The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-22

...,. ,,n,;+ to elapse before being able to a'1S,r,bar all who were present at lle or;,,e of which they were accuseo' ' o,o instance witnesses were got toseeiiei h,, the accused after the explra tion N +be 2A horrs. but were not aonlteeu oy inc court. Further, the court can feiuSo +o caIl witnesses that live at uis'.No of n,ore than 20 miles. These provisions' tn+andad for actual military cases, "nel" ,bo soIdier or the officer Is in ms resr ,oen+ do not take in consideration .ne fact that ordinary criminal cases reoaAo a much more lax procedure.
 Not only is the procedure III tne courts that established for the time or war, but the accused may pc Juoe.u
 dor inc laws holding for time or war Tn one case which I have before me the acucsed appealed on the ground tnat naragraph IT of the law on re-en1orceo nrotectlon provided simply for the form of proeedure and not for the materiai form of military laws. The supreme mi ,tarv court of St. Petersburg oeclueo against his appeal and stated quite oen- nitelv that the meaning Of the law is !" he tried under laws of the time or war and not merely in the procedure estao- lished for time of war.
 The Death Penalty.
 parapranh 1s of the law gives the local oaninistrator the right to demand ln- dictment under paragraph 279 or the mi ;tarv code Paragraph 279 inf1lcts tne death penalty for murder, theft acconlpa. nied by violence, or arson or attempts VI murder, violent theft or arson. A sup elementary paragraph allows the gov ernor to use paragraph 2S7 also for other crimes or categories of crimes as coh- sidered necessary.
 The court can convict man or ahothel crime than that of which he Is accused in the original indictment A specific in stance will make clearer what import ance this point of procedure has under present conditions: A man is accused or having taken part in political murder. The proofs against him are not sufnclent to establish his participation in the acl but they show his connection with rev olutionary organization, and ne IS sen tenced on that count.
 The proof accepted by these courts is often such as would not hold in any or dinary court The chief witnesses are often the political police. The iacK or guarantee provided by such justice IS ev- idenced by the following actual circum- stance: man had been condemned py inc court. His cellmate was to be tried
  the sentenced man appeared the second time before the same court. The gen darme witness swore this was the man whom he had arrested on the spot or the crime. The accused explained the change of clothes and expressed surprise that the court had not recognized hlm as the man who had sat before 1t only the day before One can imagine the consterna- | ton of the court.
 All cases turned over to military courts | are supposed to be political cases. 1 have gone over the documents or great many cases, and in several there was | absolutely no political element 10 pc found Many were simple eases of vio- I lent theft, in which the two parties "eio ], of different social classes.
 1 The military courts do not always glve l the death penalty as the sentence O1ten
 a sentence of death Is not confirmed, put | is changed to forced labor. But the mum l Der of death sentences is still very large. | In the month of July, 1908. there were lol l death sentences As for the execution or l these sentences one has most uncertain 1 information One knows that there ou 1 executions at least. How imperfect IS the l control and organization of this military | justice may be seen from the lollowihs fact: lawyer wished to find out If his client had been executed. It was ru- l mored around that he had been. Ine lawyer writes to the procurer of the mil I itary circuit and is told that the execu- tlon has not taken place. He also asks
 unoffcially the local authorities ana IS
 told that the man has been executed, | must be possible, as Is claimed that many l innocent persons are convicted by tnis hurried form of justice when such lack of regard for human life is evl- | denced.
 The third most important right secured