The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-09-21
WAY OF The LAW
BANANA THIEVES AND THE MEAS
URE OF THEIR PUNISHMENT.
JUDGE N0RW00D'S THEORY.
GUILTY MOTIVES, NOT VALUES, DE-
TERMINE SENTENCES.

side Lights on tile Case of Charles
williams, Banana Thief, and Incl
dentaIIy on Others of the same
Tribe-The Negro who Was Pun
ishcd Bore All the Marks of Com
hrmed VaErant and Thief-Stoie
SteaItbiIy, Ran Rapidly and Then
Lied in His own Defense-The
Public Entitled to Protection
Against Such Men.
The case of Charles williams. who
was sentenced in the City Court Fri
day to pay a fine of $40 and costs or
serve nine months on the gang. for the
theft of banana, has excited consid-
cradle interest. Many have believed
the punishment out of proportion to
the magnitude of the offense.
Yesterday Judge Norwood gave
lucid and interesting exposition of his
position in the matter and of the mo-
tives that animated him in imposing
so severe a punishment. It was not in
the nature of a defense of his action
that, of course, Judge Norwood docs
not regard as necessary. but was made
in response to request from a Morn
ing News reporter. 1t furnishes the
side-lights, without which SO much of
judicial action remains Incompetent
sible to the lay intelligence.
I suppose" said Judge Norwood,
musingly, that if this sentence of
mine should attract the attention OF
Northern editorial writers it would be-
come the subject of all sorts of com
ment. 1t would be used to illustrate
what the writers would be pleased to
term Mans inhumanity to man and
the injustice with which the Southern
white man treats the Southern negro.
How far from the truth all this is
Here is a negro, bearing about rim
and all over him the marks of the
worthless and confirmed vagabo1d. He
comes into court with a clear case
made out against him, showing the
theft of an article. of little value,
truly, but just as much within the
contemplation of the law against lar
ceny 1t is shown that the temptation
was not thrown in his way, but that
he reached over into the enclosure and
plucked the banana from the bunch
1t is shown further that when he was
| detected in the act he endeavored to
| make his escape by flight.
This was the case for the state. In
rebuttal the defendant entertains me
with an account of an entirely ficti-
tious transaction, generally to the eff
| feet that he had negotiated for the
| purchase of a nickePs worth of bananas
and had subsequently discovered he
! didn't have the price. 1t is true he
was prevented by nature from blush
| ing, but he wouldn't have blushed if
he could. I added three months to the
sentence for the lie.
| Burden ON the Public.
But, generally" said Judge Nor
| wood, the punishment was not based
on the value of the article stolen. 1t
was the motive of the criminal action,
the manner in which it was done, the
conduct of the criminal that the law
| condemns and that 1 punished.
Here is a man who is a burden on
| the public-whose worthless life rhe
| public must support. If he is at liberty
he lives on the earnings of others
some respectable and Industrious citi-
zen must part, unwillingly and I'M
knowingly. with part of his earnings
in order to give sustenance to this So
cial parasite. He lives at the public
expense and the public receives no
benefit
rs it not better that he should be
sent somewhere where his criminal in
clinations can and will be restrained
where his labor will rebound to the
public good? Is it not right that the
public shall be freed of the incubus of
a man who is at once a vagrant and a
thief? What matter is the particular
crime in which he is detected is the
theft of banana or of something of
more size and value?
mo" said the judge "one must be
present when these matters are inves-
tigated, and provided beforehand with
a more than superficial knowledge of
| local conditions before he is competent
to express an opinion of value. Long
distance criticisms, made without
knowledge either of particular facts or
| general conditions, amount to nothing"
1t was said yesterday that some eff
fort will be made to have Williams
sentence reduced. If it is, it is hardly
likely to meet with success. Judge
Norwood is entirely convinced - has
done the right thing.