Morris tribune., 1905-08-05
APPEALS SOLD FOR CASH.

that S5OO to pay the cost OF d IIdhseIlPt OF the
record and other expenses OF an appeal he
would have hanged on Friday Never before
have the American people seen illustrated, in
such clear light, the fact that appellate pro
Geedings in our courts have become mere
matter of bargain and SALE If you have the
money to pay the costs, you may be allowed
appeal after appeal If you have no money
YOU may hang if you are murderer or may 90
to prison if you are lesser criminal; may
submit to the loes of your case II yours is a
civil suit. The question of the justice Or in
Justice of your conviction cuts no figure, under
present rules, in the one instance; the merits of
your case cut in the other. The only
thing that counts in your possession or non
possession of the cash price says the Pioneer
Press in discussing the Hoch appeal The
language may seem Incorporate, but the editor
of the p. p. in common with other people,
probably received a severe jolt when he read
last Saturday that the wheels OF justice re-
quired $500 as lubricant.
Johann was guilty of murder he was
not guilty" argues the Pioneer Press. "Pre-
sumably he was guilty. He was convicted by
an impartial jury, after trial wherein, as in
almost every criminal case, the defendant had
many advantages over the prosecution The
testimony showed him the possessor of a
character to match the depravity of which one
must seemingly drag the very depths of hell
the preparation of atrocious crimes without
number.
off the evidence was in accordance with
the facts and the conclusion from the evidence
was sound he has forfeited every just claim to
human sympathy. But at the last moment
some one whose opinion differs from that of
the jury thrusts into the hands of the court
$500: the wires tick off the news to Gov. De-
neen and for cash price the judiciary and the
executive of the great state of I1onis unite in
selling to this criminal another lease of life
pending the action of the state supreme court
on the appeal.
"And the incident wears aspect even
more sinister if we presume Hoch innocent OF
murder. Hoch himself has no money to pay
the cost of an appeal. He has way of rails
ing it. He has no friends to whom to turn
Because of his acknowledgement that he is a
bigamist, and because of the damning evil
dence presented by the state, practically the
whole community, like the twelve men on the
Jury, believe him to be guilty. There is moth
ng to arouse the sympathy even of the morbid.
Yet he is innocent and knows himself to be
innocent. But for the want of few dollars he
las not the right, corded to almost every ac-
used person even when his life is not in
question and when time may be depended on
o bring out the truth, of an examination of the
by the trained legal minds of the
Judges of court free from the sway of the |
opular prejudice that blinded the jury of the
over court. Had it not been for the earnest
onviction and the love of justice of single |
nan in the community this man, innocent of
nurder, tho guilty of bigamy, would have
wung the gallows. They stood there
eady. The moose dangling over his head. |
Theoretically our courts open to rich
nd poor alike, even terms. Practically it
s seen, in the light of the Hoch case, that the
nand money of their own or get the use of
ome one elses purse. The situation is a |
daring travesty on the American claim OF the
equality of all before the law.
"In this conversion of our appellate courts
nto apparatus available only to the possessor
eats of justice-les the strongest argument
for the abolition of appeals except in cases
where one or more judges of the appellate court
shall certify to their belief that substantial
Justice has not been done in the verdict Of the
trial court Where such a certificate is granted
u r1oh4 Of