The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-17
GETTING A MOVE ON THEM

Il
GETTING A MOVE ON THEM.
The hot Indignation felt by the en-
tire people of st. Paul over the arrest
and clubbing of peaceable and law
abiding citizens has, it appears, pene-
trated at last the thick skins and
thicker skulls Of some of the people
about the city hall. 1t is now admit
ted that the officer guilty of these I'M
warranted arrests, accompanied by I'M
pardonable brutalities, ought to have
"a reprimand." He has been affected
''to tears" but his resignation was not
accepted This is the valuable conces-
sion made, after week of delay, to
outraged public opinion. No new cir
cumstances in the episode, as far as
we are aware. have come to light
None are needed in the representations
made to the mayor by the delegation
of citizens that called upon him some
days ago. All the materials are sup
piled that ought to be necessary to
compass the immediate dibmissal Of
the offending officer, and the issue of
a general order to tke entire police
force making the repetition of any
such atrocity equivalent to the decapi-
tation of the offender.
AS we have seen, this was no Or
binary case. 1t cannot be made to ap-
pear mere blunder or an excess of
official zeal. The appearance of a
third party, an outsider, settled this.
He came before the mayor and told his
story; showing that he had been bru-
tally assaulted when not even under
arrest, for no other offense than at
tempting to show the officer that it
was case of mistaken identity, and
asserting that he knew the parties de-
tanned to be reputable and law-abiding
citizens. When this man related these
facts, bearing at the time upon his
face the marks of the policemans cane
and fist, there was not one other word
to be said. An officer who would be
guilty of such a crime ought not to
wear the star or uniform of a police
man for five minutes, even although he
had a lifetime of satisfactory service
behind him. The conclusion to admin
lister "a reprimand," several days later,
is a measure of the seriousness with
which this administration regards in
discriminate assaults by its servants
upon unoffending people. In connec-
ton with this a general warning is to
be issued, 1t is said, to the police force.
equivalent to a gentle reminder that
the public has reached the limit of toll
be we'll to abstain from the pastime of
" breaking heads for sport.
The resentment of our people, to-
gether with the position taken by the
municipal court, seems to have some
effect in calling halt upon the march
toward a reign of brutal despotism
ing of the court, although perfectly in
accord with the common law in all
Anglo-Saxon communities, has been
held up as something new and start
ling. This alone shows US how far we
have gone, by the prevalence of out
RACES upon the citizen, toward a slav-
ish submission to official tyranny
The idea that a policeman is warrant
ed by the mere badge of Office in ar
except at his own peril, is a strange
one to occupy the mind of any Amer
lean citizen. If our liberty means any
thing at all, it means that any man
whom it is attempted to arrest has a
right to offer determined resistance
and use whatever degree of force may
be necessary, if there is no warrant
out against him. Were this not true
were the police officials authorized to
and lock him up on suspicion, and
were such man, if innocent, amen
able to punishment for resisting an Of
ficer. we would not be one whit better
off than the people of Russia.
II is true that the police force OF
every large city dA make such arrests
frequently, and that it is necessary fol
them to do so at times. They may