The news & observer., 1905-07-16
ENIBRACERY AND CRIMES AKIN
TO 1T.


step toward Furnishing men who seek
to secure a miscarriage of justice.
Nobody supposes that either Rogers
or Sorrell instigated the crime of
which they were guilty. They We're
simply the agents of powers higher
up" engaged in that nefarious work.
OF course embracery and crimes akin
to it may be employed in behalf of
poor clients, but it is costly and dan
gerous to employ it on a large enough
scale to. make it effective, and that
costs money. Therefore it is gener-
ally employed to enable the rich tc
defeat the ends of justice.
But the open crime of embracery
is but the bourgeoning forth of a
system that has been put in operation
in certain counties by lawyers whose
chief reputation is "he is the man
who can fix the jury" Comparatively
these lawyers are few in number, but
their financial success is dangerous
and tends to lower the high ideals
which dominate every young man who
enters upon the procession, as we'll
as to corrupt justice. The evil
is not widely extended, but it is real,
and in a afew counties it has come
to be positive menace to the admin
istration of justice. One of the, most
prosperous of the younger lawyers in
the State, gentleman of education
and high standing, writing of the
evils, in a private letter to the editor,
says:
81 have not only been very inter-
ested in your vigorous efforts to get
at the bottom of the Rogers ct al
embrace case, but have been more
gratified than interested to see you
take the stand you have, although it
occaSioned no surprise to me to see
you do SO.
There is no more important matter
in the State at present. This crime
is much more prevalent than, as
lawyer and citizen, l would care to
admit publicly, and 1 fear it is be-
coming more SO every day. There is,
however, one or two features of it
that l have not seen called attention
to in your paper.
mo lawyer or client can be guilty
of the crime without having 'heelers.
and a good many of them, throughorc
the county. Now the effect of the
work Of such 'heeler' is to advise men
to employ certain lawyers in their
cases for the reason that the lawyer
has influence with the jurors. Thus
step to step, not only the juror, the
heeler and the lawyer, but the client
is a party to the crime, and all have
by that one act lowered themselves
morally, and having become criminals,
become apOlogists for other criminals
f,,rt ol ny
bad citizens. Now again, as much as
I dislike to say it, the number of
lawyers who either directly or indi-
rectly encourage, countenance, profit
by and engage in this practice of in
f1uencing jurors is altogether too
great This being true and as clients
are an ever flowing strain of different
people, the tainted ones are ever in
creasing. / am afraid that the casIs
where the lawyer is not either di-
rectly or indirectly responsible, are
rare. Again, a selfish view. What
chance has the honest attorney TO
win against such practices? There is
no doubt that the number of lawyers
engaged in such practices is increas-'
ing every year. because of the ex-
ample, and many of them thinking it
Is in line with the duty of lawyer
to his client. 1 am not speaking so
much Of open embracery as improp-
er, and any kind or sort or character,
is jury influencing.
Keep the fight up only don't stop
at the open crime. Go deeper; go to
the root, which is, directly or indi-
rectly, endeavoring to ascertain how
a juror stands before he is sworn on
the voir dire, and having ascertained
to endeayOr to talk to him about any
case which may come for trial before
him. This last is always a result of
the first.
..As a lawyer l desire to thank you
for your stand and fight. and look to
see good results coming thefefrom.
This crime should be broken up If 1T
becomes necessary to fill every Jail in
North Carolina to Overf1oWing.
This letter shows how the best class
of lawyers feel about the comments
this paper has made-comments that
have brought forth criticism from the
other class of lawyers and from some
honest, thoughtless lawyers who feared
the criticism against wrong practices
of some lawyers might impair the con-
fidence of the public in the profess
sion. There could. be no greater
error The duty Of honest lawyers IS
to help to expose those who are
guilty of crookedness and to disbar
men guilty of corrupt practices. The
State Bar Association has not meas-
ured up to it's duty in this respect
1t devoted nearly all its tnne at
Toxaway to the anise and the cum
min and forgot to discuss this
weighty matter. 1t debated whether
the Supreme Court itself should ex-
anime applicants for law license or
should turn it over to committee of
lawyers. 1t would have been better
if the lawyers had devolved some
practical plan to drive out of the pro-
fession the few disreputable men
whose immortality, dishonesty and
practice of those methods out
lined in the letter above quoted,
are seriously injuring the standing
of the profession and encouraging the
influencing of jurors. The lawyers
of North Carolina, where the honor
able men constitute nine-tenths of the
profession, should lead in the neces-