Wichita eagle., 1889-06-30

A GAMING IN THE DISTRICT COURT.


uty Donnelly at the head of the jury
marched in from the right door. The jury
took their seats and Mr.. Chas. F. Coffin
arising presented his honor in behalf of
the body, beautiful gold headed cane in
| the following neat address:
IF your honor please, before the regular
order OF business is begun this morning,
have case TO present that is somewhat
out OF the order of the usual proceedings
OF the court. find no express provision
IN the statute which authorizes the pro-
ceeding am about to ask for, yet it seems
to me that the court viii not exceed its
| jurisdiction, if at this time my case is
heard and determined. The court is oft
times required to depart more or less from
the well established rule of stare decisis,'
In order that substantial justice may be
done. Dnring the present term Of court
| case was tried, and a verdict rendered
| therein but whether from neglect of the
| clerk or for some other reason, IL has not
| found its way properly on the records. and
1 desire at this time to direct the attention
or the court TO that matter. Ir was jury
case, and the jury desire that the error shall
| rectlied and the records of the court made
| to show the verdict rendered. The court,
as a judicial officer and as elected by the
| people, must see TO it that litigants of all
| classes are protected in their legal rights
| On the bench while he may not be able to
| divest himself of the attributes of man
and put away from himself the frailties
common TO mankind, yet he is to stand
| and judge without passion and without
! prejudice. Justice is symbolized in art by
the Inquire OF woman with eyes blind
| folded, in her left hand pair of scales, in
her right an unsheathed sword; her eyes
are blinded that she may see nothing of
the external conditions of the suppliants
at the bar; in her scales, evenly poised, she
is to weight the testimony, and with her
sword, keen edged, she is to smite, ire
spectiye of the strength, wealth. social
powers, or other conditions Of the con-
teStants.
The court is intrusted with large de-
gree of discretionary power. and in the
hands of an untrustworthy man this
power may seriously threaten the liberties
OF the people. 1T is an excellent thing to
have giants strength, but tyranous to
use it as a giant" 1t IS great man who
can beintrusted with large power and yet
use it with such moderation and such dig
nifty as that it shall be a terror to none
but evil doors. 1t is always great credit
to man intrusted with absolute power if.
IN the usual routine of his business, and
In the administration of his affairs, he
does not forget the ordinary courtesies
which are due to the men with whom he is
associated, and | am here this morning,
your honor, at the request of the regular
jury of the May term of this
court TO express to you on their
behalf, their high appreciation of those
qualities which belong TO just judge.
and of your character as man and as a
courteous gentleman; and as fitting tes-
timony to these qualities, and to the many
personal courtesies which the jury have
had at your hands. they present you this
expression of their regard. 1t is their
hope that the time may be far in the
future when your honor will need to lean
upon this or any other cane as a staff to
stay your falling strength. This testi-
mony from this jury is not made by reason
of any necessity on your part for 1t, but
simply as an expression OF their generous
feelings towards you. You have been
weighed in the balance, tried by an i'm
partial jury, this is their verdict"
Judge Reed replied as follows:
Gentlemen of the Jury,
Your gift takes me by surprise, because
had no expectation of so kind manifes- |
tation of your feelings toward me as rep |
resented by the gold headed cane. l am !
greved at this time that cannot respond |
to the acceptance of the gift fully express |
ing my feelings, but it occurs to me that
the gift is very timely, as it will go very
nicely with my new suit. When L san |
down Madison avenue this summer will |
remember it, gentlemen, and l thank you
again very kindly fory your gift.
When Deputy Donnelly entered the room |
he carried in his hand beautiful bouquet. |
This he handed to Mr.. Coffin, who pre- i
sented it to the popular court stenogra- |
pher Mrs. Florence Hartley.
If the Court Please: i shall beg your |
honor's indulgence for another moment. |
The jury appreciate not only the elements |
of power, strength and fidelity as exhibited |
by the court during the present term, but |
have also shown themselves able to appre- |
ciate feelings of finer character. and on /
this occasion | have the further pleasure |
on their behalf becoming again the mouth |
piece of their expression. This boquet of |
flowers, natures own best ornament, / am
directed to present to you, Miss Hartley, |
as the official stenograper of this court, as
curacy, skill and fidelity. May the path
way of your official career be strewn with
many flowers among the blossoms OF which |
there will Turk no hidden thorns.
AT TIE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
Immediately after Deputy Sheriff Halo
we'll Opened court" in the court Of COM
mon pleas this morning, Mr.. Fred A.
Sewers, one of the regular pannel, arose
and presented to Judge J. NJ. Balderson
very fine gold headed cane in the follow
ing language:
Your Honor-In behalf of the first jury
empanneled in the new court. l am in
structed TO present you with this cane as a |
testimonial of the esteem in which you are
held by them. not only as Judge, but also
as a courteous gentleman.
We trust that it may be a support that |
will enable you to stand in the future AL
ways as firm upon the pedetal where sits
she, blindfiolded, VINO holds the scales of /
justice evenly.
To which his honor replied briefly as
follows:
Gentlemen OF the Jury and Fellow Citi- /
Zens-I rather suspected something this
morning when / WAS requested by the
sheriff. not TO convene court for few
minutes, and saw the knots of jurors and
officers Of the court standing about SO
patiently While was suspicious that
something was up" did not suspect that
was to be "caued" in manner by the
jury. AS this is the first jury. desire to
say that as citizens and iurymen you have
done your duty exceedingly well You
came here 70 perform the duties OF the
Office of jurymen which lie at the founda-
ton Of good government IL juries are
upright and do their duty without bias
or prejudice they have done all
citizens. The only hope for free govern
ment is In the purity OF the
people and their officers the administra-
ton of justice. This You seem to have
realized, and you have made but one YER
dict that the court has felt under ohliga-
tons AS a court to set aside (ths Stewart
verdict: and this verdict WAS rendered,
under a misspprshens!on OF
the facts.
There have been some errors on the part
Of the court, and some OF the verdicts for
that reason will be set aside. But. in the
main, you have found verdicts that have
A