The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-10-14
IT'S THE SAME EvERYwHERE.

IFS THE SAME EVERY WHERE.
A curious coincidence of the way
human nature works. quite regardless
of country or race. happens to be
brought to the attention by the stimuli
taneous arrival of the London Specta-
tor and the Boston Advertiser.
The London Spectator tells the story
Of the acquittal of NJ. Gregori. who
shot Major Dreyfus in the wrist at the
Pantheon, when the remains of Zola
were being transferred thither There
was no question. of course. as to the
fact, and NJ. Gregori's lawyer did not
even plead insanity. He simply appeal
ed to the old prejudice against Drey-
fus, to the prejudice against placing
In the Pantheon the remains of the
great literary man who defended Drey-
fus. who arraigned the army chiefs for
prosecuting Dreyfus. The lawyer went
further and appealed to anti Semitic
prejudice. urging the jury not to pun
ish a man, who tried with a pistol to
let little light into the darkness in
which the whole Dreyfus matter had
been involved. The Paris correspond
ent of the Spectator explains this ac-
quittal on the ground that the shoot
ing was one of those crimes of passion
to which the Parisians are Characters
tically indulgent. NJ. Rochefort said:
He fired his pistol as a woman throws
vitriol at her lover
The story, taken from the Boston
Advertiser. is the description Of the ac-
quittal Of one of the mob leaders in,
the anti-negro riots at Springfield, Ill.
Soldiers. police and citizens alike testi-
fed that the accused was one of the
mob leaders. The lawyer for the &C
cused did not. any more than the Paris
lawyer, claim his clients insanity. He
simply appealed to what is referred to
as one phase of 1.-The unwritten law"
barking back to the original charge
that the outbreak arose because a negro
had made an assault on a white wo-
man. 1t was exactly a like case to
that which caused the Paris jury to
acquit the man who shot Major Drey-
fus. 1t was another case of those
crimes of passion to which, as the
Spectators London correspondent
states, Parisians are Enthusiastically
indulgent.
The Boston Advertiser does not think
that such case as this proves the
breakdown of the system of trial by
jury. 1t says:
Like every homan system for the
administration of justice. the jury sys-
tenn falls at its weakest link-the un-
stability of human nature. In the
minds of this jury the accused was not
found not guilty of the charge against
him. He was found. in their minds,
justified in his commission of the Of
Tense. And the public of Springfield,
through the jury, is indicted with an
assault upon justice and honesty"
Identical comments might have ap-
piled with equal truth to the Partisan
case. There may come time when
law can be enforced regardless of
prejudice But that time has not yet
come either in France or America
When a prejudice which is generally
shared influences the administration of
Justice, that administration is almost
certain to fail. Can community be
indicted, as the Boston Advertiser sug-
gests? A community can certainly be
severely criticised. but the critics run
the risk at some time or other of shar-
ing in the antipathy like that which
they reprobate. All that can be hoped
for is the growth of a broader and
truer sense of justice through social
evolution.