The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-06-04

any offense involving moral turpitude
while in ofice.'-Constitution 1873,
Art. VII. and 3. Our present Com
stitution contains substantially the
same provisions. insofar as the matter
now under consideration is concerned
(Sections 173-17t), but has added an
| other provision. towit: Whenever any
prisoner Is taken from jail, or from
the custody Of any sheriff or his dep
| uty, and put to death, or suffers griev-
fous bodily harm, owing to the neglect.
connivance. cowardice or other grave
fault OF the sheriff. such sheriff may
be impeached under Section TIA of this
Constitution. Constitution OF 1901,
Section lSs. When this section was
before the Constitutional. Convention,
II was fully discussed. Some members
thought that 1t was holding the sher-
IN to too high a degree of RESPONSE
bility, and It was moved to make It
read gross neglect hut the wording.
| as reported by the committee. was re-
tained. and the remarks made by the
members Of the Convention show that
they intended Just what they say, and
that a prisoner, when he comes into
the hands of the officers Of the State
shall be panopiied about with all the
powers of the State. and as sacred
from interference as the Ark OF the
Covenant
| The Constitution makers evidently
intended to place the sheriff In the
| breach and hold him to the strtctest
accountability for the safety OF the
persons committed to his care.
| Law Severe and Exactinw.
1T must be admitted that the law IL
severe and exacting. but the evil which
II is intended to correct demands
| strenuous measures of prevention. In
| this free government of ours, respect
Tor the laws, IL the very base rock up
on which must rest all OF our liber-
ties. and IL mob law is ever Justin
able. then the most cherished princi-
pies of that body of laws which we
call common. and which have come to
us hallowed by the wisdom OF ages.
| and which we have imbedded into our
constitutions. are wrong. and the
boasted rights and liberties of the
American citizen constitute solemn
farce.
Neglect Is the omission or forbear.
| ance to do thing that can be done.
or that Is required to be done, to omit
by carelessness or design or imports
want of such attention to the nature
OF probable consequences of the act or
omission as prudent man ordinarily
hestows In acting in his own concerns
Neglect as applied to a public officer
means failure on his part to do and
perform some OF the duties Of his Of
| f1ce.-5 Words and Phrases, D. 4740;
White. Auditor, VS.. State. ex rel. etc.
123 Ala. SIT; Warren VS.. U. s.. So
Fed. $50. SEQ.
when the State ,or county has pro.
vi9ed suitable and well constructed
jail. with strong doors, not only to
prevent the escape of prisoners, but
also to prevent the unlawful entrance
thereto, is questionable whether IL
Is not the duty Of the sheriff, at all
times. to make use of those means of
protection against possible intruders.
The sheriff cannot presume that those
who desire to invade the premises will
| inform him of the fact, or make such
demonstration on the streets as to
| advertise their Intentions. However
that may be, when a crime of peculiar
enormity has been committed excit-
ing public indignation, when II IL
known that such crimes always bring
about suggestions that the prisoner be
taken out and lynched. and when, In
addition to that. the suggestion IL
made to the sheriff that there Is q
probability of an attempt to take the
prisoner and lynch him, ordinary pru-
dence would suggest that the sheriff
should at least give orders that all the
effected into the Jail should be closed
and take other precautions when he
leaves 1t for the night. 1t will not do
| to say that the basement is under the
charge OF an engineer, and to infer
therefrom that the sheriff has no re-
sponsibility in relation thereto. He Is
the legal custodian of both the court
house and the jail and 1t is his duty
to exclude intruders therefrom-Polit-
ical Code. Section 1872. and Criminal
Code, Section 1871. II he commits the
charge of the basement to an engineer.
1t is his duty to make such rules and
regulations as will insure the building
FaY onN tray n@ f,.k~
then neglect on the part of the sheriff.
under the circumstances of this case,
to fail entirely to give any orders for
the closing of the doors before leav-
ing the building for the night. He IL
not responsible for the negligence of
his deputies. If he has made proper
selections and given them proper d.
rections, but he is responsible for not
instructing them to take the proper
precautions.
"a great many witnesses were ex-
amined on the part of the State and of
the defendant. occupying the greater
part of three days. and II would serve
no useful purpose to discuss the same
in detail. After a careful considera-
ton of all the evidence. we are sat
isfed beyond a reasonable doubht that
said Frank Cazalas, Sr., has been guilty
of neglect within the meaning of the
Constitution which has resulted in the
taking OF prisoper from jail and his
being put to DEATH.
TN accordance with the demands Of
the law, an order viii be here entered
removing said Frank Cazalas Sr FROM
the office OF Sheriff of Mobile County"
,Dowell. c. J.. and benson, Mcclellan
Anderson and Mayield. ]. J., dissent
and Sayre, ]. j., concurrinR.
Dissenting Opinions.
ANDERSON, ]. (Dissenting)
at is true that Section 1ss Of the
Constitution of 1901, in dealing with
sheriffs and providing for their Inn
parchment. when prisoners are taken
from their custody and killed or in
jured does not require the same degree
OF neglect of duty, as a cause for i'm
parchment. as is required in other pro-
visions relating to other officers and
other causes; yet I do not think that
the word neglect as used in said Sec
ton 1873. is intended to make the sher-
If an absolute insurer of the safety of
prisoner or that an ordinary mad
vertence or mistake of judgment was
contemplated as a cause for impeach-
ment Infallibility was not expected
by the trainers of our Constitution and
perfection in any walk in life is I'M
known to the experience OF mankind
or to sacred and profane history, ex-
cept in the single case of Him who
spake as never man spake' let him
who is guiltless cast the first stone To
hold that a sheriff must be impeached
for a mere error of judgment or any,
thing short OF grave or serious neglect
would render the constitution of a free
people despotic, tyranical and cruel.
I'VE need not go elsewhere to get a