People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1893-01-20
PERSONAL LIBERTY.
The New Governor If Illinois Offers Some
Plain Remarks on Abuses In Inferior

Courts.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill, Jan. 12-The most
interesting part of Gov. Altgelds in
augural address was that devoted to
'the liberty of the citizen" On this
topic he said:
Practically, there is at present
neither Magua Charta nor bill of rights
for the poor of our great cities. They
have to submit to insult, assault and
false Imprisonment and have no rem
edy except suit at law, which takes
from three to five years and requires
time and money to prosecute, so they
are practically without any remedy.
Any man, rich or poor, taken into our
higher courts, no matter on what
charge, can have jury trial and a full,
fair hearing before sentence can be pro-
nounced against him, but in the magis-
trate's court they deprive him of jury
trial by requiring him to advance the
jury fee, which, when poor, he cannot
do, so that he is compelled to submit to
anything the magistrate may do, which
frequently means anything that po-
lice officer may wish to have done. In
the city of Chicago, where there are a
number of magistrates sitting at the
same time, there are from thirty to
fifty men and women tried by one
magistrate in from one to two
hours every day. The proceed
ings are not under the criminal laws,
as rule, but fines are imposed, and
when these are not promptly paid i'm.
prisonment follows, just as it would in
a case of conviction for crime in the
higher court While a Judge of higher
court could not imprison a man for an
hour without jury trial, a simple mag
istrate actually does imprison scores
every day without a jury trial. Dur.
ing the year 1891 the police of Chicago
alone arrested and carried to prison
7O,55O people, including men, women
and children. OF these $500 were
dischar ged by the magistrate, because
in mos cases no offense of any kind
was proven, yet these people had been
arrested, sometimes dubbed, taken
through the streets in charge of
officers, and sometimes kept in
prison several days, just as il
they were charged with murder; and all
this not on any charge of crime, but
generally at the mere discretion of some
man wearing the uniform of law. When
they finally got out they were practical
ly without a remedy for the reason
stated. OF the remaining IS, $50, little
over 5000 were sent to prison for vari-
GUS terms by the magistrate, because of
their inability to pay the fines which
had been imposed, and nearly all, ex-
ceptabout ninety of these, were charged
with trivial offenses, generally simply
dlsorderly conduct Yet their treat
ment was the same as if they had COM
mitted highway robbery, except in the
latter case they weuld have had some
thing like fair trial
THE practice has long prevailed in
Chicago and other cities of raids being
made by the police in the nighttime,
and as many as hundred or more men
and women, sometimes only women,
arrested and carried to prison in one
night, on no specific charge of crime,
but simply at the caprice of a police
man. These cases have to be continued
till the next morning. A bond is gen.
orally given, signed by a professional
bailor. The justice charges one dollar
for taking each bond, and the bailor all
he can get for signing it, so that it is an
exceedingly profitable business for
those connected with the so-called po-
lice court While the law at present
provides that nearly all other officers
shall pay what fees they collect into the
public treasury, and shall receive salary
for the services they render, this does
not seem to apply to the magistrates
The law should be more strict, and pro-
hibit every officer, whether judicial or
executive, who is in any way connected
with the administration of Justice,
from keeping any fees under any pre-
text; for, so long as he profits by the
amount of business that is run in. there
is a standing bride to do injustice. The
law should secure to all persons fair
jury trial before judgment can be pro-
nounced by which they can be thrown
into prison. These so-called raids
neither prevent nor punish crime, but
are simply irritants, and it is a notori-
Gus fact that real criminals frequently
ply their vocation with great boldness
at the very time that these raids are
made, and they go uncaught and I'M
Dunished