Arizona republican., 1903-08-01
PHOENIX. ARIZONA. AUG. l. 1893
The Supreme Court of rlissouri.

Five more of the official boodlers OF
st. Louis, prosecuted by District At
torney Folk, have been convicted and
sentenced to the penitentiary. Along
with this good news comes, however,
the announcement that each of fthe
convicts has furnished bail IN the sum
Of $4,000 and will be at liberty pend
ing the hearing Of the case on appeal
by the supreme court of Missouri. This
means. N all probability, that not one
of the boodlers will see the inside of
the Missouri penitentiary.
Unfortunately for the cause of jus
tice. and unfortunately for the reputa-
ton of the supreme bench of Missouri,
Prosecutor Folks good work has been
nullified by reversals from that tri-
bunal. Presumably, the latest convic-
tons will be subjected to the same
technical scrutiny as those which have
been reviewed in the past. And just as
presumably, if it be found that the
trial court departed in the slightest
from the rules of red tape that are
worshipped by the supreme court OF
Missouri, each of the several cases just
appealed will be remanded for a new
trial If it be found that one of the
juryrnen was able to read and had read
the ST. Louis newspapers, or If the trial
Judge failed to instruct the jury that
every technical defense interposed by
the defendants should be considered
favorably, new trials will be in order
Then, the whole weary round will have
to be started anew, and by that time
the boodIs-prosecuting Folk will prob
ably nave been succeeded by district
attorney chosen by the bcodlers them
selves, and further prosecutions Will
be perfunctory: or. at best. witnesses
will have disappeared and it will be next
10 impossible to convict a second time
This anticipation is fully justified by
the records of the st. Louis bribery
cases heretofore tried. While convic-
tons have been numerous, most of the
convicts have been practically set at
liberty by the supreme court on grounds
purely technical. That is, the judg-
ments of the trial courts have been re-
versed, and new trials ordered, simply
because in the judgment of the higher
court there was some irregularity in
the trial Indeed, to the lay mind the
difficulties in the way of a prosecutor
in Missouri are becoming almost in
superable 1t would be about as easy
for prosecutor and trial judge to walk
on eggs without breaking them as to
conduct a criminal trial without viClat-
ing some of the rules regarded by the
supreme court as more essential than
substantial justice itself. And yet, as
regards the st. Louis Doodle cases, 1t
has not been claimed by the court at
any time, we believe, that an innocent
man had baen convicted. Merely the
claim was upheld that the guilty had
had not been tried according to
Hoyle'' So it is that men who have
had every reason to expect the peni-
tertiary stripes have been told officially
by the highest court in the state that
there is little need for them to fear the
of the states in which lynch law flour
isles.
There is no cause for wonder that the
Missouri newspapers are beginning 10
criticisc with severity the court ut JEFF
ferson City, and it was a logical Sc
quence tc expect such Il court TO fine
an editor for contempt. as they did
the other day. because he voiced pub
lie opinion.
1t is not contended that the supreme
court of Missouri is lacking in legal
learning. On the contrary, it is adj
mitted that the justices are profound
lawyers. The trouble is that they
have raised technically and precedent
above justice. 1t would be a grand and
wholesome thing for Missouri if she
could pass under the jurisdiction of the
liard-headed. practical supreme court
of Arizona for about a year.