The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-03
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J
/ the criminal laws of those countries and
Of the United States spring from a com
| mon basis. A comparison of criminal pro-
/ ceedings in British territory with similar
| proceedings in,the United States Will show
4 that British justice is almost invariably
/ swift and terrible, while in this country
! swift justice is the exception to the rule.
| II may not be out of place to cite two or
three notable instances on March 30 of
| last year the dead body Of an infant was
| found in the Thames near London. Four
! days later the murder had been traced to
woman named Dyer London baby
| farmer. On March IS she was arraigned,
in May she was tried and condemned and
on June she was hanged. Less than
two months and a half had elapsed be-
tween the discovery of the crime and the
| execution of the criminal. Only a few
| months ago the civilized world was shock
ed by the story of atrocious murders com
mitted in Australia by Frank Butler He
| escaped from that country on a ship bound
for san Francisco, in which city he was
arrested, after having been chased thou
sands Of miles my officers of the law He
was exradited and within two hours aft
er he set foot upon Australian soil in
custody he had been arraigned. Within
six weeks he had been tried. convicted and
sentenced 10 death; and thirty days later
he had paid the penalty upon the gall
lows.
Against these examples of speedy justice
may be mentioned the notorious cases of
Carlisle Harris and DR.. Buchanan of New
York, and II. II. Holmes in Philadelphia.
| In each of these cases the evidence was
| conclusive, yet the cases dragged their
wearying lengths along through the
courts, to the disgust of lovers of law and
justice and to the cost Of thousands upon
| thousands of dollars of the taxpayers
money These criminals finally suffered
the extreme penalty of the law, it is true;
| but there are numerous other instances
| which might be mentioned, some of them
| not as far away from home as New York
and Pennsylvania, in which murderers and
| other criminals, after consuming the time
of the courts and the money of the tax
payers for months and years, have gone
unwhipped of justice.
We are not prepared to go into details
and explain wherein lies the difference
between the British and the American sys-
TENS of court procedure. but we feel safe
in saying that the differences must be
considerable, and to the advantage of the
! British system. That this is true is evil
| denced by the high respect and fear in
which the British law is held. and the
| further fact that mob law is practically
unknown where British courts have juris-
diction.
The British system takes into consider
alton that the agreement between mem
bers of society called law is not a one
sided agreement favoring violators Of the
| compact our system throws every safe
! guard around the accused. Every techni-
caiity may be taken advantage of by the
| criminal, but none may be used against
! him. The commonwealth is at a disad-
vantage at almost every stage of the pro-
! ceedings. through the overpowering desire
! and purpose of our forbears to conserve
| personal liberty.
! Even after the state has secured con-
viction, against odds, it is by no means
certain that the judgment of the court will
be carried out. Skilled attorneys have
so expcrtly that a conviction is by no
means conclusive. Even after the gamut
OF the courts has been run. with adj
verse conclusions in each, it is still a
question if the convict will suffer the pen
atty imposed by the law and the courts
! Convictng jurors have frequently been
known to ask in a body that executive
clemency be extended to the convict, and
! it is VIGOROUSLY fact that nothing is cas-
| Ter than to get up petition for pardon.
! Interested attorneys, the family of the
convict and persons Of sickly sentimental
lty circulate petitions, and people of in
| fuence uuthinkingly or carelessly sign
them. The papers go to the good-hearted
governor, and he "tempering Justice with
mercy" releases the convict to prey once
more upon society.
A striking example Of the fuulity of
! attempting to temper justice with mercy
! in some cases occurred in our own state
only a short time ago. A notorious swim
dlcr serving time in the penitentiary was,
upon petition, granted a full pardon. In
a few weeks he was once more "a high
roller in society" and within few
months had become a fugitive from JUS
| tice, after having victimized a number
of people to the extent Of thousands OF
dollars. The Lord Beresford" case is
of course. the one referred to.
What is needed in this country is such a
revision of the laws and Of court proceed
ure as viii give the people at least an
equal opportunity with the prisoner In
matters of justice and mercy.
There is a class Of people who will rake
In their little pile out OF the Alaska gold