The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1906-11-28
JUSTICE SWIFT AND SURE
THERE is NO DELAY OF THE
LAW IN MEXICAN REPUBLIC.
No Juries i'm That County, and Every
Prisoner Is Considered Guilty
Until Innocence Is Proved.

Until Innocence Is Proved.
MatamOras, Mex, Nov. 24.-Law
in this country is to be obeyed, not
interpreted. The Mexican has def
mite ideas of what he can and cannot
do, and is certain that, if he breaks
the law, he will have heap OF
trouble The wheels of legal ma
chinery grind with fearful sloWness
here, but the guilty rarely escape
and the few innocent who suffer are
few and far between.
From what | can gather, the gen
eral attitude of the government to-
ward one who has committed an Of
Tense is Numerically opposite to
that of the United States, where a
man is presumed innocent until he
is proven guilty. In many respects
the Mexican procedure is that the
man is guilty until proven innocent.
AS an example, upon the commits
sion of crime the suspected crimi-
nal is placed in 4 cell, where for
days he is not allowed to cOmmuni-
cate with anyone. In those days the
prosecution is supposed TO have suffi-
cient time to sift the evidence against
the suspect, and not to be baked in
this by the suspects communicating
with his friends, who could hide
evidence and generally aid in
thwarting the prosecution. While
this works a hardship on innocent
persons it unquestionably prevents
many criminal from establishing
an alibi.
On the other hand, the prosecu-
ting attorney is bound to warn the
suspect against doing anything
which will incriminate himself and
his clearly defined duty is to pro-
tect as well as to prosecute.
No Jury i'm Mexico.
The tedious delays incident to Sc
curing jury in the United States
is eliminated in Mexico, where all
crimes are tried before a judge who
decides the case and whose decision
is generally irrevocable. While many
of the laws of Mexico may appear
to a citizen of the United States as
peculiar or absurd, still some of
them are worthy of consideration.
The law demands that persons adj
vertising a show or anything must
be able to fulfill the promises of the
advertisement, in detail or else suffer
Imprisonment. This bars circusses
and many other flambOuyant adver-
Users from Mexico. Several years
ago a theatrical troupe crossed the
line into Mexico from the United
States and posted bills whereupon
were displayed an aggregation of
women doing wonderful acrobatic
feats. A large audience attended,
and while the acrobatic turns were
as advertised the performers were
far from handsome. The show was
stopped at once, and the money re-
funded to the audience, and the
management escaped with heavy
fine.
Gambling Permitted.
Gambling is recognized as an in
dustry in MatamOras as well as other
Mexican cities. Every year the priv
ilege of conducting gambling estab-
lishments in cities is let to the high
est bidder, and only by making ar
rangements with him can anyone
open a gambling establishment.
The principal games in these
places is roulette, on which bets are
made upon the chance of a ball drop
ping into a partition of wheel re-
volving rapidly. Should the Group
ier, either by accident or design, call
the wrong number he will be liable