Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-28
JUSTICE AND CARE.
W. d. Moore Explains Why All Criminals
Should be Defended.

w. D. Moore Explains Why All Criminals
Should be Defended.
When the question was asked W.D.
Moore, the well-known criminal lawyer, he
replied:
1.-The only protection to the property, the
liberty and the life of every human being is
in the law. The law can only be admins
tered through the agency of men who are, as
q matter OF course, imperfectly endowed and
more or less under the influence of preiu-
dice and passion. Long experience of many
nations, and in all periods of human his
tory, have led to the establishment Of certain
rules and laws of evidence. When a
question 6 arises, therefore, as to the
deprivation of man of his property, or
liberty, or life, it can only Justly be deter
mined by trial conducted under and in ac-
cordanee with these rules of evidence. Il
is neither the duty nor purpose of any attor-
ney to defend a criminal in his eriminality,
but it is his duty, and he may be COM
manded by the court, as L was in the cele-
brated Ortwein case several years ago. to
defend most wicked and cruel murderer.
not for tine sake OF the murderer, or on his
account individually, but because he had q
right, as every member of the community
has, to have his case determined legally and
not illegally.
Must be Legally Tried.
"Ortwein, you remember, butchered the
Hamnet family, five in number, at their
residence, near Homestead. The mob
wanted to lynch him. The Court, however,
said to Mr.. Swartzwelder and myself: De
fend himP that is, see that his guilt is
legally ascertained and determined
fha T II
ceiyed a retaining fee from a prisoner in
Jail on a charge of burglary, and he had
told me that the gree backs he gave as the
retaining fee were part OF a sum of money
which he had stolen two weeks before from
my own house in Lawrenceville-aiter
having taken the retainer and accepted his
case, defended the fellow to the best
of my ability. He had sent for me and
shrewdly engaged me as his attorney on the
charge Tor which he was then imprisoned,
before he confessed that he had also robbed
my house. The thief had chloroformed nv
self and family when he went through the
house. I was heartily glad that failed to
secure his aequittal, though 1 honestly
tried to.
Conscientious in His Defense
Even in a crime so atrocious as that for
which Ortwein had been arrested a LAWYER
stands bound to be conscientious in the dis
charge of his duty. Public sentiment had
been aroused to the highest pitch by the
awful murder OF the Hamnet family. No
person with sane mind could doubt that
Ortwen had committed the deed. Mr..
Swartzwelder and 1, his lawyers, did not
have the slightest doubt about it,
Yet when the murderer told US
the story of his life he said that during the
war he had been thrown off horse and had
fallen on his head so violently that it left
permanent injury about the head. He de-
clared that when he drank liquor, even
without going to excess. it set him wild and
he knew not what he did. He believed this
to be the result of that injury.
"Well. as studied the facts of this mans
life as they were laid before me, and as I
studied the features Of his heartless butch
cry, became convinced that what he said
was true-that liquor crazed him be-
cause of some hidden brain trouble.
1 was honest In this conviction, and
stood upon it. But after Ortwein's
execution, an autopsy conducted by
DR.. Dickson, in the lort over his stable,
showed no evidences about the brain OF in
sanity. But presently, when the physicians
scraped the skin away from the bones OF the
skull. they did discover in the back slight
depression, as though the bones had been
@
believe that Ortwein suffered from that de-
preston. 1t seems entirely reasonable to
me that when he drank whisky the increased
low of blood would swell the blood vessels
and cause them to press against that depres-
sion, acting so as to madden his brain.
Guard Against Mistakes.
"If, in administering justice, the Court,
Jury and lawyer sometimes make mistakes
in condemning an innocent man, how ex-
careful should the impetuous
public be. 1 recall a case in my own prac-
tice. A man with the nickname of Black
Jack" was arrested some years ago for rob-
bing the late William Senple's store, on
Federal street, Allegheny. Mr.. Semple
had Investigated the case most carefully, aud
was positive that this man was the robber.
He engaged me to prosecute him. 1 found
the most complete chain of evidence to es-
tablish the guilt OF the man. There was
apparently not link missing. Even Mr..
Semple's watchman swore to his identity.
I had no trouble in securing his conviction
ut the hands of the jury, and he was sent to
the penitentiary. This was a case In which
nv own personal opinion was firmly liked,
md that was that the man was guilty.
felt no doubt about it.
"But long afterward Mr.. Semple discov-
cred evidence that satisfied him that an
,ther person altogether had committed the
robbery. He came and laid all the newly
facts before me. I was then juss