankind was entirely
absorbed by his scandalous misb ehavior
as criminal judge. He is looked to with
more lcathiDg, if not with more indigna-
ton, than Jtffrey's, for in his abominable
cruelties he was the sordid tool of others,
and in his subsequent career he had not
the feeble excuse OF gratifying his own
passions or advancing mis- own interests"
III Csmpbell's Lives Of the Chief Justices,
259.)
That is picture that The who runs may
read"
AT the risk of being tedious, attention is
called to the following:
Judge UNDERSTANDING up:
"Gentlemen-I will pass no further re-
view upon the ties timony OF this case. L
have gone through this more for the pur-
pose of sbcxing you how to take hold OF
these questions. l have indicated my
own views, but they are not to he binding
upon you at all, unless they conform to
your reason and judgment when you have
surveyed the whole field"
How very fair Il have indicated my
own views"
Judge Scroggs-summing up:
Gentlemen of the Jurv-I leavei it upon
your conscience whether you will let
priests escape who are the very pests of
the church. You had better>be rid of one
priest than three felons. So, gentlemen,
leave it 10 you" III CampbelPs Lives of
the Chief justices 260 J Mark well the par
sllel, and if Judge Woods or any of his
trends can ind any comfort in it, they are
welco me 10 1t.
Read again about this Justice Scroggs
His log pher has been faithful:
Whether sitting in his own
court ut Westminster, or at the
Old Pailey, in the city of London, as long
as he believed that the government fsvortd
the prosecutions by display of all the
unworthy arts OF cal cling and intimida-
ton he secured convictions. A modern
historian, himself Roman Catholic priest,
says, with temper and discrimination: The
Chief Justice, Scroggs, acted the part Of
prosecutor rather than of Judge. To in
formers he behaved with kindness-even
with Difference, suggesting to them expla-
nations, excusiDg their contradictions,
and repelling the imputations on their
characters, but the prisoners were repeat
tdly interrupted and lnsultsd; their wit
esses were browbeaten from the Bench,
and their condemnation was generally
hailed with acclamations, which the Court
rather encouraged than reproved. "
(Campb ellis Lives of the Chief Justices.)
Let any one who wants to find a coun-
teIpart OF the above in tyranny from the
bench, read the late charge, and see with
what tender Difference the informer in the
late trial was treated.
1t has come to Indiana to furnish judicial
| tyranny.
Judge Woods in passing sentence and
refusing a new trial, says he has no i'll will
toward the defendants and would gladly
let them go If he could, but he wants TO
make such crimes impossible. Does he
suppose sRy man has simplicity OF intel
| lect to believe such statement He
knows better. He knows now his own
party will go right along, having complete
immunity from punishment. Another
| Sammy Beck can be counted out. An
other Dan Lemon can be deprived of mis-
| Office. No doubtful authority will be ex'
| tended toward offer ders in his own party
No stretching Of the law. His high and
lofty sense OF honor will not stoop to ferret
| out such crimes as counted Thomas a
Her bricks out of the GovsrnoTship. Hi
powers of authority will extend to Demo
crsIs alone.
The men whom Scroggs end Jeffrey'
hanged, scourged, imprisoned in dungeons
are long since dead. Their very names
are forgotten. The faint upon thei
families, friends and relatives long since
washed away. Their graves are unknown
Not go Jeffreys. Not so Scroggs. They
still live high on the scroll of dishoRo-
able fame. They are remembered, al.
remembered not well. In the cominl
ages some curious student Of the Law
searching the literature of his profession
and finding, in a stray magazine, the lei
charge to the Jury, will look with wonde
when be learns that from the Seventeenth
to the Nineteenth century no materia
advancement was made, that the trail o
the serpent" was over both periods.
A great wrong is inflicted now. I've
families are wrecked, two women weep
children look in vain for the coming o
their ia hers. But time will roll on and b
generous. Not many years hence all con
nected with the crest case will be number
ed With the dead. The unjust Judge ant
innocer { victims alike will sleep. The vic
Tins " i'll sleep well; but on the pages o
the Law reviews the unjust Judge will live