The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-03-06
THE DANGEROUS JURY.

While the public may not have forgotten
the serious riots which occurred in Cincin-
natl few years ago, resulting in the de-
struction of the county court house and
other public buildings and hundreds of
thousands Of dollars worth of other pro
perty, they may have forgotten the cause of
them In brief, the cause was this: A
number of atrocious murders had been com
mitted in the city, and in every instance the
murderers were pronounced mot guilty.
by the juries that tried them. Public senti-
ment was outraged by these palpably IN
! Just sentences. People began to feel that
the security which the laws should throw
around human life was in danger Of being
broken down, and these fears led to investi-
cation which disclosed the fact that in con-
sequence of so many citizens shrinking the
onerous duty Of jury service by insisting
that they had formed opinions of the respec-
tive cases, through reading the papers,
new profession had been created,
that of professional iuryman. These
professional jurymen were worth
less scamps who hung about the
courts waiting to be called by bailiffs toiury
service when the mechanics and business
men summoned as iurymen had been ex-
cused on some fimsy pretext or other.
This discovery led to call being made for
great indignation meeting of the citizens
in Music Hall to protest against the uniform
practice of turning murderers loose upon
the community; and to petition their state
legislature to modify the jury laws in such
a manner as to rid society of the obnoxious
professional juryman. 1t is needless to say
that some of the best citizens OF Cincinnati
and the state of Ohio were present and took
an active part in that meeting. Enthusif sn
ran high and bordered on excitement. At
that time there was in the county jail one
BURNER, guilty of a cold blooded murder;
and as the vast crowd Of excited men filed
out of Music Hall, a man rushed into the
middle of the street and waving his hat he
shouted to the crowd, follow me, and let
US hang BURNER"' There was d general
shout in response that seemed to rend the
heavens. There was a mad rush for the
Jail and an effort made to tear down the
prison walls. The officers, however, ap-
prehensive Of difficulty, had removed the
culprit. But the avalanche had been
started and it could not be stopped IL mid
career. The court house was assailed and
utterly ruined; records were burned and
safes rifled. The rough element IN the
city Joined in the melee and wantonly des-
troyed every species of property that came
in their way. For more than three days
the city was in the hands of a bowling
mob which successfully resisted several
attacks of the state militia; and it was
some weeks before the normal state OF so
ciety was established.
The work of the mob was uniustifable
and something that was. never contem-
plated by those who called the Indignation
meeting to protest against the iniquity of
the courts and especially of the iniquity Of
the jury system and practice. But it is a
case which illustrates the mischief which
society is likely to experience when jury
men and the courts fail to execute the law
The act Of condemning criminal to death
or to Imprisonment for life or for even a
long term of Imprisonment, is no doubt a
serious matter. Every man accused Of |
crime ought to be protected in his trial by
all the safeguards which the law throws
around him; and there is no question but |
ludI every uouuG OuEi4u ~ bC COIStIucu III |
his favor But it is also the duty of jury |
men and courts to protect society against |
the rufianly acts Of the bully and desper-
ado, from which our western country has |
suffered so much; and for which acts it |
can only be too justly reproached. The
reckless taking of human life in
our territory within the last year
has been too frequent, and JUS
ice has been too slow in the
pursuit of the wretches guilty of the offense;
in fact, we believe it has altogether mis-
carried in dealing with these slayers of
their fellow men. The hardness of justice
and cowardice of iurymen go long way
toward accounting for the existence of mob
violence. When lawful powers fail in the
performance of their duties and repeatedly
turn criminals loose to prey upon society,
it is small wonder if outraged public senti-
ment breaks out into acts Of violence. We
sincerely hope nothing of the kind will
ever occur in our community, noted as it is
Tor its sufferance and patience; we do not
believe it will occur; but there is danger IN
urles invariably acquitting men notorl-
ously guilty of the crimes with which they
are accused. Jurymen must have the cour-
age to protect society against murderers,
Or society will find some way in which to
protect itself. Let justice be administered
without fear or favor.