The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-04-03
WEDNESDAY. APRIL 8.
A Question of Right or Wrong.


language at our command. The spectacle
presented by Judge WoODs as he sits upon
the bench, deliberately, wantonly and
wickedly prostituting the functions OF his
court to the service of villainy and
crime is one which no honest
and patriotic imam can witness without
feelings of profound modification and
profound Indignation. But the spectacle,
shocking as it is, would be less humiliat-
ing, less ominous of grave disaster to this
commonwealth and this republic, and lar
less serious in all its public aspects, If
WILLIAM A. WooDS were the only, or the
chief offender. Corrupt judges have dis
graced the bench before, and will disgrace
it again. But it is only when their corrup-
ton has had its sources in the seat of power,
and passed without stern rebuke from
the people, that it has evidenced the ex-
istence of diseased social conditions
and debauched public conscience.
The really alarming thing about the
outrages perpetrated by Judge WoODs is
that they are known to be inspired by
men the highest in authority in this re-
public; that they are participated in by
other men with commissions fresh from
under the hand and seal of the president
of the United States, and the echo OF
whose solemn oaths to obey
and enforce the law has scarce
" died away; and that they
are viewed with Indifference, if not
with actual favor, by so numerous an
element in our population. In the ranks
of great political party, numbering near
" one-half the citizens of this nation,
not single voice has been raised, not
single protest has been heard, not one
whisper has been uttered, to our knowl-
edge, against these most fragrant, wanton
and wicked transgressions OF the
laws of COP and man. This
proves a deadened public conscience;
blunted and stunted moral sense in the
community; an all-pervading demoraliza-
ton which has confounded the distinc-
tions between right and wrong in the pop
ular mind and rendered it Indifferent to
the integrity of the judiciary, needless of
the obligations of an official oath, and
blind to the fatal consequences which are
as certain to follow the pollution of the
affairs OF justice as the night is to follow
the day, or death to follow life.
What is this thing that Judge WooDs
has done and is doing, by and with the
advice and consent Of men high in author
ity, who. in times gone by, have vaunted
themselves of their piety, their probity,
their purity, and who have exploited
themselves, and been exploited by their
friends and followers, in the character of
moral examplars for the rest of mankind
A few simple words will tell the story.
A federal grand jury, composed of men of
all political parties, and acting under the
obligations Of a sacred oath, has returned
many scores Of indictments for violations
of the election laws of the state of Indiana
and the United States. These laws were
framed for the purpose Of protecting the
people in the right of self-government; OF
insuring, so far as possible, that their will
should be honestly registered by the ballot
box, and carried into effect by the persons
chosen through that instrumentality.
They are the most important of all
the laws upon our statute books, because
they lie at the foundation of all other
laws, and upon their faithful enforcement
depends the perpetuation of our frame of
government and the preservation to the
people of all the benefits and blessings it
was designed to confer upon them. Of
lenses against these laws strike at the very
roots Of our institutions; and, if they are
allowed to go unpublished, menace the
whole fabric OF government, and threaten
all social order and public security.
Two or three hundred persons-more
or less-were indicted by this grand
jury, after a patient and labori-
GUS investigation, involving a large
expense to the people. This investiga-
ton was conducted under the auspices of
able lawyers, upon whose personal in
made. The indictments follow, as is the
universal custom, the language of the
statute, and were drawn in the precise
forms that have been observed in this
very court for years, and upon which men
have been sent to prison by this very
Judge. The attorneys for the defense
moved the court to quash or dismiss these
indictments because of alleged technical de-
fects contained therein. The man charged
with protecting the rights of the govern
ment in this business-under a solemn
oath to do this to the very best OF his
ability-sat by, as dumb as an oyster,
while WILLIAM A. WooDs on the bench
quashed these indictments, not by ones
and twos, but by blocks of five, nullify-
ing in breath the results OF weeks Of
arduous and expensive labor by the grand
jury, and throwing the shield Of his pro-
lection unfortunately about the per-
sons charged,with these grievous offenses.
In doing this thing Judge WooDs,
as on a former occasion, reversed his
own decision given in similar cases
in previous years. He ignored the rule,
universally observed by courts of stand
ing, to resolve all doubts in preliminary
proceedings of this character in favor of
the state, and not OF the accused. He
pursued course directly opposed to that
which be followed in certain memorable
trials for similar offenses over which he
presided during the last two years. He
disregarded law, propriety, precedent,