Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1909-01-05
EXACT JUSTICE.

No recent decision In criminal
case in Maryland has occasfoned
more commentator by the legal
profession and the public general
than that rendered by Judge Robert
X. Henderson at Oakland, Garrett
county in sentencing man who had
been convicted of manSlaua liter to
pay twenty dollars a month 20 the
widow OF the man for whose death
he was responsible, says the Cum
Der and News. Instead OF t.. usual
sentence for a term in pr son, Judge
Henderson decided to parole the
man for three years upon the con-
dition that he pay .he widow the
amount per month above stated,
giving bond for the faithful perlor-
nance OF the Obligation.
The Daily News does not recall
single instance in this state where
n any SINH ar case the court I'm
posed upon the convicted any 9TH
er sentence than that Of fine or i'm
prisonment, or both. The idea, as
IN the Oakland case, of IN some way
ameliorating tho condition OF the
woman whose protector and sup
porter had been ruthlessly tora
from her, has never been taken in
to account by the courts passing
sentence in a conviction for man
slaughter. The widow and .ather-
less children, or those dependent
Tor their support, an aged father
or mother, or both, upon the earn
'ngs or the man whose life was talk
en- by the hand of his convicted as
sailant. were left to the charity of
the world, while the destroyer of
their home, indifferently accepts a
prison sentence with which he soon
becomes accustomed and thus the
d a Of punishment becomes lost to
him In the safety he feels and the
comparative ease ana comfort with
which the state surrounds him in h =
prison life.
case has set wide precedent by
departing from the antiquated idea
OF pun shing justice and launched
out upon the broad plane of pre-
tentative justice, the execution OF
which, says Justice Blackstone,
though necessary and In its conse-
luences species of mercy to the
is always attended
with many harsh an disagreeable
A member Of the supreme bench
Of Baltimore city, commenting upon
Judge Henderson's plan of dealing
out justice in the OAKLAND case, said
In a great many cases of man
slaughter the persv1 convicted is
either fined or sent to prison. In
the one case the state gets the mon
ey and in either case the family
dependent upon the dead man re-
&c ives no compensation for the tre-
mendous INJURY they have suff red
| think Judge Henderson.s view Of
the case the most common sense
view that could be taken, and IL
should like TO see 1T applied in all
cases that are suitable.
1t must not be thought that be-
cause the Oakland man has his free
dom that the hand OF the law has
been lifted from him. He carries
about with him the shackles Of the
courts cond tions. He must obey
the courts mandate. He is free
only SO long as he does so. or is
able to 10 so. He must
work out his freedom under the eye
OF the court, under the lash Of
conscience made the more remorse-
fun by daily contact with his fe-
lows. A prisoner, though q.
The sentence carries with It some
compensation to the widow for her
loss, At the same time inf!cts upon
the slayer of her husband burden
far more exacting upon him than a
tew years spent behind prison bars.
The sentence is both retributiye and
preventative justice, and thus is the
law satisfied.