Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-06


IA & legal procedure will have
zA work a-plenty. Besides the
proverbial slowness with
which modern justice uses her bal
ances to determine the right, there are
hundreds of technicalities which more
often defeat the ends of justice than
subserVe them. That apochryphal YER
diet guilty, but not proven" finds
many more or less exact counterparts
| in legal procedure. A legislator once
was indicted for bribery. He was tried
and acquitted Asked about the out
come, he replied. "Vindicated, sir
vindicated." "a verdict of not guilty,
then, 1 suppose?" pressed the ques--
| TONER "Well, not exactly" answered
the statesman in flush of honesty.
1.-THE indictment read that I was
member of the assembly, whereas l
was a member of the legislature. 1t
further set forth that / had accepted
a bribe, whereas it was proved only
that ! took the money"
In another case an old colored man
appeared before a police justice for
stealing chickens. AS he came before
the bar the judge asked him if he were
the defendant. He replied: mo, san,
that gent'mum ober dar is de one what
does de defendin'. Use de gent what
stole de chickens" Yet he was per-
mitted to plead not guilty, and de
gent'mum ober dar' put up such a de-
fense for him that he went scot free.
Some years ago a man by the name
of John Smith owed a st. Louis mer-
chant a sum of money. This merchant
discovered that an Illinois firm was
indebted to John Smith, so he gar
nisheed the money in the hands of the
firm and collected it. Later the John
Smith who was the creditor OF the llll-
noiS firm came to collect his bill. He
was told that his money had been gar
nisheed for the satisfaction of debt
due the st. Louis merchant. But he
had never owed anything to the St
Louis merchant! 1t was a clear case
of mistaken identity. His money mad
been taken to satisfy the debt of an
other John Smith. He brought suit
against the st. Louis merchant to re-
cover his money He had never owed
the merchant a cent in his life, and
was prepared to prove it, but the court
held that it could not right the wrong
it had done him.
Chicago offers a we'll known instance
Of the ends of justice being defeated
by a technicality. A notorious charac-
ter was arrested while dressed in the
garb of a woman. He was tried and
sentenced as a woman. AfterWard ne
took advantage of his knoWledge OF
the technicalities of the law and de-
clared that he was a man. The
courts held that man could not be
kept in prison after being tried and
convicted as woman.
In Missouri a woman and her child
were murdered by a man who wanted
the victim to leave her husband and
elope with him. He was arrested.
pleaded insanity, but was sentenced
to be hanged. BY forgery ne secured
money to carry the appeal to the su-
preme court All the lower courts up
held the verdict of the trial court, and
vet the supreme court reversed 1t ana
the prisoner died a free man. Ine
affirmation of thirteen judges was out
weighed by the dissension OF i've In
another case the record in a murder
trial failed to say that the prisoner
was arraigned and pleaded not guilty,
although the context abundantly
showed it, Yet on this technicality the
prisoner escaped by the reversal Oh
the verdict of the lower court
President Taft himself had some ex-
nerience with the delays of the law.
Years ago the people of his home CITY
became tired of these delays ana IN
justices and burned the court mousse as
an evidence of their impatience. Mr..
Taft visited Columbus and was heard
bv a judiciary committee of the legis-
lature He appealed for reductlon
in the number of peremptory chal-
Ienges in criminal trials from twenty
three to twelve. The chairman of the
committee settled back and observed:
"Whv, 1 have seen the time when l
would have given my entire fee in a
case to have had the twenty-1ourth
peremptory challenged" Mr.. Tart de-
clares that the lawyers are penny wise
and mound foolish-that through de-
laws technicalties and expensive pro-
oedure they are forcing men to arbl-
tration who would otherwise appeal to
the courts.
The law provides certain protec-
+ion TO accused persons, and often
these safeguards produce anomalous
conditions. For instance, a highway
robber attempts to hold up man.
He Is stabbed by the intended Victim'
who escapes. An officer, in arresting
the highWayman, discovers the stab
wound. 1t is the best link in the chaln
Of evidence, and would make the con-
viction of the would-be robber certain
VET under legal procedure 1t is NOT per-
Yoissible as evidence. If the highway
man had been successful In his at
tempted holdup he would have been
searched from head to foot and TINS
evidence brought out against him.
Jury may resort to any sort OF tactlcS
70 decide a case, even to the filpplng OF
a. coin or by drawing straWs, ana lhe
| court is powerless to invade the jury
room with it's questions. But if a peep
| ing bailiff or an eavesdropping clerk