The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-12-02
Thoughts in the Premises.

Judge Cray is deserving of the COM
mendation of all law-abiding and right
thinking people for the manner in which
he handled the bunch of criminals that
was brought before him to be sentenced
ON Wednesday afternoon. The judge
dealt with these law breakers in the
proper manner. If anything he was too
lenient in one case-that of the man
Swallow, who was convicted of the
charge of bounding and gagging an aged
woman and then robbing and plundering
her house. This brute was entitled to
the extreme penalty, and it is a safe
assertion to make that even the limit
would not suffice under the circumstan-
ces. Any man who will treat a de-
fenseless woman as Swallow treated his
victim-and we understand that all was
not told in courts deserving of no
sympathy, and courts should pay no at
tention to the pleas of attorneys in his
behalf. Judge Cray performed his duty
well and good citizens applaud him for
it.
In the case of the train robbers, the
court dealt out sentences that meet with
the approval of the people. The man
Sanders pleaded not guilty to the in
dictment; he was given a fair and i'm
partial trial and found guilty. When
the trial of his pal was on, Sanders took
the witness stand and testified that
Murray had nothing to do with the COM
mission of the crime; that he himself
committed the deed and that he met
Murray later in the night. Now what
think we of this sort of man? Plead
ing not guilty to crime, and in the
trial of the man who was his accomplice,
admitting the truth of the charge he
had previously denied? But the most
extraordinary part of the entire proceed
ings is the plea made by Sanders at
torney when the criminal was brought
up for sentence. 1t was reported in the
news columns that the attorney spoke
in behalf of the man, saying among 9TH
er things that Sanders was without
money and committed the deed on the
impulse of the moment. There's the
rub. All hold-up artists need the money
and they could give as an excuse, when
brought up to receive their sentences,
after having been regularly tried and
convicted that they were 'broke" and
committed the deed on the impulse of
the moment. Too many crimes are
committed on the impulse of the mo-
ment. There is too much sympathy dis
played by attorneys for the criminals
they have been appointed by the court
to defend. After having been accorded
a fair trial, and twelve men having eX-
pressed their belief in the defendants
guilt, there does not seem to be any
reasonable excuse for sympathetic ora
tory on the part of the attorneys in the
case, unless there be extraordinary nit
igating circumstances surrounding the
crime perpetrated.
Very seldom indeed are criminals pos
sessed of the means to engage an at
torney to defend them in court. The
state must provide counsel and the peo-
pie pay the bill. All of last week the
district court was taken up with the
trial of criminal actions, and each de-
PENDANT was provided by the state with
an attorney. 1t is safe to assert that
this act of charity has cost the tax-pay-
ers something like $3.50 if not more,
not to mention the expense of jurors,
witnesses and other charges incident to
a trial The constitution of our state
guarantees to every man fair trial,
and this is given him, even though he
has not the price of lawyer.
The people of this country are long
suffering, they are patient and endure
much, but there are times when they
feel like taking the law into their own
hands. Can they be blamed for harbor-
ing and sometimes carrying out such
thoughts? Crime is rampant. Every
day the newspaper columns are filled
with deeds of violence, of murders of
the foulest kind. Here in our own state,