Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1893-05-06

The remedy lies with the good people,
If only they will take the matter in hand.
Three causes have conspired to produce
the regretable state of case. They are:
Clanship among the native people, eva
sion of jury duty on the part of Ameri
can people, and the placing of unfaithful
officials in important positions.
There is very little politics, proper,
among the native people of New Mexico;
but in clanship they surpass even the
ancient Highland Scotch. There is this
difference-the Scotch chieftain was head
of the clan by birth, and the clansmen
we're related by blood. The New Mex
leo chieftain is such by selection, and
his followers come together by choice,
the same family, sometimes, being Ovid
ed in allegiance. The members of these
clans will do anything, from arson to
murder, for one another and for
the leader. On the other hand,
the leader is expected to do every
thing needful for the members of the
party or clan. His home and his
purse are at their disposal. If they get
or wrong. He must shield them from
punishment by the law as well as from
imposition by the opposing party. This
is the reason for the attendance in court
of the leaders of the party when any mem
Der thereof is charged with legal offense
an attendance to which Chief Justice
O'Brien 80 recently ana so ably called
attention. The leader is there to aid the
offender, by his presence, his influence,
his authority, his counsel and his money.
Here comes in the second evil. Amer
leans, by every excuse under heaven, get
relieved from jury duty. Their places
must be filled. The leader exerts himself
to get his ciansmen appointed instead.
They are appointed. The accused is
cleared, and the course of justice becomes
worse than farce. The Americans who
should have been on the jury, are clearly
responsible for the evil IN these instances.
No wonder that crimes go ON increasing
in number, for any man feels secure in
its commission, if only he belongs to
a clan sufficiently powerful to protect
him.
Neglect of duty by the officials whose
position requires the prosecution of
criminals, 10 an additional source of the
evil. man is killed, almost in the heart
of the city. While yet alive, he is hung by
his heels to stick, like bullock sus-
pended in butcher-shop, and in this
condition dragged to his death. The per-
petrators of the crime are never brought
to justice. A man is hung to the bridge
and found there, in the very heart of
town, on the next morning. Not ali ar
rest is made. Almost in sight of town,
a store is looted. Things are hauled away
by the wagon load. Not an arrest is
made. And 50 it goes. Theft, arson,
personal violence, embezzlement, murder,
are committed, but the offenders are
neither arrested nor indicted. Others,
who get indicted by chance, are released
on straw bonds; others walk away from
| Jail; others are cleared by juries of
their friends; others receive from such
jurles sentences incommensurate with
their crimes. Finally, the chief executive
steps in and pardons the criminal, after
a partial infection of an inadeq uate SEN
tence, secured at cost of thousands Of
dollars to tho territory.
Is it any wonder crime is rampant
And is the case any worse in San Miguel
county than elsewhere in the territory
The remedy lies in having good Crane
juries to indict, good sheriffs to arrest
good attorneys to prosecute. good petit
juries to try, good judges to sentence
and good governors to refuse interior
ence with the serving of penalties.-La
Vegas Optic.