Albuquerque evening citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1905-1907, 1905-08-02
HOW THE H0CH INCIDENT
APPEARS TO MANY AMERICANS
From Pueblo Chieftain

A most extraordinary series of events took place in
the city of Chicago and the state Of Illinois yesterday.
Two hours before the time set for the hanging OF
Johann Hoch convicted of wife murder and presumably
guilty of wife murder many times over, a wealthy woman
accompanied by a prominent physician appeared at the
jail and offered to supply the funds necessary to make an
appeal to the supreme court of the state for a suspension
or reversal of Hoch's sentence. A temporary reprieve was
Immediately issued by the governor, and after making
sure that a considerable part of the money was actually
in hand, the execution was stayed until the matter could
be presented to the supreme court.
It will be noticed that the rescue of Hoch from the
galiows depended not at all upon any new evidence as to
his guilt or innocence. 1t depended solely upon the pres
ence or absence of five hundred dollars in money, to be
used for the purpose of setting in motion the complicated
machinery of the law, through which this phenomenal
murderer hopes TO escape the propert punishment for his
crime.
1t will be noticed further that the appeal to the supreme
court is no. to be made upon the question as to wheth-
err Hoch did or did not murder the particular one of his
wives whose death was the subject of legai investigation,
but upon the question of whether every one of the legal
technicalties with which our laws and the practices OF
our courts have been studded, was properly complied
with.
The fate Of Hoch therefore depends, not upon wheth.
er he is a criminal, but primarily upon whether he has
five hundred dollars or can get some one to put it up for
him.
If he has not the money and can't get It, he hangs,
guilty or innocent. and may God have mercy on his soul,
for humanity has had none for his body.
And secondarily his fate depends upon the skill of the
ga A+1f 1900
n the Jaw, and upon the skill of the lawyers on the other
side that are trying to find a flaw in the laws large
enough to permit his escape. Whether an innocent man
is punished, or whether a guilty man escapes depends
entirely upon the game that is to be played by the law
yers and not at all upon the guilt or innocence of Hoch.
1t is such proceedings as these that spread contempt
for the laws and for the courts among honest and law low
ing citizens, and that afford the foundation upon which
mob violence rears its ugly front in times of popular ex
element.
1t is sucn incidents as these that lend strength to the
remarks recently made by Secretary Taft before the Yale
law school in regard to the failure of the enforcement OF
the criminal laws of this country.
The women with more money than sense, who sup
piled the means to defeat justice in this case, plainly be-
longs in the class with the other women that send bou
1uettes of flowers and delicaces to other condemned muir
derers, but she may none the less be doing the country a
service if her act results in directing proper attention
to the lamentable failures in the execution of our criminal
laws and the need of some reform that viii make the
hanging or release of a prisoner depend upon his guilt
or innocence, and not upon his ability to raise five hun
bred dollars, or upon the skill of clever lawyers in jug
Cling with legal technicalities.