Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-03-22
BILL OF .4TTAINDER.

BILL OF .47TAINDER.
The word "attainder" is from the
French word teindre, which means
stain. According to the English law
when a person was condemned to death
for treason OF felony, OF had been out
lawed for any crime, he was deprived of
all his civil rights, and all his estates
We're forfeited to the Government. This
was called attainder, and the person
thus punished was said to be attained"
Parliament might also deprive an Of
fender of rights, and the act was called
bill of "attainder." Not only did
those convicted of high treason forfeit
all their possessions, both real and per-
sonal, and all their Individual rights as
citizens Of the State, but the ofense
also worked corruption of BLOOD" that
is, the descendants Of the offender could
not inherit any of his property, nor any
civil right that had been his. The dis
abilities created by the corruption of
blood could only be subdued by act of
Parliament. The bill of attainder, as
passed by the English Parliament, was
a legislative conviction with judgment
of death. Sometimes evidence was
heard on the case, but not often, for the
object of the act was to secure convic-
ton without waiting for legal proof of
guilt. The first recorded use of the bill
of attainder by Parliament was.in 1921,
when Parliament wished to rid the
country of the unpopular favorites, the
Dispensers. Its last use was in 1897,
when Sir John Fenwick was attained and
executed for participation in the assassi-
nation plot. In the $40 years interven-
ing, the plan had been used very often
to dispose of persons obnoxious to Par
lament. A milder form of the same
method of procedure was adopted in
the so-called "bills of plans and penal
ties" by which a punishment less than
death was inflicted. The founders Of
our Government distinctly prohibit the
passage of any such laws for two rea-
sons: First, because of the injustice of
such legislative acts; and, secondly,
from the fear that the power to infict
such punishment might, in the hands of
q popular legislature, lead, during
political excitement, to great abuse.
The Federal Constitution declared that
no bill of attainder shall be passed
either by Congress OR by any State
AS, however, the courts might claim
the power to convict for treason or to
declare attainders, the Constitution
still further protected personal liberty
by providing that Congress should have
power to declare the punishment of
treason, put that no attainder of treason
should work corruption of blood OF for
fixture, except during the life of the
person attainted In some cases brought
about by our late Civil War, the United
States Supreme Court has decided that,
by the meaning Of the Constitution, bills
of pains and penalties are included in
the prohibition of bills of attainder.
THE TOILET OF 4 POMPEIAN LADY.
Splendid clasps of gold for the out
door tunic, long, wide mantle, often
richly dyed, one end of which was
thrown gracefully over the shoulder;
silky wells of himsy texture embroid-
cred with gold, and a profusion of
jewelry, rendered the toilet of our
Pompeian an intricate and serious bust
ness. On the table lay for choice the
earrings and rings, the bracelets, arm
lets, and anklets, of gold and silver and
precious stones, in designs of infinite
variety. Fine canoes were usually en-
ployed for the rings; the earrings took
the form of hoops Of pearls and other
stones, or little figures in gold. Cupids
being favorite design; and rows of
coral and malachite, beetles and pend
ants in arabesque patterns, and orna-
ments in the Etruscan STYLE formed
the necklaces. The bracelets were Of
ten in the form of serpents twining many
times round the arm, or were thick
circlets, either plain or embossed with
precious stones or pearls. There, too,
lay boxes for rouge and other cosmetics,
with numberless ivory combs, perforated
III graceful patterns, and small tools, as
pincers, nail-polishers, and the like;
numerous vases and jars for perfume,
hairpins twisted and ornamented in
various ways, safety-pins of all sizes,
and in all kinds of metal, from iron to
gold; gold ribbon for girdles or fillets,
and nets of the finest gold-thread for
head-dresses; mystic armlets of every
sort giving the finishing touch to the
varied collection.
A GLASS eye has one compensation
everybody else can see through the de-
, vice if the Wearer can't -Tjfo