Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-01

| over, under the Spanish system they had
| to be written on the government stamped
| paper, and only certain number OF words
| could be written a sheet because the
margin was very broad. This made litga-
| don very expensive in the mere matter of
| the documents The scribes received very
| GOOD pay for their work. They had also
| an additional source of income to which
| they sometimes resorted. This was by
writing in testimony which had not been
| delivered or by leaving out some of that
| which had been delivered Under the new
| system the scrbes will be deprived of that
| source of income.
Gen. Brookes cabinet has not fully COM
| pieted the proposed revision of the criminal
| law and of the court proceedings. This will
| probably be accomplished within a fort
| night. One of the first reforms will be to
| do away with the practice of keeping
| prisoner incommunicado shut uD with
| out the opportunity to communicate with
| either friends or attorney. This was one of
| the most disagreeable features of the Span
| ish practice. Apparently it was practice
rather than a specific provision of law. 1t
| Kept the foreign consuls in constant en-
| troversy with the authorities whenever a
subject other than a Spanish citizen ban
| pened to be arrested. There will also he
| provision by which the prisoner Will know
| something of the testimony against him.
| Though few years ago the modified jury
| system was introduced in Spain, 1t was
never extended to Cuba, and the island did
| not have the statutory jury known TO most
| OF the Latin countries. Gen. Wood, when
| ne established the courts in Santiago prov
I tiieN' pioNidiiiltu tHt TlSnl OF n3D23S corpus.
and this has been affirmed by the American
authorities for the whole island.
Some of the provisions of the penal code
Will undoubtedly be modified The commits
| sion which translated the code several
| months ago recommended a number of
| changes. Some of the crimes have dispro-
portionate penalties and some of the penal
ties are not fitted to the crimes. Neverthe-
| less 1t is probable that critical examina-
| ton of the penal code in most of the Amer
| lcan states would show as many inconsistent
| a { ha nich a.,
provision of it will never meet the approval
| of American women. This arbitrarily fixes
| period of 3o1 days after the death OF the
husband before the widow may marry
| again. If she does So she incurs the pen-
| atty of "arresta mayor" which means i'm
prlsonmeut from one to six months and a
me ranging from S25 to $500 The same
penalty is provided for divorced woman
who seeks to marry before 3o1 days have
| elapsed since the judicial separation Di-
vorce is very in Cuba and it may be
that this provision is not an inconvenient
one. The customs of the country also call
Tor a long period of mourning and It would
! be rare thing for widow to seek to re-
| marry during the first year of her bereave-
ment. Usually heavy mourning is worn for
ehfee years Nevertheless the provision
lorblddlng remarriage within 301 DAYS
stands out as a monument TO the Latin con-
ception that women have no rights. Doubt
| less 1t Will be changed when the American
women hear of il.
Ihe virtue of COrteOus Treatment
The Spanish courts in Cuba had one viz
tue which Is not always found in the United
States. Everybody brought in contact with
them, even the culprit, was treated with a
reasonable degree of courtesy A personal
experience gave me an insight into this
ana also into some other phases of the
laws 1t was during the period of Snanish
RUE when two gentlemen and myself got
INTO d little controversy with the English
t ,ha lt,a Whlch runs out from Havana to
the suburb of Marinao and the beach of
!hat name Every American who has been
IN CUBA has had occasion to damn this
English railroad for its bad service and tic
lhclVlltles to patrons. One of my com
panions was himself an Englishman Tho
company had sold us tickets to the beach
ana back, and on returning the conductor
refused to accept them on the ground that
We had taken the wrong train He d.
nanded a cash fare, which was refused
When we reached Havana he called the
station agent to reinforce him and again
demanded the fare Then he called the
orden publico or policemen and insisted on
tiiem taxing US in Charge, The sergeant
IKE all spanish officers and policemen was
clVll and regretted that he could not re-
leVe US from the annoyance of taking us
TO the police station. A Cuban lawyer who
was on the train advised us to settle be-
cause the trouble would be greater than
the satisfaction. But we were stuhborn
and we went in coaches to the police sta.
Ton under the escort of the orden publico
Inc magistrate there was very civil but
as me railroad employe had made formal
complaint, he could do nothing but take
the complaint. He heard what the railway
agent SAID, what we said and what the
orden publicos said, Then. as he was sat
listed we were persons of good character"
he sent our case up to the next higher
court, which | think was that of municipal
judge, without asking bail putting us in
the dungeon in the meantime When he
had explained all the circumstances he told
the orden publicos that they need not es-
cort us back to the hotel, and we returned
there alone.
By this time an official of the railway
company had appeared and explained that
there had been mistake, and IL we would
give up the tickets the company would call
1t square and not insist on the payment Of
the GO cents in cash fares which was al
issue. His offer declined, and in the
meantime we hunted up lawyer who was
known to one OF our party. He came the
next morning and took breakfast with US
When you hire a lawyer in Cuba it is Gus
tomary to invite your lawyer to breakfast
and talk over your case. He explained our
status as indeterminate, because it was
not established whether the magistrate be-
fore whom we were next to appear would
hold us as culprtS or the agent of the
railroad company who had caused our ar
rest. All we wanted, our advocate ex-
planned was to have our case so disposed
of by the magistrate that it would not
prejudice our claims for civil damages
against the company. He also explained
the Spanish laws with regard to corpora
tons and the rights of individuals, and
told us frankly that we might get a de-
cision inside of five years From his ex-
PLANTATION, | gathered that the Spanish law
with regard to corporations and individuals
is more considerate of the right of ndi-
viduals than is the American law As for
the five years, none of US had ever heard
OF an aggrieved party in the United States
getting satisfaction from a corporation in
that period and we were not discouraged.
Formal SubpOenas.
The next morning we We're served with
various complicated documents on stamped
paper and with many signatures and flour
shes. We made out that these were sub
stantially in the nature Of subpoenas for
. o'clock on a definite morning We made
our appearance three different mornings
at the hour designated but there was al
ways something ahead Our lawyer
though he occupied distinguished place
al the Havana bar and might have left
these proceedings to his clerk, always ap-
peared in the magistrates court. Some
times we breakfasted with him. sometimes
he breakfasted with US. Finally our case
was reached. The magistrate took our