St. Paul daily globe., 1892-01-07

that can be done. AS was shown
in the Brennan trial, it Is
Impossible TO secure .n. All jury; 1I:
1t has been suggested that should the
next legislature dlSOrganiZe Stevens
county and attach it to some other fer
judicial purposes. such failure of JUS
tice as occurred in the Brennan case
could not be repeated" Attorney
General Ives, in speaking of the
remedy for the lawleSSnesS in the
Southwest, said: "The trouble in
Seward county, as near as i can aScer-
tain, began with an attempt by Col.
Sam Wood to resist what he claimed
was a fraudulent organization of Ste
vens county, which organization was
subsequently legaliZed by the legis-
lature of the state. There seems to be
a general miSconception of affairs in
that county, and the trouble is usually
attributed to a county seat contest be-
tween Woodsdale and Hugoton, but no
such contest has ever existed.
after the troubles resulting from an
attempt to prevent the organization of
Stevens county, rival propositions for
bonding the county in favor of railroads
intensified the feeling already started
between the different factions OF the
county, which finally eliminated in the
Murder of Sheriff Cross
and others in the neutral strip, and the
attempt to bring the alleged ptrpetrat-
ors of the crime to Justice in the United
States court at Paris, Tex.
subsequently personal troubles aris-
ing between Judge Gotkin. who had
been appointed Judge of the Thirty
third judicial district at the time of its
creation, and Sam Wood. who had
been identified with the troubles
in Stevens county, had tendency
to spread the hostilities existing
in Stevens county and over the
whole district. The result of the i'm
parchment trial of Judge Botkin, which
ended i'll his favor, seems to have famed
the Smouldering emberS into another
fierce flame. which eliminated IN the
assassination of Sam Wood on the Esd
of June last.
"Subsequent failure to obtaih jury
in Stevens county for the trial OF Col.
Woods alleged assaSsinS, by reason
OF the lack OF sufficient people in the
county out of which an impartial jury
could De obtained. still further added to
the confusion which had existed in
Stevens county and had spread largely
over tie whole Thirty-second judicial
district, producing feeling of lnsecu-
rity among the law-abiding portion of
the inhabitants of the district,
Impossible TO Convict.
This state of affairs has been taken
advantage of by the lawleSs, who see an
opportunity to commit outrageS for
which, under the present state Of af-
fairs, it is impossible to bring them to
the bar of justice.
"Such condition of affairs has prob
ably never before existed in any portion
of the United States. The constitution
guarantees to every person accused of
crime speedy trial i'll the district or
coun ty where the crime is alleged to
have been committed. On account of
the reason already stated, it is
impossible to obtain an impartial jury.
There seems to be no legal check upon
crime in such counties, and the only
remedy which | can see for the existing
state OF affairs and that portion of the
state would be through the legislature,
which should at once diSOrgan-
iZe and attach the sparSely set
tied territory in which. under
the constitution it is impossible to
organize courts so that crime could be
punished, to more thickly settled coun-
ties for judicial purposes. Unless this
is done do not see how such outrageS
in the future can be prevented except
by placing the whole territory where
this feud exists under martial law. This
feud is not question of partisan poll
tics in the least, for the people are di-
Vlded upon geographical lines"