The San Francisco call., 1906-06-17

left home, saying he was going to
Paris
At nightfall he had turned home
ward. and. stopping at a small town.
had got druaker than ever and then
started for the house. 1t was a dark
cry out. Neighbors ran to his as
sistance and found him struggling in
a marsh near his home, but he was
drowned before they could pull him
out His wife and stepson were ac-
cused of having thrown him in evident
rs it was that he could hardly stand
when he had left the last saloon and
that an accident might have been fore
seen.
For their defense, in addition to the
last named piece of evidence. they had
two important witnesses. a man
named Grimois and his wife, living
within 200 feet of the marsh, had
heard the dying mans cries Help
friends I'm drowning, All. my poor
children. What a misfortune I'm
drowning" These were surely not
the words of a man being killed by
the children on whom he was calling
Grimois, however, got frightened at
the cross -exa mination and contradict
ed himself. and his wife was not al
lowed TO appear. The defense was
lost and Judgment passed on the pris-
OiACi . oi - IiOW Qcdu, out his
wife declares herself ready to swear
to the evidence which she was de-
barred from giving before and she
also swears that her husband was
haunted by a lifelong remorse for hav-
ing allowed himself to be confused in
giving his testimony. But here. again,
revision is refused
METHOD ARoUsES WRITER'S.
This fact of remaining guilty in the
eyes of the law has more Importance
than might at first appear. The free
dom of the ex-convict has its terrible
irony. On re-entering the world, where
in nine times out of ten he is thrust,
broken in health through the hardships
OF prison life and without fortune, he
is compelled. under heavy penalty, to
show At the Mayors Office of every town
in which he settles. and to every person
to whom he applies for work a, paper
I from the penitentiary authorities Ger
tifying TO his character to his offense
and to the length of has prison term.
The effect is naturally to awaken
prejudice and close against him innu-
merable avenues of self-support No
one wishes TO have in his employ an ex-
convict; few care even to extend charity
toward him. Free he is in a theoretic
sense, but not in practice. He must
suffer still the penalty of the crime
which he has expi2ted
French criminal must, morally
speaking, drag his ball and chain
through the world as long as he lives
and wear for the rest of his existence
/ aguratiyely at least, his odious and dis
carded stripes. This is the wrone,
against which Victor Hugo cried out in
regard to Jean Vatican of Les Miser-
ables" and Balzac with Farabeche in
lie Cure de Village" and more recently
Francois Coppee added his protest in
lie Soupable. But the wrong contin-
ues unchanged
HoUNDED BY RECORDS.
And this is not all. Criminal records
play an especially important part in
French law. The existence of a dossier
is phantom terror that follows in tba
footsteps Of the ex-convict wherever he
goes Suppose he has been pardoned
by the clemency of the state: the
rerlest suspicion of evil conduct suf-
fees to bring down the law upon him.
and woe betide if he be unable to es-
tablish his .innocence! For second
onense, however petty it be, is visited
with the harshest severity.
The Franch Parliament. recoenizino o
the evil OF the presumptive guilt theory.
mas softened its application in some
] respects, only to make it harder in
others. The "Beranger Law is one of
the more recent notifications of French
jurisprudence. 1t permits a Judge to
respite a convicted man if it be his
first offense, and the assumption an
pears reasonable that his moral regeis-
Grafton would be better assured if he
were not subjected to the ignominy of
Imprisonment and degrading associa-
/ tion with criminals
The sentence is duly passed and reg
istered, but, at the discretion Of the