Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1898-02-17

who gets himself charged with an offense.
But between the two extremes there is a
larger and more conservative class of
citizens who simply desire to see the laws
properly enforced, and the guilty pun
ished. Public sentiment when under
stood is generally very nearly right, but
there are those who are always willing to
declare the will of the minority TO be
superior to that of the majority.
-
1t was almost painful to hear one of the
attorneys in certain case tried recently
in Judge Thomas court, appeal 20 the
''old soldier sentiment i'll behalf of
client who enjoyed the distinction of be-
ing an ex-soldier. A quarter of a century
ago such tactics were common, but the
lawyer now who undertakes such a task
proclaims himself fossil of by gone
age, If not montebank. If man serves
his country in time of war as many
thousands did, all honor to him. He has
nations gratitude, and generally PEN
sion beside, but if he voluntarily leaves
the walks of peaceful and an honest
citizen and rushes headlong into a career
of crime, he will get as little comfort |
from the average soldier as from any 9TH |
er class of people who live under the pro-
lection of the American flag. The man
who went to the front aud stayed there |
through the carnage and blood of battle |
in the war, whether he wore the blue or |
the gray, is the last man who under his |
oath as Juror could be induced to turn |
a criminal loose, for no other reason than
that he was soldier. In the armies that |
camped on tented field, or that met in
deadly conflict in battle, from 1861 TO |
1865 were larger per cent of intelligent
thinking men than were ever in the
ranks of the soldiery of any country in
the whole history of the world, and it is
an insult to the veterans of the war to
even insinuate that criminal should be
liberated at their hands, on account of
the claim that he had been a soldier.
This was the first time in the history of
the federal jurisdiction in the Indian
Territory that the ''bloody shirt" has
been waved in court of justice. The
union that men have loved, and fought
for, and made concessions and sacrifices
to rerpetuate was that formed by the
fathers ito establish justice, insure do
mestic tranquility, provide for the COM
mon defense, promote the general vel
fare, and secure the blessings of liberty"
-
While it is the province of a newspaper
to print the proceedings of public court
trials, If is not always clear as to the lati-
tude allowable as TO comment But
while the doors of court rooms remain
open, and the proceedings are public and
not star chamber, it is very natural for
the newspaper representative TO take note
of such incidents as in his Judgment
would be readable if printed in the col
umns of his paper. The utterances of
the court from the bench, the conduct of
llC Vi WITNESSES OA
the stand, Or of the jury in the box, are
all recognized as legitimate subjects, OF
comment, when told as they occur. 1t is
also considered within the province of
the newspaper to print the names of the
parties to trial, and the nature of the
offerse, and to even detail the testimony
of the witnesses as given from the stand.
If the editor desires to take issue with the
proceedings, or to declare in favor of the
conviction or acquittal of the accused,
giving reasons therefor, it is his preroga-
tive and undoubtedly within the pale of
the law TO do so. The panoply of the
law is ample protection to every one
charged with crime, as the presumption
of law is that man is innocent until he
is proven to be guilty in public trial be-
fore jury of the vicinage. The jury,
sworn and empanelled are isolated, and
kept in the hands, and under charge of
an officer of the court, and It is simply
absurd to presume that the newspapers
are to remain mute during the trial of an
important cause.
The recent Leutgert trial in Chicago
occupied several weeks, and during the
first hearing, the newspapers not only OF
the city of Chicago, but throughout the |
whole country, printed all about the case
from beginning to end, some demanding
a conviction, while others insisted on
acquittal. So also of the celebrated Du-
rant case of California which terminated |
recently by the legal execution OF Theo-
dore Durant found guilty Of the murder
of Blanche Lamont in a church steeple in
the city of San Francisco. A score of re-
cent noted criminal trials could be cited |
where the local papers reported every
phase of the trial, every utterance OF the
court, and the utmost freedom of COM
ment. 1t is one of the features of our
form of government, and the sign-manuel
of American liberty that all court trials
shall be public, and it is one of the pre-
negatives of the press TO contend for fair
and impartial administration of the law.
-
The trial and conviction of Eli Huff
charged with the crime of perjury, last
week in theUnitedStates court at misplace
was but another chapter in the Lovelace
murder case which was tried i'll this court
about year ago. Lovelace was indicted,
tried and convicted for the murder OF
young Will Glass at Welch, on the night
of December 80 1896, whom he attempted
to hold up and rob in his grain office.
The defense offered, was an alibi, and