The morning call., 1891-12-07
THE FAILURE OF JUSTICE.

The disagreement of the jury in the White
case is causing a good deal of talk down.
town, as it well might Here was a man
who confessed that he had stolen money;
confessed it not once, but twice; not only
in words, in the presence of Witnesses, but
in writing; not only at the time of his de-
lection, but months afterward, when he had
had ample time for reflection, and was testi-
flying under oath. Yet in the face of this
confession, a given number of jurymen,
sworn to try the thief, and a true verdict
render according to the evidence, find that
White did not steal any money at all. 1t is
no wonder that people are asking how such
failure OF justice happened 10 occur.
1t is to lie accounted for in various ways.
There were undoubtedly men on the jury
who were unconscious Of the obligations of
an oath, and incapable of doing their duty
in case between the people and criminal.
Some OF them probably belonged to the class
OF professional jurymeD, who hang round
cOurt-rOoms in the hope of being summoned
to serve, at the rate of two dollars a day.
and whom very small bride indeed would
control Others, again, perhaps, belonged
TO the class Of plant jurymen who can be
reached through friends, and will render
any verdict the friends desire, in the hope
that when they need help these same
friends will return the service.
But 1t is impossible to explain the stultif-
cation of the jurymen who found White in
nocent OF the crime which he had confessed,
except upon the theory that there were also
men on that jury who, on general princi-
pies, look lightly and leuienty on embezzle-
ment and see no harm in the escape of an
emb eZZler. 1t is not necessary to suppose
that they cherished fellOw-feeling for the
defendant, or that, if they had enjoyed the
opportunities he had, they would have acted
as he did. 1t is enough to credit them with
loose ideas OF right and wrong. and dispo-
sition to connive at the escape Of criminal
from commiseration Tor the scrape into
which he had got. This class OF persons,
which is perhaps more numerous than is
generally supposed, is as dangerous to So
ciety as the criminal class itself.
If the failure of justice in the White case
is to become precedent, no one who EN-
ploys another in a fduciary capacity is
henceforth safe he may be robbed by his
cashier or his clerks with perfect impunity.
1t will be idle to furnish evidence so as to
enable the People to prosecute the thief !;
the same combination of circumstances
which avaled TO prevent verdict in the
White case will get him off likewise. The
NmpipSCL VI win DC dI Tie
mercy of the employe who steals. and
he must grin and bear it. That is
not an agreeable pass for a mercantile
community to have reached. 1t is step so
far backward in commercial development
that it is calculated to prevent the employ
ment of clerks who cannot furnish security,
which would practically compel every mer-
chant to become his own cashier. A man
had better do that than run the risk OF being
robbed without having any redress against
the robber
1t appears to The CALL that some of its
contemporaries in their reports Of the case
which has just ended have oyinced failure
TO appreciate its bearings on the community
and on themselves. They have not, in this
instance, gone so far as TO justify the en-
bezzer, but they have garbled the reports
of the case, suppressed the most material
evidence against the defendant and endeav-
ored to create an unfavorable public opinion
against the prosecuting witnesses, Gaping
the whole with headlines which were de-
signed TO bring The victims of the robbery into
| odlum. So far as their influence went 1t
was thrown to the side of the defense
Surely this was shortsighted business.