Amador ledger., 1902-05-30
WHEREFORE THIS HOPE.

to be tried in the superior court within
the next few weeks, and the Dispatch
hopes that in the interests of Justice
and for the good of the community,
the attorneys in the cases will try the
prisoners at the bar and not the
sheriff of Amador county, as has been
their custom for some years past
Dispatch.
We have been asked several times
during the week to interpret the
import of the above paragraph.
Wherefore doth our cotemporary
thus rush in to tender its friendly
mediation and advice between the
prosecution and the defense in a
pending criaaal trial. The attor-
neys concel ID must feel highly
aattered at being thus bluntly in
formed that they do not know
enough to properly attend to their
own business. AS matter of fact,
there is but one criminal case pend
ing in the. superior court. the case
of the people versus Macquarrie.
The lines above quoted must have
reference to that case, and that
only. What peculiar circumstances
are connected with that case that
called forth the above admonition
from the editor? Why thus give
vent to his misgivings regarding
the conduct of the trial? What has
created the impression that the
prosecuting officers may possibly
come in for scorching? How ten
der-footed our contemporary has been
so far in touching upon this case.
He has refrained from reporting the
facts for fear of interfering with the
course of justice. Such is the high
born excuse this patron of justice
gives for withholding the news. In
behalf of which side-the prosecution
or the defense-he takes this remark
able position of suppressing his own
business, he leaves his readers to
imagine.
The Ledger, on the other hand,
has travelled its customary path in
relation to this case. 1t has pub
lished all the facts obtainable, with
out commenting thereon either for
or against the prosecution or the
defendant. We have allowed no
fimsy sentimentalism to stand in
our way in giving the public the
benefit of news of privileged char
acter. We are in favor of every
wrong-doer, every violator of the
law, being punished, after fair
and impartial trial. The officials
who pursue the even tenor of their
way with this sole object in view
need fear no adverse criticism either
inside or outside the court room.
Conscious of their own rectitude,
they will court, rather than shun,
the sunlight. The more their acts
are ventilated the more complete
will be their vindication. To them
has been confided the magma char
ter of our rights and liberties, and
while they tread the straight line of
duty, intent only upon handing down
their sacred trust unsullied to their
Successors, the shafts of malice, the
attacks of political rancor, and
above and beyond all, the bitter
words that so often characterize a
hotly contested 3riminal trial-the
mere fiotsam al ietsam of the court
room-will leave them unscathed.
1t is matter of common talk that
the information filed in the Mac
quarrie case is unique document.
1t seems to us a radical departure
from established precedent in Grim
inal Jurisprudence in Amador county.
1t not only charges the defendant
with the commission of a felony in
issuing a spurious check with inten-
tion to defraud, but it also charges
him having been convicted of misde-
meanor on two previous occasions.
Never before, within our recollec-
tion, has a defendant before the
superior court been required to en-
ter three distinct and separate pleas
of mot guilty, in order to place in
issue all the allegations of com
plaint. Citizens are inquiring what
laudable purpose can be served by
this treble headed complaint? Is it
to set the pace for future prosecu-
tions in Amador county? Assuming
that a man has transgressed the law
on minor point once, and has been
punished therefor, is the fact to be
held in everlasting remembrance
against him? Is the satisfaction of
the laws demands to afford no atone
ment? Must the sins of the past be
hurled at him in the name of the
sovereign people, as an aggravation
of misdeed of the present? Is
this the spirit of American law, or
the spirit of vengeance? Wherefore
doth the goddess of justice, under
whose sheltering wings We all enjoy
the inestimable benefits of liberty.
array herself in this strange garb2