The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-25
'CzOLGOSZ'S FATE DECIDED
(continued from First Page.)

AS tIllo l IlG ldW IS SD careful Dl tiiS { rights of Its citizens that it will not
 permit man to plead guilty to the Y crime of murder so that, even after he
 had conceded his guilt in this case, 1t
 was incumbent upon the court to in-
 sist that the trial should proceed, and
 that the people should establish beyond < a reasonable doubt that the defendant
 was guilty of the crime charged against
 him. There are in our country indiyid-
 uals, not hope in very large numbers,
 but we know they are scattered all \ over our country, who think that in Y case like this or even in charges of
 much less degree it is entirely proper
 that the case should be disposed of by X lynching or mob law. We can hardly take up a paper without we learn that
 in some part of this free and independ- ent country, some man has been mur-
 dered on the suspicion or belief that he
 was guilty of some crime. This state 4 of things does not exist in our com ! munity, but it does in some parts of our
 atate as every intelligent man knows.
 "It is charged here that our client is
 an anarchist, man who does not be-
 lieve in any law or in any form of gov gy GTQIlenL. AIlu lllSIG dIG, etS NC cil v
 told, other individuals who entertain
 that opinion. We all feel that such doc
 trines are dangerous, are criminal, are
 doctrines that will subvert our govern
 ment in time if they are allowed to pre-
 wall.
 "Gentlemen of the jury, while I be-
 1ieve firmly in that, I do not believe it
 creates a danger to this country equal
 x to the belief, becoming so common, that
 men who are charged with crime shall
 not be permitted to go through the form Of trial in a country of justice. But that lynch law shall take the place of gthe calm and dignified administration z Of the law of our courts of justice. < ssWhen that doctrine becomes suffi-
 ciently prevalent in this country, if it
 ever does, our institutions will be set
 aside and overthrown and if we are
 not Nisinformed as to the state of mind of some people in some parts of our country the time is fast approach Ing when men charged with crime will not be permitted to come into court and Submit to calm and dignified trial, but will be strung up to tree on the bare suspicion that some one may hold
 
 Tt is not long since I read in a paper that a colored man in the south had his life taken because he had insulted a white man. What it was the paper did not say, but he was strung up. I sug- gest, gentlemen, that class or commit nifty who are crying out in our cities and are sending letters to lawyers sug- resting that the man who Is charged with the crime that this defendant is should not be permitted to have a trial before court of justice-I submit that they are more dangerous class to the cornnlunity than the anarchists about whom we read so much. x Now, 1t is the duty of every Ameri can citizen or every good man to stand firmly by the law and put his voice | against any idea that man should be l bunished for any crime until he is prov l sn guilty in court beyond any reasona- | ble doubt x My associate and myself are here to l uphold the law. Some weak minded | people entertain the notion that the | lawyer who appeared in defense of a ae4endant is in court to obstruct the | atie process of the law, to balk justice | ind to delay by technicalities. But | every man who knows the members of | Inc bar understands that this is not so. My associate and myself are here for me same purpose that the learned dis Erlct attorney is here for--to see that Ehis trial progresses in legal orderly ind proper manner. We must in every way possible put down and suppress lsls feeling that cases may be disposed H without the intervention of courts of lIstace.
 #"I remember, gentlemen, when I was Ilyoung man living in Auburn studying nv profession, when the news came | hat colored man had gone up on the |hores of Owasco Lake and there had murdered practically an entire family laned Van Ness. The news created in- ense excitement. The people gathered n the streets to hear the news. In the purse of the afternoon it was learned hat the man Freeman had been arrest q and was being brought to the city 6 be incarcerated. The people upon lie streets became more and more ex- ited. They began to talk about mob ing the colored man when he arrived. William H. Seward, who lived then in nat city, appeared upon the street and ! 0unselled moderation, counselled the e0ple to wait and see whether the man J ias really guilty of the crime or not, ( nd permit him to have legal trial ut the people protested. He was gull I <, they said, and must be disposed of g Tr. Seward insisted, and they incarcer- s ted Freeman in jail. It soon became l nown that MT. Seward had volunteer S to defend the negro when he was s Ut on trial, and indignation arose r gainst him, but that far-seeing man, r lat statesman, saw that there was an V pportunity of giving an object lesson r K the world as to the proper disposi- f Dn of that case, and for two long !, onths that trial went on with Seward f the negro. It occupied some V lree weeks in obtaining jury, and I e .t by during almost the entire pro- edings of that trial and listened to l e defense that Mr. Seward interposed. It ot that he cared anything for the ne- o. but he wanted to maintain the law p wing every man a trial and to put II ,wn mob violence. D ''This trial here to-day is great ob- <, <, ct lesson to the world. Here is a case u here a man has stricken down the be- Y ved president of this country in broad ol .ylight, in the presence of hundreds of o' ousands of spectators. If there was | 'l er case that would excite the anger, ~ ynof h 0f thn1 11n klfo |