Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-01-23

LANCASTER, PA, January %, 1890.
The Thirs, for Hanxinvs.


Judge Patterson having taken occa-
sion in court to berate the pardon board
and the bar and to applaud himself In
the matter of the proposed hanging of
Jacobs and Rudy, and hangings In gem
eral, the Philadelphia Times pats him on
the back and the Nor Era does ditto
aud SO far as these three authorities go
il may be said to he settled that Judge
Patterson has played very noble part
ia doing what he could to get up hang.
ing in Lancaster and that the lawyers
and the pardon board would meet only
their Just deserts IL they were hung for
their vile efforts to post pone such hang
ing.
Now it is possible that Judge Pattci-
son may have done well In seeking 10
secure these liangings In Lancaster, and
that the lawyers and the pardon board
have done i'll in postponing them. IL 10
possible that Judge Patterson talked
wisely when he berated the pardon
board and the lawyers and praised
himself because there is possibility in
all things, and human judgment varies
as the poles. And just 50 il is possible
rather than discoursed as Solomon
which is our opinion of his talk. We
have often had occasion TO differ with
the judge, and TO say so rs plainly
as we do now always in the
friendly way To which plain talk
is becoming. And we have not
in this instance likened the judges talk
to a bray, without having lively sense
of the accuracy of the description. We
have heard the sound before. 10 il "A
mark Of an exacerbated spirit or dam
aged digestion or some bodily or spirit
ual discomfort due doubtless now in
good degree to la grippe. II took strong
hold on the Judge ;and knocked down n
few newspapers as II spread about. The
peculiarly bloodtbirsty effect on the
judge may be attributed to the Scotch
Presby terian article that flows in his
veins first class article in its way but
woefully given 10 the dannation of other
people.
The judge Is wrong In abusing the par
don board for slowncss in giving up 10
the gallows those sentenced 10 it, even
by our esteemed friend Judge Patterson.
this purpose. Into its hands is com
mitted the pardoning duty. 10 exercise
1t justly, certainly it must investigate
and deliberate. We have criticised the
beard because II has established rules
which cut away II great part of what
VIC consider TO be its proper labor,
and resolved itself into court
for the determination of matters
which were not passed upon by
.-tss trial jury. In our opinion IL Is
the function of the pardon board TO de-
termine the proprieiy of apardon from
all the circumstances in and about the
case wherever or whenever or however
happening; and that it is its duty Ia
take all the time it needs TO inquire and
deliberate and that the man, and par
ticularly the judge, who would hasten
their decision, or who would assail the
lawyer who, with or without hire, would
save a life he believes should not he taken
does not manifest the humanity, the
wisdom and the judicial propriety
which becomes him, and which we
know that Judge Patterson would not
have failed To show If this confounded
ihHucurd nid fi UNI tIoHt.
In these Lancaster cases, wherein the
grip has caused the Judge to explode,
there Is reasonable matter to cause long
hesitation ON the part Of the pardon
board, ami To secure, in our Judgment,
the communication of the sentences in
each case.
John Rudy was found guilty of delb-
: crate and premeditatedly killing his
father, without any motive being as
signed for the killing. This we believe
TO Ike an impossible crime to Il sane
mind. Rudy may have killed his father
In fit of passion such crime is con-
ceivable; but that is not murder in the
first degree. And il was not proved
conclusively that he killed his father.
The evidence was all circumstantial and
very notably thin. IL did not exclude
fair doubt that the son had slain the
father.
The Jacobs homicide was distinctly
done In passion, and he is to he hung only
under the false Interpretation of the
murder law of Pennsylvania, which
convicts OF deliberate murder when a
minute OF time has elapsed since the
provocation, during which the accused
should have cooled down, though in fact
he did not. This Jacobs case shows the
folly of such reading of the law which
makes the highest grade of murder that
sssssts.s is done by poison, lying in wait or
1pr other premeditated and deliberate
killing. Evidently the deliberation
intended is such as is shown in poison.
ing or lying in wait. 1t is un.
deniable that some men cool more
quickly than Others after the at.
tack OF their passion. Jacobs was shown
to be of excitable temperament, and il
h fact incapable Of contradiction thai
his murderous deed was not done i'm his
calm mind. His counsel claim that hisex
citability arose TO the degree of insanity
ana medical experts say that his brain
- disordered. He who cannot see. i'm IN,
evidence IN this case, enough 10 remoy,
u from the definition of murder i'm tb,
nHtdegree, does not In our opinion nos
sess the sound judgment which entitlc,
his opinion 10 weight. or course this /,
matter Of opinion again but we arr
n quite content that this conmunitywbicl
knows the facts shall decide betwee,
Judge Patterson and the pardon board a,
towhich is the wiser aud more humane
The Storm nj Sea.
IL IL a little remarkable that while al
OF the steamships report the most terri
" Ole storm on record there has SO far beer