The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-24
A SWINGING SATIRE.

| Burlesaue and ridicule are sometimes the most effective weapons that can be l used to right a wrong or to Arouse public attention. The civilized world ac- lSnowiedges the wonderful effects of Dean swift's satires and burlesaues, and | such methods of argument are no less powerful now than they were in Swiffs day. One of the most notable uses of burlesque, if we may call it that, is found
 in "an assize sermon to the court or
 appeals" written by John D. Lawson, a
 well known Texas jurist. He writes: Thus the murderer comes to have great faith in you, O honorable gentlemen or detests. There are the witnesses who saw him commit the foul deed; there are the relatives Of his victim; the wl9ow, whose protector can never return 10 neri the children calling in Vain TOT ,,hnsa tseis father There Is the judge. before whose
 stern and searching eye he qu4lis; tne
 fury whose verdict he anticipates with out hope, As he confronts the crowded soul there who does not think him guilty and wish to see him punished. But ne knows, 0 honorable sirs, that you Will not see him; he is glad Of that and ne, rejoices. too. as he remembers that you win not even try whether he is guilty. as the juries are doing. for if you should he would despair. 4 No, he understands that what you will do will be to ascertain whether the lawyers have not asked too many questions Jr said too many things in their speeches, or whether the judge has not given wrong definition to a word. or whether the clerk has not made a mistake in moistening the official seal of the court with a sponge instead of foll ha nld and Wnll-aStA DllSle0 practice of licking It with his tongue. He hears the verdict of guilty. and the sentence of the judge that he Is to ne hanged by the neck until he Is dead. with indifference; he goes back to his cell feeling quite comfortable and does not lose an hours rest that night His faith Is justified. as in, the course of four or five months message comes from you: trial"
 While some might claim that such an address as this, directed to and against the highest court of the State, is more or less disrespectful, will any one claim that it is not more or less applicable to any appellate or Supreme Court of the country? All of us know how often the words reversed and rcmanded' ap- pear at the end of a decision in which there is no original question of right or wrong, of guilt or innocence. The only ground for the reversal in many cases is that the lower court was guilty of some technical error. We all know that criminals, of whose guilt there was no shadow. of doubt, have their cases sent from one court to another on appeals, writs. of error and for other causes, until the wrong-doers escape all punish ment for crimes of which they were ad- mittedly guilty. The fault is not altogether in the lower courts, though they are not always guiltless.
 We know that the appellate or Supreme Court Is the last resort, and that but for it grave and lasting injustice would be done in many cases, and for that reason we hold that it should be com posed of the best material in the State. We know and appreciate the high powers of this court, and for 1t we have the greatest respect, but the unprejudiced mind must admit that there Is some reason for the satirical address of MT. Lawson.