The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-03-30
THE loMsoNssr FELONY.
Committed Daily In Almost Every
Court In the Land.

OF luelloo tnev nnruIy my passes Wheu
the judges % TIE quarter sessions 90 not
note scms instance Of what they know to
Re perjury The Bibles os the witness
stand are polluted by ths lips Of . multi
tuue Of psrjurers In ths co,lrse Of every
tsrm. Some judges believe that the syil
Il growing one. Judge Ludlow. once
said that the longer he remained on the
teneh the more he saw OF the difficulty Of
enforcing respect for an oath. Indeed, IL
Is certain that for every person convicted
of the deliberate perjury which is a crime,
and which Is susceptible Of legal proof,
there are hundred who escape because of
ths trouble OF proving the offence to the
satisfaction Of the law. Not few cross-
examiners conduct their examinations on
the assumption that no witness ever tells
the exact truth II he can avoid II, snd the
assamptioE is believed to hold in one out
OF every thres instances.
There are many witnesses. too. who
sw ear falsely without intending 1t. In
exactness Of M memory, confused ideas az to
the nissning Of words or the timidity into
which the builies and brow heaters Of the
bar shrow them viii often account for
conflicting testimony when apparently
perjury had entered 1t somewhere.
When the Prince Of Wales was young
and perjured himself like . gentleman
In the Mordaunt case. No gave to one spe-
Giles OF deliberate perjury something Of
the ssm blancs Of honor IL 10 now, 10 it
has long been, the fashion TO regard
with contempt any man who goes into
court and swenrs against the chastity OF .
woman whose favor he has enjoyed. In
such cases perjury 10 looked uron az
vsnial, II not, indesd, creditabis, and il
rarely punished
The Beechsr-1 ilton case was probably
one Of the greatest exhibitions Of perjury
that has ever ocoupisd the attention OF the
American Ieople In . court Of justice.
Such mass OF unreconcilable testimony
under the solemnity Of an oath has sell
dom bern sent to jury. That trial had
many injurious effects on the public
mind, but mona, perhaps, was 90 serious
az tie disregard of truth on the part of
persons who. It might have been sup
posed, could not bring themselves to the
act of perjury. Religion, character and
oon1der % in veracity all SUFFERED cruel
moral lepers passed in review. The conn
try Was divided. as the jury was. in pick
ing out the perjurers. Yet many of those
who believed that Mr.. Beecter had ger
jnred himself contended that, aside from
any penal consequences which might
have resulted to him self. IL was his duty
to shield Mra vilton at all hazards. Who
ever the perjurers were. there is no room
for doubt that the perjury which was
committed and the hslf-npproval or flip
pant manner IL which IL wss treated set
an exampls for an imm ense amount OF
falss sw caring In American courts in after
years.
There Is also another form of perjury
which 10 tolerated or encouraged outside
Of courts-the lying that prevails In cases
for damages. The courts of Philadelphia
have been overrun with IL in the past ten
years. The corporations of the city or
tie state, against which there may exist
Q popular prejudice, as we'll as the city
Cover nmsnt itself, have hesn the
victims Of it time and raain. The
passenger railway ard railroad
con psniss, especially ths traction
companies. have tesn muIcted OF
several millions OF dcllsrs, largely be.
cause Of the evic euce Of rerjurers, who
{! ink that rich man or q corporation 10
fair game whenever Ii In possible to cook
up against either. on any plausible pre-
text, snit for damages. The GrossPst
sxaggeration, tie meanest dtcepiions,
tie mcst tarsfsced Of downright lying,
Eli bolstered up by stme miserable shys-
ter who is to have a big rercentass of the
fruits or perjury, are ounblushinRIy re-
sorted to In such cases and easily impose
upon the minds of the jury. A few
months ago Judge wiltbank, just after
he went on the tsnob, declaimed vigor-
ously against the perjury which no had
witnessed in case for damages sgaiest
the ci y. tut have not heard that any
:ns has been punished. Perhaps the
judge had not yet teen season ed to 1t like
his colleagues.
II the courts want more respect for
ratts In the witness tex. they must be
more prompt and more ssvere in PUNISH
II
ins ffsnders, and there mus. le an end
or that cisto ouest and misci ieyous SON
timen outsice Of tie courts which
sustsins Per jury against those who, 1t is
assumed. ought to he mulctrd or pun
i,nsd on general principles. There is
the PEI jury which springs from such
hopsl ss depavity as that OF Holmss or
Of Arthur srrins, who went to the gal
lows calling to Jesus Christ to receive his
soul and swearing thar be wns inroceut
OF what eve ybcdy knew him to he guilty;
there IL q e,psrjury which james p. Hev-
erin once said WAS characteristic In car
ticular OF female witnesses, coming pri-
mArily from the fenirine sense Of low
atty, mipglet with p' 'rhaps lover sens,
OF respo- sib lity; hut the p rjury which
IL now most cuTre1t and most dstesta-
hle is tie terjury for Illicit gain. the per-
Jury which claims $1,000 fJr 800 OF loss;