The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-01-27
JUDGE WILLIS SAYS WHEN LIBER-
TY PERISHES IT WILL BE A
TIME THAT
TRUTH HAS FLED THE COURTS.
CITIZENS RIGHTS SUFFER 1T
FALSE OATHS ARE PLACED UP
ON JUSTICES ALTAR OR
TAINTED BY BREATH OF SCANDAL.
Short Dissertation Preceding the
Sentencing of Robert Bell, Who
Confessed Perjury.

Robert Bell confessed in the criminal
court yesterday that he committed
perjury when he testified in the suit
of Joseph RoSkoyeck, as administrator
of the estate of Roman Kranc, against
the st. Paul & Duluth Railroad COM
pany. The case was tried last June
In the district court and resulted in
q verdict for $4,000 in favor of the
plaintiff. Bell who was one Of the
plaintiffs witness, was in Eau Claire
Wis, when the accident happened in
the Minneapolis railroad yards which
resulted in the death of Kranc. But
Mr.. Bell, nevertheless, testified glibly
concerning the details of the accident.
After Mr.. Bell had pleaded guilty, his
attorneys besought the clemency of
the court. 1t was Bells first offense
and he was only twenty-six years old
He was a railroad brakeman by occu-
patton. Judge Willis regarded the
prisoner intently for q moment, and
then said:
The idea Of revenge has been banished
from the arena of Jurisprudence by the lat
est evolution of thought and the object of
punishment is now correctly defined to be
nrst, salutary warning to mankind in gen.
eral; secondly, the reformation of the per
son convicted of crime by due course of law.
fore, that clemency does not pertain to
courts of justice. A court of justice has no
discretion, its duty is to administer justice
to give a fair trial to causes that are pre,
scented, to try all individuals with absolute
impartialfty, and to have every end effectuat-
ed by the operation of the court, one that
can be denominated Just
When an individual comes before a court
ana proclaims himself guilty of an offense
like perjury-which has been well said to
strike at the very foundation of the social
Of foIf
unltes one man to another, that indefna BILE
yet powerful league through which we be-
heVe our fellow men and trust them In
ordinary ways, and accept their evidence In
courts of justice-the first impulse is one of
anger and resentment That feeling how
ever, should have no influence in court of
cardinal principles of punishment-warning
to society: reformation of the offender.
L admonish you, Robert Bell that your Of
tense is most serious that no real or fancied
wrong suffered by any individual would JUS
THY you in violating the solemnity of an
oath. When liberty pershes it will be when
haven of refuge for truth, ceased to be the
powerful protector of the citizen. They can
not protect the citizens rights If upon the
altar of justice are placed false oaths If the
information given to the court comes from
perjured sources If the case appear In court
tainted by the breath of scandal borne, as it
were, upon the Saeramental wings of the oath
taking, fafth-pledging, God witnessing cere-
mony by which and through which a witness
is invested with the character of one to be
believed.
This is your first offense?
Bell-Yes.
The Court-Let it be your last. You can
90 through prison, if you are a true man
and you can come out feeling that society has
not turned its weapons wilfully upon you
You can come out feeling that society has
by your imprisonment done its best to as
sert Its own rights to protect itself and to
make you better than you are and YOU can
come out from your Imprisonment with
desire to teach your fellow man how to OBJ
serve the law, how to keep true faith. how to
promote justice. And your own manhood will
determine whether the Imprisonment shall
De OF benefit to you or whether it shall arouse
a resentment in your heart and make you an
enemy of society.
The sentence of the court and the Judgment
OF the law is, that you, Robert Bell, as the
punishment for the crime of which you stand
convicted on your own plea, be committed
to the reformatory of the state of Minnesota.
at the city of st. Cloud, county of Stearns'
in the state of Minnesota, there to be rMeiv-
ed and confined according to the rules and
regulations of that Institution