Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-24

suffices to bring down the law upon him,
and woe betide il he be unable to establish
his innocence! For a second offense, how
ever petty It be. h visited With the harshest
severity. The French parliament. recog-
niziag the eva OF the presuuptiye guilt the
DRY. has softened its application in some re-
spects only to make 1t harder In others.
The "Berenger law Is one of the more re-
cent notifications OF French Jurisprudence.
1t permits judge to respite a convicted
man II 1t be his first offense and the as
sumption appears reasonable that his moral
regeneration would be better assured II he
were not subjected to the ignominy OF i'm
prisonment and degrading association with
criminals.
The sentence is duly passed and regis
tered, but at the discretion of the judge
the condemned man may walk out from TIE
court room unmolested- Let him. however,
commit any peccadillo afterward, and not
only will he have to undergo the imprison-
ment which was originally spared him. but
the second sentence will be harsner than II
he had not been treated mercifully the first
time. That Is. OF two men condemned for
theft one of whom is sent to prison and
the other left free in virtue of the Berenger
law, If both be arrested again under the
same circumstances, both will receive heav-
Ter sentences than the first time. but the
man who was left free will receive FUR
Their additional punishment for having
abused the relative clemency shown him
Though, like Lozemant. man may be
acknowledged guiltless even by those who
pronounced him guilty when presumption
without proof was against him. he remains
subject to this rigorous judicial treatment
so long as a decree of the courts has not
broken the original verdict. And as has
been said this absolute revision Is so diff
cult to obtain that 1t is almost vain to hope
for It
X
An instance In point is that of Kirail, a
released convict, who for seven years past
has been seeking to have his acknowledged
innocence officially recognized. The cham
Der of deputies Is always preparing" to ex-
anime into his case, which is in truth
singular one. Twenty years ago Kiraii
was arrested for completely in a murder. the
charge being brought against him by two
men, Abadie and Knobeloch, who were
caught handed. The three were con-
demned to penal servitude for life. Kirairs
protestations of innocence being over
weighed by the accusations of his supposed
accomplices, though he offered proof that
on the day of the crime he was confined to
his bed with an injured foot.
After thirteen years of hard labor In New
Caledonia, Abadie and Knobeloch confessed
one day that they had perjured themselves
to incriminate Kirail. One of them bore
him a grudge: both wished to perpetrate
good joke at the expense of the law" The
affair was carefully investigated. and XII
rails innocence conciusively proved. He
he has neither been able to obtain work,
since he must show his certificate from the
penitentiary, nor has he succeeded in hay-
ing his case brought up. French judges
and lawyers generally resented remark
of Abadie's and Knobeloch's to the effect
that they had played the judges like so
many monkeys on sticks: and the dignity
of the profession win apparently not adj
NIT Of officially establishing the accuracy
of the statement.
Not only is the vanity of judges who will
not admit the possibility of mistake re-
sponsible for the many crimes committed
in France against the liberty and honor of
innocent men. but the delay characteristic
of French civilization has to answer for
much. Brienx has even written his popular
play, La Robe Rouge" to show that severe
condemnation of persons whose guilt is
very doubtful leads to judicial preferment.
He represents the proeurator Of the repub-
lie losing his chance to get the red robe of
president at the assize court. because hav-
ing won favor by his eloquent address to
the jury which practically insures the con-
demnation of the accused. his conscience
compels him to undo the wrong against an
innocent man. The play created sensa-
ton because II Is a vigorous arraignment
Of the corruption and personal ambition OF
the judiciary.
The convict life to which French Judge
so lightly condemns prisoners Is calculated
to crush the average criminal ana take
from him ali courage and manhood which
might be his only capital on coming out
again among his fellow The convict
settlements of France are in New Gale
donia and French Guiana. the latter stu
profiting through the law passed in 1895
forbidding the further deportation of con-
victs to New Caledonia. which was en-
Dcted In response to the petition OF New
-Caledonians objecting that the country was
being demoralized by the large convict pop
ulation. After the passing of this law
New Caledonia found such falling or OF
Its population and prosperity that second |
petition has now been sent to the French |
parliament imploring that more conyicts |
be sent. But new convicts are still being