Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1901-06-29
Oconomowoc Justice?

The city of OcOnOmOwO. has an Ordi-
nance prohibiting bicycle riding on the
sidewalks under penalty Of small fine.
City Marshal Grey arrested George Wes
tower, wealthy retired lawyer from Chi
cagO, for violating this ordinance. The
0ffense was proven as charged, and Judge
Loren Edwards, the new incumbent of
the municipal court for the Western
district of Waukesha county, before
whom the case was brought, suspended
sentence. The question is now squarely
up to the citizens of OcOnOmOwOc Wheth-
er they have any ordinance, similarly
construed, that rich man is likely to
respect. Aside from the undOubted lille
gality of this judicial action it is stated
as an extenuating circumstance that
years ago the sitting judge and his prls-
Oner were partners in law and kindred
iniquities, and old residents refer with
peculiar smile to former case in which,
it is said, there was addition, division,
some silence that could be heard, and
later some scattering Of legal talent. In
fact, the governing cause for this action
was friendship, pure and simple, without
so much as the immense pressure of a
large bill for electiOneering expenses in
the balance, that induced His Honor to
touch the balance with his dOwny hand
and turn it on the gentler side. Ii this
is sample of the justice the people Of
that city are to expect hereafter, then
the men who voted the majOrities in the
First ward and in the Third ward-the
Judges home ward-Of our neighbOring
city were wiser in their day and genera
tiOn than those who cast the deciding
majority in the Second ward, or maybe
their recOllectiOns of the past were bet
ter. They evidently knew what they were
doing. Is Justice dead, with weighted
eyelids closed, or is she only sleeping
eagerly ready to awaken when some poor
fellow without friends, social standing or
much money, is caught in the tolls?
When man much in the public eye
shows his contempt for public opinion by
saying, "the public be ID" it is bad
enough; but when judge on the bench
acts it, it is immeasurably worse. Very
probably the Judges active sympathy
may have been touched. WestOver's fine
might have been as much as So, and a
dollar in some peoples eyes is as big as a
cartwheel. In the case OF Linderfeidt,
the defaulting librarian Of Milwaukee,
Judge Sloan, moved undoubtedly by real
sympathy and outside pressure, suspend
ed sentence, and the outraged people
never fOrgave him nor ceased to crlticjse
him and his act. Although the violation
of city ordinance may be trivial mat
ter, the prosecution for its violation fol-
lows criminal procedure. See the syl-
labus of the case in re Webb, Wisconsin
Reports, Vol. 80, page 354, in which it
says: "After sentence has been pro-
nOunced in criminal case the court
cannot, as a matter OF leniency to the de-
PENDANT, suspend indefinitely its execu-
ton" Since when could municipal
judge exercise the Governors pardOning
power or issue tickets of leave? Though
this recital may be of little interest to
ouI nome readers, yet it will serve good
purpose if, when tempted to make a
change from the present system of JUS
tees to that of municipal court, they
wisely decide to bear the ills they have
rather than to fly to others that they
know not of. Experience is wise teach
er and OcOnomowOc people are getting it
in the neck.