The record-union., 1897-11-18
THE CASE OF woRDEN.
The Stockton Mali says:

There is no question of his guilt true
to his instincts. he a dozen times Of
fered to turn States evidence ana help
convict his accomplices if he might
have his own neck Afterwards IN saie
keeping.
This statement of our contemporary
is entirely true. Worden committed
reasonable, cowardly murder There
Is no question of his guilt. The trea-
sonable and cowardIy acts Of Worden
We're the legitimate birth of the en-
couragement, nay, more, the urgent IN
citing, of the leading journals OF San
Francisco and some journals in other
portions of the State. The public opin-
ion existing at the time of the murder
committed by Worden encouraged MS
reasonable and cowardly action. He
was the ignorant brutal drunken in
strument of a reasonable public opin-
ion which shared his guilt
There is a distinction between muir
der committed under the impulses
which Influenced Worden and that
species of murder which flows from
personal malice, and if our contem-
porary desires to be entirely just it will
recognize and preserve this clear-cut
distinction. Murder committed by an
individual in retaliation for individual
wrong flows entirely out of his per-
sonal impulses and motives. 1t recog-
nizes the personality of its victim and
is a manifestation of cold, cruel ma
ngnity toward a distinct individuality.
Worden's murder was not leveled at a
single individual whose personality was
clearly defined in his own mind. 1t
had an impersonal object, and While
not the less treasonable nor cowardly,
1t was a species of murder differing
from that which proceeds from revenge,
or greed, or erotic passion. Worden
did not blow up the treStle, nor saw on
the timbers which constituted the sup
port of the track for the purpose of
comprising a murder of an individual
against whom he entertained a grudge;
nor for purposes of robbery; nor for
the qualification of passion; and our
contemporary must recognize this fact
if it would discuss this question dis
passionately. Worden's action was gem
Grated by the passions of the time. Il
must be regarded in the light of all
the attendant conditions which ener-
gized the brutal impulses of lawless
men, 1t was not an act which stands
by itself referably wholly to impulses
within the individual who commits it
and directly against a specific individ-
ual life. The act was not committed
to avenge a personal wrong, and can
not therefore be attributed to specific
malice
If a murder thus divested of personal
malice in the murderer, the incentives
whereby the murderer himself was en-
couraged, his brutal instincts aroused
and his murderous propensities stim-
ulated, came from without, however
much they may have been in league
with the brutal instincts of the Of
fender. Such a murderer has many
accomplices in guilt. We have pointed
out some Of these-the supineness of the
administrators of the law, the encour-
agenIent of public journals, the open
and avowed sympathy with lawless
methods-all these things shared the
guilt of Worden.
Our contemporary says that true to
his instincts. he dozen times offered
to turn States evidence and help to
convict his accomplices."
The policy of the law in permitting
anyone to turn States evidence is the
punishment Of the greatest number of
offenders. If ten men are accomplices
in crime, the law holds out the induce
ment to one to give the evidence which
viii secure the conviction of the other
nine. If but two are in completely the
law countenances, tolerates and en-
courages the confession of one that
crime, itself may be detected. The policy
Of receiving the evidence of one equally
guilty is Of inestimable value as de-
tegTent TO conspiracy. The opportunity
is constantly presented Of treachery,
end whatever may be thought OF the
Of society. What were the instincts
Of Worden's accomplices? Are they
now attempting to assist in his de-
fense? The number Of those engaged
IN blowing up the trestle has been esti-
mated at from eight to fourteen. Who
We're they? They assisted Worden.
and they had equal completely with
him. Our contemporary character
6zaTion of Worden's acts is equally ap-
plicable to them. Their crime was
treasonable. cowardly murder" and
there is no question Of their guilt. This
statement of our contemporary that
Worden attempted a dozen times to
turn States evidence and was refused
establishes a presumption of special
spite. and malignity toward him in the
minds of the prosecutors.
Can any defender of the tragedy of
the4 trestle find another instance in the
history Of criminal Jurisprudence where
dozen men were equally guilty of
unreasonable and cowardly murder" and
where the officers Of the law refused to
avail themselves Of the reasonable in |
stinets OF crime in securing the con- |
vtction Of all who might have been |
guilty? What excuse have the officers |
of the law 10 make that they set it's |
traditional policy at defiance in the case /
of Worden? What explanation does