Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1908-08-25
MURDER TRIALS A FARCE
According to Andrew D. White-He
Cites Recent Cases In New York
and Elsewhere.
Special to the Herald.


can Bar Association was opened in
this city today and will continue until
Friday, concluding Friday night with
the annual banquet at the New Wash
ington Hotel. Between three and
four hundred members of the associa
ton and invited guests were present
at the opening. A feature of the at
tendance was the large number Of
distinguished Canadian jurists pres
ent. The hall in which the associa
ton met was tastefully decorated fol
the occasion.
The session opened with addresses
of welcome delivered on behalf of tie
state of Washington and city of Sc
attic. The exchange of greetings was
followed by the address of the presi
dent, J. NJ Dickinson of Chicago, who
took as his subject Changes in Stat
ute Law" The remainder of the ses
sion was occupied with the appoint
ment of the usual committees and
other business of a routine character
For tonight's session the program
includes a paper on National Pro
gression and the Increasing Response.
bilities of Our National Judiciary" to
be presented by Judge c. H. Hanford,
of the United States district court,
and an address by Edgar H. Farrar,
of Louisiana, on .The Extension of
Admiralty Jurisdiction by Judicial In
depreciation"
Tomorrow morning former United
States Senator George Turner of
Washington will deliver an address
and then will be received the reports
of the standing committees. Tomor-
row evening Frederick Bausman of
Seattle will present paper on
whether Our Laws Are Responsible
for the Increase of Violent Crime"
Thursday will be devoted entirely
to convention business and the fea-
ture of Friday mornings session will
be the election of officers.
Among the men of note who are ex-
pected to deliver addresses before
the association proper or before some
of the sectional meetings are Judge
Alton B. Parker of New York, Presi-
dent David Starr Jordan of Leland
Stanford, Jr., University, Judge ST.
neon 3. Baldwin of Connecticut, Geo.
W. Kerchwey of Columbia Law
School, Andrew A. Bruce of the Uni
versity of North Dakota, Robert S.
La IoI III T11asss " afIdce H. Lame OF
Iowa, and Karl Won Lewinski, an emf
nent German lawyer.
One of the most important matters
which will be considered at the meet
ings will be the report of the special
committee appointed by the conven-
ton at Portland last year to suggest
remedies and draft proposed laws to
prevent delay and unnecessary cost in
litigation. This report, which I'M
doubtedly will be followed by a long
and lively discussion, opens with a
statement that the existing evil which
seems most serious to the committee
is the disposition in many jurisdic-
tions to dispose of appeals, or writs of
error, both in civil and criminal
cases, upon technical grounds, and
not to decide them upon the merits.
The unrestricted right to writ of
error in criminal cases is character
lied by the committee as a fragrant
abuse in judicial procedure. these
writs," the report adds, "are constant
ly sued out only for delay. The pun
ishment of notorious criminals thus
is constantly being postponed in VIC
lation of every principle of justice
This is especially fragrant in the SUI
ing out of writs of error from the
supreme court of the United States to
review the decision of the highest
courts of criminal jurisdiction in the
several states. We recommend that
no writ of error returnable in crimi-
nal cases to the supreme court of
The United States should be allowed
unless a justice of that court shall
certify that there is probable cause
to believe that the defendant was I'M
justly convicted"
In support of this recommendation
the report of the committee quotes
an address of Andrew D. White, ia
which he stated that while murders
were increasing rapidly, yet the pro-
cedure against them was becoming
more and more ineffective, and in the
light of recent cases in New York and
elsewhere was seen to be a farce,
adding that he favored preventing ap-
peals based on mere technical mat
tiers and upon errors of trial judges
in trifling matters of procedure and
the like which have nothing to do
with the question of guilt or inno-
cence.
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