San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-01-20
A SENSIBLE JUDGE.

| no OplulOu was GA pi0ooON AOSOhViJ
in court by one of the Federal judges
that the testimony of a certain wit
ness was not entitled to credence, he
| cause he had acted as a spy upon the
accused-worming himself into the
| prisoners confidence to betray him.
This opinion is sound and the whole
criminal practice of this country
would be improved and elevated if
this opinion was given the force of a
supreme court judgment. The work
of the spy, the lnformer, is the work
of mind either revengefully or dis
honorably inclined. The motives are
primarily either gain or revenge, gen.
orally gain. The spy is the paid
creature. of those seeking the con-
| giction of suspected criminals, and as
he Is paid for his information, the in
formation that he irnparts is
very likely to be biased by his
desire to receive the promised reward.
This decision is new one, and the
holding that the entire testimony of
such witnesses is to be discarded as
unreliable and worthless, has called
forth considerable comment from the
press. The ST. Louis Globe Demo-
crat criticses the opinion as extreme
and thinks that an innocent man can
hardly he harmed by any such
espionage, because man would not
confess to crime of which he had
not been guilty. Even if the facts
were in support of this position,
which in numerous instances they
are not, the whole proceeding is at
variance with we'll established rule
of the criminal courts, that man
cannot be held to answer any ques-
tons which would eliminate himself.
A man is exempted from eliminating
himself in open court and yet his tes-
timony againt himself is secretly ana
dishonorably wrung from him and In
that guise may be used against him
as evidence!
The evil lies deeper than this, and
has q corrupting tendency. The
manufacturing of evidence against
criminals and those suspected of
being such has become trade, and
! the processes of courts are made in
many instances to revolve around
the reward offered for the apprehen-
sion and conviction of some unknown
person or persons by whom crime has
been committed. The crime Is per-
petrated, the criminal is unknown,
a reward is offered for his discovery
The professional spy is put to work
and his one object is to secure his
man. Right or wrong he must Sc
cure some one. His professional pride
is enlisted and his stake is the
thousands offered for conviction
The temptation to secure the money
reward is no less than the tempta.
ton to steal and it is generally
greater, for the detectives place and
paw depends uponrhis success in Sc
curing such testimony as in the hand:
of hard prosecutor may result in
conviction. This course pros titu tes
justice and is no whit better than the
old process of extorting confessions
by rack and thumbscrew. The in
fiuence of mind upon mind is too taI
reaching and dangerously potent to
be permitted its unrestricted course
in this way. A spy, by repeated anC
constant impinging OF himself upon
his victim may compel IN him an I'm
conscious acceptance Of his own the
cries of this crime, and induce a con-
fession of what never existed, save in
the stronger, dominating mind of tn,
informer. The Judge who has set tn
seal of his solemn disapproval upor
all such testimony and has ruled II
out of his court as unworthy evidence
has done wise and courageous thing
Criminals will not 60 unwhipped o
justice on account of such holdings.
ROGER Q. MILLS strives to hit the
bull's-eye OF popular feeling in hi