The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-12-20
A plea for Fair Play.

'The News received the following let
ter this morning.
To the Editor Of 1.-THE Jersey City News';-
In your editorial on the Journal ex--
posures in Saturdays issue, you say Ing,
1.-THE News believes the Journals
version of the story is true in every de-
tall. Do you think this is fair play!
= / ask you if these accused men, Messrs-
UIoonan and Simpson, have a right 10 d
Writing public opinion. start out by taxing
y Journal story as true IN every oe-
~" how is a fair trial ITO be am
Two or three days ago. you said IN "Ine
News tha the friends of these men
should suspend judgment on their cases
until the courts had tried them. W aps
pears 60 me a Democratic paper shouio
be friendly enough to them to take us
"A a FRIEND OF THE ACCUSED.
The point is well taken, and we regret
having used any expressions calculated TO
make IT more difficult for Messrs. Noonan
and Simpson to obtain a fair trial. We
should have limited ourselves to saying
that the Journals" story was marked
by an air of veracity and was published
under such risks as to create a strong pre-
sumption of its truth. So much, we be-
lieve, in view of all the circumstances
may be said without injustice. But 1t is
we confess. unfair and unwarranted to
prejudice the coming legal proceedings py
any positive endorsement of the charges
against the accused. H..
In all the heat Of the present excite
ment, 1t is well to remember that, what
naI's" charges are as yet, in the eye OF
the law, mere assertions, unsupported by
oath, It is within the bounds of COM
prehension that the facts may bear a con-
struotion different from that which the
journal places upon them. 1t is pos
sible that the facts may not turn out to
be exactly as the Journal understands
them. It is conceivable that there is error
or deception somewhere. We do not say
this is SO. We say it is possible. Nothing
has been heard from Mr.. Noonan or Mr..
Simpson in the way of defence, and, if
t@iC law 0oo0&1lCo tl0 LACy o10 AtOSNA
until they are proven guilty, the news
papers and the public may well admit
that there is a possibility of their inno-
cence.
There is a little too much bounding
being lone in his case anyway. The
tone of the Journals articles smacks
too much of Intimidation. The fact that
it has had detectives logging not only
the accused but even members of the
Grand Jury is hardly suggestive of the
free and untrammeled operation of JUS
tice. Then we have the newspapers of
certain guilt of the accused and clamoring
for their condign punishment. A compar-
atively mild paragraph in the Tribune
this morning will serve to illustrate the
kind of pressure tina is being. brought
to bear
To the Hudson County Grand jury
Don't try to play the ostrich act. The
people are noting in%tel1igently every
move that you make.
Finally, we nave the Rev. John L. Scud-
der, stepping out of the way of the mer-
ciful God whom he pretends to preach,
and turning his pulpit into a showbox,
wherein he constitutes himself prosecu-
tor, witness, jury n judge, and orders
of 4he accL-d to instant execution by
the summary action of a prelude. We
think most Christian persons will agree
with us in hol6ing that Mr.. Scudder's
remarks on this case last evening were
an indeeency, a violation of justice, an
outrage on charity, a gross prostitution
Of the house of God to prAisdice and
passion.
Once more, we desire 20 add that if
these mes are guilty, they hay- 10 SYM
pathy from us. They must reap as they
have sown. So far from desiring to see
them protected from any -nsequen of
their acts, we urge the most speedy and
decisiys methods to bring the issue to
trial at the bar of justice. But we do
urge that the trial be made as fair as
possible, hat the accused have every pos
sible chance to make an effective de-
fence, that they be safeguarded in
their right to face a jury which has
not ~prejudged them guilty and which is
not subject to the fear of newspaper and
pulpit persecution if it shoulda find the
evidence insufficient to convict them.
In dealing with the case in the future
ssThe News" will assuredly avoid all ex-
pressions calculated to impair their right
to fair play.
The Race Track Amendment.
Tho aotion Of tho Surname Court tndav