The daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1889-1890, 1889-11-07
Federal. COURT.
The HardShipS Imposed by the
Present Revenue Laws.

The scenes presented to a thoughtful
observer in the court house of BuncOmbc
county yestcrdaywere not such as to make
one proud of his nation, nor of that part
of its laws which tends directly to the
manufacture of criminals, by declaring
those acts to be crimes which are not so
declared in the decalogue, nor in any por-
ton of the Holy Writ.
Of course the spirit Of divine teaching
is that it is the duty of every loyHlCitizcn
to obey the laws of his government; but
that government should be careful not to
impose upon its subjects burdens which
neither they nor their fathers have been
able to bear; and Just exactly this is what
is beng done by the federal int :nal rev.
enue laws as now enacted and enforced.
And to this legislation is attributable the
scenes which each day must cause sorrow
and pain to the kind hearted Judge Dick,
whose disposition, every one knows, is to
temper judgment with mercy.
We can scarcely conceive of anything
more disagrceable to a humane and char
liable man, than to look down upon
a room crowded with poor devils,
hauled here by marshals and deputies
from all parts Of this extensive noun
tain section, perhaps leaving theii
families i'll circumstances of dcstitu-
ton, to answer charge of viola
ton of the revenue laws, to be convicted
of such technical crime pcrchance on the
evidence of some fellow much more con
tcmptibc than the defendant, who un-
blushingly Swears: "Wall, got in with
Jim, and we went Il good piece to a house
where Jim bought quart of liquor, and
then begged Jim to divide with me- but
he didn't want to do it; but at last he
did give me a half pint and | gave him
zen cents. Inevcr told nothing about it
for a long time, till fell out with Jim
and then felt i'll my conscience that
ought to tell the truth, and went to the
marshal and got Jim arrested" And OF
course on the evidence of this conscien-
tious witness, poor Jim is found guilty
and perhaps sent to the already over
flowing Jail, to be crowded into small
cell, and there pine away all the Christ
mas holidays, which ought to be always
so happy time to him and allmankind.
About eighteen or twenty cases ofsimi-
lar Importance to that above cited were
put through on yesterday, a proportion
of which resulted in acquittals, while in
some of the convictions the judgment
was wisely suspended. The following
defendants, Luther Farley, Miles Woods,
Cornelius Nicholson, Samuel Rose, Jones
Station and Richard Martin, were not so
lucky, but were sentenced to three
Imprisonment and the payment
of a fine of 500 besides the costs.
A visit to the county Jail showed that
it was rapidly assuming the popularchar-
acter which distinguishes it at every term
of the court. Already some thirty fed
eral prisoners are confined there, and
probably twice that number will take
lodgings with thehospitable landlord be
fore the week is ended. The officials arc
all courteous and attentive to the wants
of their guests, but it is to be hoped that
the number to be shut up there will be
kept within the limits to which the build
ing is adapted, and that the good people
of Asheville will do what they can to nit
igate the sutielings which to us seem Oft
entimes quite out Of proportion to the
gravity of the offense.