Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-01-21
A WRONG SYSTEM.
Some Statutory Provisions That
Need Remedy.

The Grand Jury Law and the Injus.
tice and Unfairness That May BE
Done Under Hts Operations.
The ARGUS has frequently spoken of
the inconsistency of our present grand
jury laws and has suggested in strong
terms the advissbility of abolishing the
system entirely on the ground that it was
superfluous and therefore an unnecessary
expense and that it was resort very often
for work Of q vindictive nature. Under
the grand jury law the accused has no
means of defense or even of knowing
either that he is charged or the nature of
the charge until in a great many cases
his reputation and his good name are
smirched. 1t is not few times the case
that man is indicted when there is no
ground whatever for such procedure, and
that having an opportunity thus for the
first time to defend himself against the
charge preferred by this legalized secret
society, be has made his case go clear
that the states attorney has quashed the
indictment. This action may vindicste
the accused, but it does not make amends
for the great wrong and injustice done
his good name. aud if there was any
spirit of malice in the minds of the wits
nesses who secured his indictment in the
dark as it we're. and stabbed him in the
back. that aim of conspiracy has been
gratifed. Thee may have been no JUS
tice in the indictment, but. nevertheless,
the accused has suffered the disgrace of
being indicted for crime and of subsequent
arrest. He may have lost his position
either in the business or social world in
consequence of the charge, in the con
cocting of which he was under the law
defenseless. and no after act on the part
of the court or the law can make suitable
amends for the wrong thus done.
The McDarrsh case was very striking
illustration of this fact Without being
given the least opportunity to defend
himself, of course. MIR. McDarrah YVES
indicted by the grand jury of the present
term of court. That body which hears
but the one side of case, and that Of
the prosecution. found an indict-
ment against Mr. McDarrah. charging
him with one of the gravest and
one of the most serious of crimes-as-
sault to murder. He was at once ar
Iaigned before the bar of public opinion,
which. il must be confessed, is not al
ways merciful He lost his position in
the employ of The c., B. s. Q road. He
was defenseless before the world As
soon as he could state his case to the
states attorney. he showed his innocence
so conclusively that Mr.. Sturgeon
promptly quashed the Indictment Mr..
McDarrah was ready to go to trial and
there prove his innocence, and while the
act on the part of the state was compli-
ment to him, it did not do him full JUS
tice, though it was all the law could do.
An injustice that can never be wholly
righted had been done, and a stigma cast
upon Mr.. McDarrahs good name that
would never have happened had he been
permitted 10 defend himself before the
star chamber sessions o! the grand jury.
Almost innumerable cases of similar
nature come up at every term of court.
1t seldom occurs that a term of court
elapses without one or more indictments
being nolle pressed BY the states attor-
ney. Just such seton was taken in two
different cases Yesterday. Many are the
proofs OF the great wrongs that are likely
to grow out of this abominable and OBJ
noxious grand Jury system. 1t is a relic
of the ages of ignorance; il is an instru-
ment in the hands of one.sided justice.
There is no justice assured as long as il
exists. The conception of the law is, OF
should be, that the accused should have
the benefit of every doubt. Better be il
that thousand guilty escape, than that
one innocent man suffer. A maxim such
as this would be very short lived in a
land where the prosecution has the entire
advantage under the law over the accused
in the preliminary stages of the case. Let
| there be no secrets in the courts of Jus.
tice. Let the trial be open and public
from first to last, and let the accused be
given opportunity to defend himself as
best he can from the very incipiency OF
the charge against him. Let no law re.
main upon our statute books that permits
of conspiracy of one man against another,
or that permits the law to blind and bind
and thus hold a man helpless, while it
brands him with crime whether innocen,
| or not