Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-03-21
Thus It is not in the least necessary
to remain in business for which one
has no natural aptitude, even though
one has spent some years mastering
}tU As
JUsTIcE AND THE LAW.

The startling story of the Pennsyl-
vania man who recently confessed to a
murder for which his brother was
hanged only few days before is
enough to make the most eager seek
ers after Justice" and vengeance"
pause and consider their actions and
their position. In the case Of the Penn
sylvanian, he knew nothing of the ar
rest and conviction of his brother until
he read of his execution for the crime
which he himself had committed. In
fit of remorse he gave himself up to
the authorities and confessed his guilt.
This is one evidence Of the grievous
miscarriage of justice. 1t is not to be
blamed for any carelessness of the
courts of laws. probably, but more to
the eagernesS which rules 80 many
people in their desire to see man sus-
pected of crime brought to Justice.
In Ottumwa some years ago a man
was lynched for crime, which, though
horrible in the extreme, is covered
by the statutes and would, in time,
have resulted in the conviction of the
guilty party in the courts. The south
Is full of such evidences of a frenzy
for speedy justice and too often mis-
takes are made and the wrong man is
punished for the crime The courts
and officers of the law stand ready to
enforce the statutes prohibiting
crimes, but men who have no legal
right rush ahead Of the sworn officials
and take the matter of the administra.
ton of the law into their own hands.
But another great wrong is done
when men wholly innocent of crime
are accused. tried in court before an
audience Of people the prisoner has
known for years. and finally cleared of
the charge because Of insufficient evil
dence to convict them. Such mans
reputation is lost for all time. He can
no longer look straight into the eyes OF
his old acquaintances. The evidence
in the trial has brought forth some
family skeleton, perhaps, and has
brought out every point which might
tend to influence the mind of men
against the prisoner Prosecutors are
skillfull at learning all the points OF
this kind and in using them to push
their case. When the prisoner is at
last restored to his freedom his repu
tation has been damaged The public
always ready to believe the worst, is
divided between the belief that the
guilty party has gone unpublished and
that he was simply too expert in the
ways of the criminal to be caught and
convicted by the courts. The &C
quilted man is Stunned by his old &C
quaintances and friends. When his
name Is mentioned the first thing the
hearers call to mind is the fact that he
was once arrested for grievous crime
and after a hard trial acquitted. He
leaves the community to start life
anew in some other place. but go where
he will his story follows him and he
Is doomed for the remainder of his
/ life to go about like an escaped con
vict instead of man who should re
ceive the respect of all, because the
courts. after fair trial, have failed
to find him guilty of a crime.
!. A magazine writer has recently sci
forth in most graphic style the condi
ton Of the acquitted man. He says.
Stripped and broken, bruised by fou
handling, SCARED by suspicion, pallit
from deaths shadow and scared as by
hell-fire, the acquitted man stands
dumbly, impotent of moral redress OF
i physical indemnity. And the publ,
having scourged him as vicarious
sacrifice expects him to be Thankful
because it did not kill him"
This is not overdrawn when the case
has been one of murder. Sensational
lawyers and sensational newspapers
seem to consider it their duty to "dis
cover the criminal" The result, in the
case of the innocent man, is irrepar
rable damage to his reputation and the
loss of his good name.