The rustler., 1891-09-04

are very few
things that can
be implicitly relied on. In the bright
lexicon Of human experience there Is
nothing 30 uncertain rs n SURE thing,
but the verdict Of New York jury In n
murder case Is the most mysterious and
incomprchensible thing that can be inn
agined. You might as well try 20 guess
the price of butter from the weight Of
the calf of the COW that produces the
milk as To predict the verdict of New
York jury from the evidence in the case.
The good people Of New York have
come 20 the conclusion that the admin
istrution of criminal justice is more in
nature of u comedy than anything else.
The bad people, by which term the
criminal classes are meant, have found
this out some time ago. A New York
| Jury seems TO be a body Of men organ
/ lied To find out which side has the
smartest lawyer.
! The inhiction of death as n penalty
for murder has been practically abol-
ished as far as concerns, what Mrs.
Partington called, "the opposing sex"
OF late years quite number of females
In New York, who had grievances
against men, promptly rectiiied them
by shooting large apertures in the an
atomical structures of the offending
representatives of the male sex with
fatal results. In the last two cases
sympathetic juries acquitted the fair
shootists with such promptness that II
would not have created surprise Il the
jurymen had chipped in and presented
the acquitted woman with silver
mounted pistol, properly inscribed II
may come TO thRt yet II we keep on as
we are going. After awhile IL will not
be safe for u man 10 hesitate in giving
his seat in an elevated ear 10 the stand
ing female, and as for the male boarder
asking the landlady for a second piece
OF pie the reckless man who contem.
plates trying it had better get his life
insured with as little delay as possible.
In former days the murderess was not
treated so gingerly. She was treated
pretty much the same as IL she was q
man. She was loaded down with chains
instead OF flowers and either executed
or transported to some penal colony to
end her miserable existence. Now, she
is triumphantly acquitted and receives
so many offers of marriage by mail and
from males that the letter carrier who
has 10 deliver them acquires n perman'
ent curvature OF the spine.
: There are numerous other recent In
stances of New York juries finding yer.
diets totally ut variance with the rea-
sonable conclusions to be drawn from
the evidence. Unless there is n change
for the better-and there is nothing of
the sort in sight at this time of writing
the arm of the law will have TO be put
up in n sling and kept there. The fact
that the wooden goddess Of justice on
the New York courthouse has scales in
her hands is no sign that she has not
scales over her eyes, too, when she es
tablishes relations with the intelligent
jury and the criminal lawyers for the
defense The New York court of Grim
inal justice, as far as its practical work
ings is concerned is far behind the crude
administration of justice by n jury in
. Arizona. which found the defendant
mot guilty" of stealing the horse, but
recommended that he leave the towr
within twenty-four hours The New
York jury that acquits a guilty party
makes no such recommendation. In
: fact the acquitted criminals stay right
here, receive ovations from theil
friends, and get their portraits in the
: daily papers. Somehow or other II
don't look right.
: The New York judges are learned
men, and the criminal lawyers are re.
markably intelligent-too intelligent in
fact The cost of trying cases makes
the taxpayers head swim, but the
result is almost as unsatisfactory TO the
general public as were the methods EN-
ployed by n raw citizen of Seguin, 4
small town in western Texas. A rather
crude citizen was elected justice OF the
4 peace, and the only law book he hal
was Cushing's Manual The first cas-,
before him was that of cowboy foi
|, stealing a steer. When the case WA
called the leading lawyer of the town
Hon. John Ireland, by name, was thert
:. to defend the prisoner "As there Is M
/ counsel for the other side," he said, '
make motion that the case be dis
I, missed" The justice looked over hii
manual. "A motion has to be sec
ondcd," he said. II second the mo
} tion," promptly responded the prisoner
q "The motion has been seconded that
Q .hc case be dismissed" said the court
r "All in favor will please say aye" The
Q prisoner and his attorney vote AYE.
9 IAN opposed will say no." Nobody
l.. .t..1 "A Il.