The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-09-14
THE LAWS HEAVY HAND.

(
THE LAWS HEAVY HAND.
When upon thy frame the law
| Places its majestic paw,
/ Tho in innocence or guilt,
Thou art then required to wilt
Eugene Ware wrote the above verse
| over twenty years ago as a common
| tary on the decision of the Kansas SUI
preme court in the case of Lewis VS..
the State, appealed from Bourbon
county. Then he went on to write the
entire opinion in that remarkable case
! in verse. Lewis had been arrested
and placed in Jail charged with a vio-
lation of the law. He escaped from
Jail before his trial but was captured
by the sheriff. When tried for his al
legged crime he was acquitted by the
jury. Then he was arraigned for the
offense of escaping from Jail and con-
victed. He appealed to the supreme
court but that august body affirmed
the strange decision of the lower court
and he was sent to the penitentiary.
Ware lived at Fort Scott at that time
and published his poem in the Moni-
tor. 1t can now be found in the Nine
teenth Kansas Reports as a foot note
to the decision in this famous case.
The escape of F. d. Agner from the
Shawnee county Jail the other day
may result in another Lewis case for
the courts. Agner, however, returned
| to jail of his own accord, as he said he
would in the letter he left for the
shreiff. Agner, like Lewis, is practical
ly admitted to be innocent of the crime
for which he was arrested. but may
have to answer to the law for his in
difference to its majesty.
Then the court met and they tried
Lewis up and down each side,
On the good old fashioned plan,
But the jury cleared the man.
Now you think that this strange case
Ends at Just about this place.
Nay, not so. Again the law
On defendant placed its paw.
This time takes him round the cape
He, unable to give bail,
Goes reluctantly to jail
Lewis feelings can only be guessed
when he is brought to face this fresh
charge. Here is his defense. as seen
through the eyes of Mr.. Ware:
Lewis, tried for this last act,
Makes special plea of fact:
Wrongly did they me arrest,
LAS my trial did attest.
And while rightfully at large,
Taken on a wrongful charge.
From me wrongly took away
The logic of this defense would
have been irresistible to any one but
a judge of the supreme court. 1t
would have melted the heart of a
heather idol, but the county attorney
was a man of brass, utterly devoid of
sentiment. He argued in this wise:
when the paddock and the I1asp
Leaves one helpless in our grasp.
Even dreams of liberty"
This verse above is a gem of irony
and alone should save Agner from a
second miscarriage of justice. The SUI
preme court of the year 1887, how
ever, saw nothing but their books of
law and closed their eyes and ears to
all else in this big old world. Here is
their verdict:
We-don't-make-law. We are bound
ITO interpret it as found
The defendant broke way,
When arrested he should stay"
The poem, appearing in the statutes
in connection with the decision, should
act as an antidote to the severity and
narrowness of the law as laid down in
this case.
If Lewis should have been set free,
then doubly should Agner be left to go
to his wife and family, for he came
back to the Jail of his own accord,
while Lewis was captured by an Off
Ger while in his mad career of free
dom. Agners case is even more re-
markable than the Lewis case. Agner
was arrested on charge of counterfeit
ing, when in reality he had only made
a lead dollar for his baby to play with
and then later jokingly showed the
crude piece of work to friends.
He was arrested and placed in the
Shawnee county Jail. He picked his
cell lock with a spoon and escaped,
leaving a note behind in which he de-
clared that he would come back as
son as he'had seen his wife and baby.
He came back the other day and gave
himself into custody.
The law has had it's paw on Agnew
long enough. 1t would seem to be
persecution
To try him on a charge.
OF being rightfully at large