The Jersey City news., 1899-11-15

The outrageous maladministration o.
the criminal law in New York is brought
into glaring notice by the trial of Rolanc
B. MoIIneux, which has just begun. This
man Is accused of the murder of Mrs
Kate Adams in December of last year
He was first accused of it almost imne'
diately after its committal, and he was
arrested for 1t in January or February
In other words. almost a year has beer
allowed to elapse since the crime and
over nine months since the accused was
deprived Of his liberty.
To those who are acquainted with the
vagaries of evidence and the workings OF
the mind, the iniquitous injustice of this
delay Is appalling. In the first place, II
the man is innocent and proves his in
nocence, the amount of suffering and in
jury which have been inflicted upon him
constitute a wrong no less dreadful than
the murder itself. There is no sort of
balm, that the state of New York can
furnish, sufficient to heal the bruised
soul or close up the ghastly chasm in a
ruined life. 1t is only necessary to read
the newspapers hostile to Molineux to
gain glimpse Of the truth. Here are a
few lines from one truculent sheet which
has untiringly bounded him.
Roland Molineux's face was waxen and
white from lack of sun and air. He was
shayen clean, and his pallor was so great
that the beard showed through the skin
like a smudge on his square jaw. His
brown hair glistened with the care Of its
brushing His pale blue eyes often blink
ed. perhaps with the unwonted glare Of
the court room.
The same paper told US, on Sunday, that
the young mans young wife had become
a physical and mental wreck. through
hysteria, developed amid the heartbreak-
ing delays of the District Attorney 5
Office
But, whether guilty or innocent, what
chance has Molineux, now, to make such
q defence as the desperately virulent ma
ture OF the prosecution demands. He has
been in prison a year, unable to move a
finger in his own behalf. In that time
his spirit has been broken, his vitality
undermined. He is no longer fit to stand
cress-examination. The only wonder is
that he is not insane.
All this time, the District Attorneys
office has been working on theory and
educating its witnesses up to 1t. Every
one knows-who has ever looked into the
subject-that evidence grows more and
more specific and conclusive as time
passes, when for any reason the subject
matter Is given habitual prominence and
Importance in the witness mind. ASK
a man about a most important matter.
he has not thought of since, and you
will find the facts blurred, perhaps OBJ
liberated. in his memory. But ask him
about some trifie which he has been tell
Ing over and over again, and on which
his mind has dwelt with interest--a CO.
incidence, practical joke. the winning of
a bet-and he will tell you the story with
astonishing richness of detail. If, how
ever you have means of checking his
recollection you will invariably find that
the detail is nine-tenths supplied by his
imagination, and is all in accord with his
theory of the story, with his ideal Of
what the incidents should have been.
II is not necessary to charge the Dis
trict Attorney or his witnesses with de-
hberate, Intentional bad faith in order to
assert positively that the years delay in
the trial must have brought about an
alteration in the character of the evidence
which win be presented, fatal to the ac-
cnssd. Every witness on the side of the
prosecution will be swearing not to the
facts as he saw or knew them, but to the
version of the facts which his imagina-
ton now supplies. In word, he will
be testifying on theory.
Moiineux may be guilty of this crime
If so, he should have been executed six
months ago, as he certainly would have
been in England We have nothing to
say against the test Of his guilt or inno-
cence before jury. But we insist that
the system of delay in such trials, which
now preyails--in all States, but most Of
an In New Tork--is a public crime in
comparison with which plain, ordinary
murder is venial.
The New Post Ofaoe Cancsl1ing De-
yics--An Outrage on the Public.
The new device which the Post ONCE