The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-23

as saying. among other things. the fol- lowing: No one would have a man once fairly and properly tried for crime. and either convicted or acquitted. brought to trial again for the same offense. but if the trial has been unfair or other wise improper. 1t is the dictate of com. mon sense that this miscarriage should eb duly corrected and the man re-tried- be duly corrected and the man re-tried.
 Tt Is presumed that Mir :, Bonaparte was addressing himself to criminal trials in the Federal courts. Does he not know that trial by Jury in criminal cases in Federal courts is entirely abol- ished when the presiding judge hap pens to believe (as Bonaparte evident iy does) that all defendants are guilty, and avails himself of the right which our United States Supreme Court decis- Ions give him, viz: Charging the jury on the facts as well as the law? I have not the slightest doubt that if Mir. Be- naparte had the power to write a crim- fnal code. he would eliminate a good many provisions which appear to his most erudite legal mind to be 'arbitra- ry, obsolete. and useless. He would probably abolish trial by jury alto gether; he would probably make the fact of the finding of an indictment pri- ma facie evidence of the defendants guilt. and thus put upon the prisoner the burden of proving his innocence; he would no doubt abolish the rule as old as the law itselt) requiring the prosecution to establish by competent evidence &he guilt of the defendant be- yond ali reasonable doubt. and in lieu thereof, would simply require guilt to be established by q preponderance Of the testimony. But what's the use? Mr. Bonaparte as a lawyer Is simply inpos- stble.
 Judge aough's Actioa.
 5 'T spoke of two events of the week. The other was the action taken by Judge Hough. sitting as trial judge in the Federal court for the Southern Dis trict of New York, in the much adver- tised Florida peonage cases.' This is some of the fine legal work of the pres ent Attorney General It will be re- membered that certain citizens of Flor Ida. and certain citizens of New York. were prosecuted fin the metropolis un- der q charge made by the Department Of Justice of conspiracy to place peo pie in peonage in the State of Florida The Florida defendants in this case are citizens of my district. one of them, Hon D. J. Triay. a former Treasurer Of my State an honorable citizen, and who will not suffer by comparison with the present Attorney General. either in re- spect for tho law or in any of the eie. ments which go to make up real man. hood and genuine American citizenship. These citizens of my district and State were carried more than a thousand miles from home and among strangers. to be tried; subjected to great expense in both time and money. and humifiated by indictment for crime. and yet, when the goyernments' case is finished and q real lawyer, who Is also an upright judge. has heard it all, he promptly inc structs the jurors that the government has failed to prove the case. and under their oaths they must acduit the de- fendants. Thus you see silly. unwar- ranted prosecution ends with no result other than to outrage citizens and muict the government in an enormous bill of costs. Yes. Bonaparte ought Co write criminal procedure act by all means"