The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-09-26

| good sense. The judge charged the
Jury that the law permitted Reynolds
to shoot Herbert to prevent the COM
mission of a felony in Reynolds house.
but if Herbert was not about to com :
init a felony in Reynolds house but
was going somewhere else to do so
.hen the act of shooting was not JUS
tifable homicide, but murder. THIS
amounts to saying that man has a
perfect right to shoot to prevent his
wife's adultery under his own roof
but not to prevent it under some
body else's roof. The distinction is
perfectly clear, and we suppose per-
fectly legal. but it is one of those nice
technicalities which try the patience
of the layman and which juries, in
their quest for justice rathern than
logic. do we'll to disregard. The pur-
pose of the shooting was the essence
of the matter. The place where it was
done is of little moment in the forum
of common sense, however heavily it
NAV weigh in the estimat alton of the
technical lawyer. Nor is it of the
slightest consequence whether Mrs
Reynolds and Herbert were about to
consummate their felony under her
| other place to do it. The evidence
shows plainly enough that they
were going elsewhere. Technically
| therefore. the verdict is defective; but
| this was one of the numerous happy
cases where juries rise above the nice
ties of legality and accomplish rough
and ready justice. The saving merit
in the jury system is the obtuseness
of the common mind TO those exquisite
refinements of logic which seem so all
important to lawyers.
verdict had Reynolds shot his wife
instead of Herbert, to prevent the
| threatened adultery? In the eye of
the law her guilt was precisely the
same as that of her paramour, anu
had Reynolds killed her instead Of
him he could nave advanced exactly
the same legal justification. The
homicide would have been committed
20 prevent the contamination of a fell
ony under his roof. 1t is safe to say
that his acQuittal would not have been
jury would have deliberated a long
time before admitting that it is quite
the same thing morally for a man to
shoot his guilty wife as her no more
gully lover. All through this case.
and every other of the same sort, there
runs a quiet assumption that the wom-
an is an innocent victim; she has been
betrayed. The man is designing
scoundrel; she has sinned only through
weakness, and it usually appears in
the court of the trial that her weak
ness differed very little from one of
the more amiable virtues.
1t may be a cruel thing to say. but
it is true, nevertheless, that in almost
every instance of this sort of crime the
guilty man would not have made ai-
vances without unms. akable encour-
agement from the woman. In the
Reynolds case it is difficult to discern
that one of the participants was any
more tcmpter or a victim than the
other. There were allurements on
bo,h sides; the letters from both were
n oil
ances one did quite as much betray-
ing as the other. And it is generally
, so. We shall never reach much def
mite betterment in these matters until
we are willing to face the cold truth.
| Women who lead lives of idle
ness, spending their time in an en-
vironment of gossip, intrigue and am
gibuous adventure; writing such
poetry as the evidence shows Mrs.
Reynolds to have written, or dabbling
in other so-called ARTS" just enough
to bring them into contact with "ar-
! lists like Herbert-such women may
never come to harm but it is by the
special mercy of Providence if thew
escape. The remedy for this sort of
thing is good. old-fashioned. hard
work. A woman with a thriving fami-
ly of half a dozen children and a house
to take care of, is not in the slightest
danger from Williams like Herbert if
she attends to her duties Mrs. Rev
nolds is said to have repented of her
misconduct, We hope the report is
true. But repentance is often
nothing more than a discreet name
Tor the discomfort that ensues upon
detection. The best way for her to
prove her change of heart is to illus
trate it by a change of life. Her SAL
walton will be but dubious. unstable
affair until she interests herself. soul
and body. in some useful occupation
and the same is true in its degree for
all the rest of US