The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-05-13
The Report of the New Orleans Grand

Jury.
The New York Tribune observes that
sit is occasionally necessary TO remind
police detectives that the general undesir-
ability of human being does not furnish
a valid reason for making him suffer for
crime that he did not commit" A good
many people besides police officers need
to be similarly reminded. There are too
many preachers, editors and other public
teachers who 90 on the theory that the
determination of bad men on general
principles. whether by observing the
forms of law or by mob violence, is COM
mendable. The New Orleans massacre
has been Endorsed by ministers OF the
gospel in this city because the victims
were wicked men. The Chicago anarch-
lists were legally strangled, not on
the strength OF the evidence
against them, but because they
were considered dangerous persons, whom
it would be well to put out of the way.
1t cannot be TOO strongly impressed upon
the public mind that, as the New York
Tribune forcibly puts it, "the general
undesirability of human being does not
furnish a valid reason for making him suf-
fer for a crime that he did not commit"
The only way. in an organized society, to
ascertain whether man did commit a
crime or not is through the agencies Gre
| ated by the law for that purpose. Any
other method is certain to prove disas-
trous. Guilty persons are frequently
acquitted in the courts owing to the alb
sence OF conclusive proof, or the falli-
bility OF human Judgment, or the agencies
of corruption. But the remedy for these
miscarriages of justice, in so far as
there is remedy, does not
consist in an appeal from the courts to
the mob, but by reforming the instru-
mentalities OF justice. Such reforms can
only be made when a sound and acgres-
slve public sentiment exists. When the
people are demoralized crime Is certain
to 90 unpublished to greater or less eX-
| tent. Nothing is to be gained, while
every interest OF society is put in peril,
| by meeting crime with crime; by COM
hitting dozen murders in retribution
for one murder; by arousiDg the wild
4
emergency calls for the calm, sober judg-
ment of the public, based upon evidence
and expressed through the channels
which have been provided by the organic
law for that purpose.
The report of the New Orleans grand
| jury, which was published in these col
umns yesterday. makes these refec-
tons especially pertinent The report
| is a vouminous document, and might
with advantage, have been condensed
into one-haf, or perhaps one-quarter, Of
the space it occupies. 1t is an elaborate
| expose of the methods which have been
employed to subvert the administration of
| justice in New Orleans. From this report
/ it appears that these methods have been
! systematically and VIGOROUSLY practiced
for many years. and it does not appear
| that any organized effort has been made
to suppress them, or to punish the guilty
persons, although they were well known
to the community. Officials charged with
the administration of justice have, it
seems, been known to be in collision
with these miscreants to prevent the
punishment of crime, and yet they have
been tolerated in office by the people.
They have not been impeached the press
has not held them up to public scorn
they have been permitted TO continue in
their scoundrelly courses, without protest
or interference from any considerable
number of citizens. They might have
been long ago turned out of office and re-
placed with decent men had the public
conscience asserted itself
The natural result of this shameful
lethargy and indifference TO the duties OF
good citizenship was the mistrial in the
Hennessy case, which was brought about
by the most shameless subornation of per-
jury, bribery and intimidation. Then the
people in their wrath, wreaked summary
vengeance upon the eleven men who had
been acquitted by the agencies provided
by these same people for the execution oil
justice. They sought to atone for their own
criminal neglect OF duty by the perpetra-
ton OF a crime so cowardlv and cold
blooded and infamous that it caused a
shudder throughout the civilized world.
The men who inspired and participated
in the massacre of March IA were the
first citizens of New Orleans None OF
them are indicted by the grand jury. II
was not expected that they would be-
BURKE said it was not possible TO indict a
nation. Neither is it possible to indict q
city. Six men have been indicted for brib-
ing, or attempting to bride, the jurors in
the Hennessy case. So far. so good 1t is
to be hoped they may be punished as they
deserve TO be. Ii is even more to be hoped
that the people of New Orleans will awake
to realization of the fact that they them
selves are alone to blame for the evils
which have befallen them. If they had
upheld the dignity and majesty OF the
law, if they had been alive to the evils oil
corruption in politics and jobpery in pub
lie affairs, il their moral sense had not
been blunted by such debasing influences
as the Louisiana lottery, the Malta would
not have taken root among them, jury fix
ing would not have 8ourished, their halls
OF justice would not have degenerated into
dens of thieves, mob murder would moi
have become the pastime Of their leading
citizens" The massacre of March was
simply an outgrowth of the same moral