The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-03-09

From the Philadelphia Times.
The sequel to the appalling I.at,nncr
tragedy is about closing in the temple of
justice at Barre, and for the first
time prosecutors and defendants are face
to face with the sanctity of the law
1t is not surprising that an alien ele-
ment entirely stranger to our institutions,
to our habits and to the majesty OF the
law that asserts itself invisibly upon me
people where every citizen Is sovereign.
should be appalled, when confronted In the
fountain of justice with the inexorable
mandate of the law that commands from
all submission to authority ana absolute
respect for the rights of person and prop
erty. The brutal right of might that so
long asserted itself in many of our great
industrial centers, differing only in de-
gree, has rarely had the lesson that must
ever come from court where justice is
judicially administered, and the sancttty
of the law when thus presented where
it's majesty is undisputed, is terrible
revelation to those who indulge In law
lessness because 1t has been so widely toll
Grated.
1t is fortunate for the Lattimer COM
munity, and for the entire regions of
pennsylvania where lawlessness has been
| developed by alien elements, that this
| trial has come before a judge who not
| to assert it and the character to maintain
| 1t. He can declare 1t only as ii is; as 1t
| is taught in the plainest English in our
statutes; as it has been interpreted by
| the highest judicial authority of the state.
| and as 1t has ever been accepted by all
citizens who understand our Institutions
and appreciate the priceless blessings of
popular government. Judge Woodward
will declare the law regardless of popular
prejudice, passion, or individual interest.
| He will protect the humblest, whether cit
| izen or alien, In the administration of JUS
| tice; but the one lesson that must come
| from the court is that every citizen or
resident under the protecting laws of the
| commonwealth shall he free from coer-
cion and violence in the exercise of his
inalienable right to be employed or not to
| be employed as he shall choose, and that
in coercion or violence tho proper civil
authorities must interpose and protect in
dividual rights, even to the death of the
lawless If necessary.
%
II Sheriff Martin and his deputies Won
tonly fired upon a peaceable assembly,
| they are guilty of murder; but the just
presumption of law is that an officer of
the law in the discharge of his duties for
| the maintenance of the public peace, is
| acting within the law until 1t shall be
| clearly shown to the contrary. Any other
| definition of the law would plunge a great
| commonwealth INTO anarchy, leaving 1T
| without safety to either person or prop
| erty. Does the evidence in this case show
| that the assembly that marched to Lat
| timer was peaceable, unarmed and free
| from violence? If SO, the sheriff and his
| deputies are guilty and should be pun
| ished. If that assembly was not peace
| able, was armed with firearms or clubs,
and enforced it's demands by violence, it
was lawless in its inception, lawless IL.
| every act. and if the sheriff believed. even
| mistakenly, that the safety of himself and
! his men required the lawless mob to be
fired upon, the law must declare them
| innocent.
Thus saith the law, and thus it must be
| be revelation to many. 1t must appaii
those who are alien to our institutions
| and the majesty of free government vest
| ed in the sovereignty of the citizen, but
| the lesson must be taught because 1t Is
| the only lesson that can give safety TO
the lawless men themselves if they would
| remain under the protection of our gov
| ernment. 1t is the safety of the humble
| more especially than the safety of the
| opulent, and 1t must be maintained, not
| for the protection of wealth, but for the
protection of every man whose labor is
| his capital and who seeks to throw the
strong protecting arm of the law around
| his home and his household gods. The
Lattimer tragedy is now face to face with
| the law and by the law ii must be judged.