The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-24
RIVER AT s A. NJ.
A mnICIAL SCANDAL.

4 JUDICIAL SCANDAL.
The famous trial of Luetgert has
ended. as the testimony made it 1neVl-
table that it should, in a disagreement
Of the Jury. 1t has been clear to all
who followed with any attention the
nrogress of the case that the weak
noint consisted in the inability OF the
nrosecution to establish the central fact
of the commission of a crime. Ihere
NAV be. there must be, in the minds
of all who have put themselves IN pos
session of the facts, an impression,
arising almost to a belief, that Mrs.
Iuetgert perished in the manner that
the state alleged Yet that fact was
not sufficiently established to become
the basis of the execution of capital
sentence. It was not absolutely proved
to the satisfaction Of reasonable
doubt when upon that doubt hung
mans life, that the woman is dead,
Granting her death, the manner OF 1t
outlined by the state was probable
Granting the possibility that she still
lives and has disappeared for reasons
unknown, it would be difficult to find a
i11ry of twelve men who would con-
sent. with that loophoIe Of the state
still open, to sentence this man to the
gallows.
The feature of the trial, however,
which has appealed to every man of
decent instincts and habits, and will
Iinger like an evil taste after the case
has been dismissed, is the deliberate
and. successful attempt to turn the ad-
ministration of justice into a sensa-
tionaI dramatic performance. 1t is be-
coming the habit, whenever crime
out of the ordinary occurs, or
whenever there are circumstances of
mystery or the supposed use of unusual
methods in comprising death, to enlist
the interest of the public by every
device known to the newspaper and to
the legal world. We join in common
denunciation of all the elements that
united to make this Luetgert trial
contamination. The human mind is
chameleonlike. It takes, necessarily,
something of the color of the object
upon which it dwells. To have had this
murder case the central feature of life
in a vast city for about two months;
to have had every morsel of gossip
concerning it devoured eagerly; to have
had it the common topic of conversa-
ton upon the streets and by the fire
side is to have compassed human deg
radiation. 1t is to cater to the
morbid instinct attracted by crime, and
to make crime more picturesque and
less reprehensible.
To this trial have thronged thou
sands daily. Women, mostly, dress
ed as if for the matinee, push
ed and crowded their way into the
court room building, until the police
had to clear the streets outside and the
elevators could scarcely make their
trips without danger from the madden
ed throng. For the delectaton of such
an audience, the lawyers on both sides
prepared their case. If the same eff
forts were made in every murder trial,
there would be no ground for criticism.
But it is acknowledged that the whole
detective ability of the city of Chicago
has been concentrated on this one
crime; that vast sums of money have
been spent to scour the country for
shreds of evidence and wisps of rumor;
and that the proceedings were arrang-
ed from Gay to day, not merely with
view to the doing of justice, but for
scenic effect. The people knew why
they risked their limbs to secure en-
trance to Judge Tuthill's court, and
their feast was prepared for them.
In the name of decency and of respect
for the law, we enter protest against
this method of enforcing our statutes.
There fingers, we know not why, in the
American mind a strange tradition that
the public has an inherent right to be
present at the trial of every criminal
case, and that liberty would somehow
be endangered if this right were cir
cumscribed. Once that same doctrine
was held, as it still is in some commu-
mites, with regard to public execu-
tions. Men brought their wives and
journeyed for days that they might see
a man hanged, and women held their
little children up in arms to look at
the hooded figure swinging hideously
to and fro as a sight to remember in
after days I'VE are somewhat civilized
out of that. Q Most of the states now ex-
clude the general public from eXecu-
tions, and the sanctity of the law is
not impaired. There are trials, dozens
and scores of them every year which