Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-11-23
to satisfy yourself or someone else.
Do your Christmas shopping early.
The Justice and injustice of Justice

don this morning, following the chase
| by detectives across the Atlantic Of
| the fugitive and his capture affords a
striking, almost a startling illustra-
| ton of speedy, not to say relentless
| Justice. While the evidence on which
| DR.. Crippen was executed was largely
circumstantial, it was remarkably con-
elusive, revealing one of the most
brutal and most barUarOds murders
conceivable, the cruel killing of his
| wife and the mutilation Of the remains.
| 1t was surely a crime for which some
one ought to hang and 1t Is hoped as
we'll as generally believed, the Eng
| lish court has not erred in apprehend-
! ing DR. Crippen and infiicting the
death penalty.
II howeter the process Of law under
which DR. Crippen has suffered is held
| by the more conservative as too
| hasty, ii Is but the opposite
extreme to what we are obliged
to endure in this country where
the methods are tardy and laden with
abominable technicalities which serve
more often to thwart the ends OF JUS
tice than to aid in proper administra-
ton
England will be the gamer by reason
OF the fact that criminals will be more
apt TO hesitate where there are less
loopholes for escape and there will be
more wholesome dread OF the conse-
quences OF crime Hence less crime.
In this country there are many Grim
inals free because of the injustice of
justice. Because of trifiing technical
tiles the law stands in its own light.
Technicalities are the hope of the
crook They are the consistent and
potent defense of the corrupt corpora
ton.
Get a giant trust into i corner with
unmistakable evidence of crookedness,
and Immediately that trust will turn
loose a pack OF high-salaried technical
ity finders and the trust bows its
thanks to unjust justice and steps from
the court room free and fully 'vindi-
Gated The technicality finders dis
cover that an IL" is not dotted or a
"t" is not crossed or q word of minor
Importance dropped here or there.
The supreme court of Oklahoma
however, has the right idea. A useless
word had been omitted in an indict-
ment. A new trial was sought upon
this technicality. Ordinarily it would
have been granted where unjust JUS
tice prevails. Here's what the Okla
homa supreme court said in denying
the new trial:
Now that our criminal jurispru-
dence is in It's formative period, we
are determined TO do all in our power
to place 1t upon a broad and sure
foundation of reason and justice, so
that the innocent may find It to be
refuge of defence and protection and
that the guilty may be convicted and
taught, that it is an exceedingly
serious and dangerous thing to violate
the laws of the state whether they be
rich and influential or poor and friend
less. II we place our crfmi-
nal jurisprudence upon a technical
basis it will become the luxury of the
rich, who can always hire able and
skillful lawyers TO invoke TECHNICAL
ties in their behalf We
confess to a want of respect for pre-
cedents which were found in the rub
bish heap Of Noah's ark. and which
have outlived their usefulness, If they
ever had any"
In true Oklahoma style and vernac-
ular, but strictly to the point The blind
goddess feels that she has one supreme
court friend at least.
''The Oklahoma decision" COM
ments the New York Tribune, is in re-
freshing contrast to recent Alabama
decision which ordered new trial be-
cause the indictment under which the
prisoner was convicted simply charged
him with stealing hides and did not
specify whether they we're mule, goat,
COW or sheep hides! The reports are
full of cases like this, where the courts
have ordered new trials upon the
slightest of technicalltIes, the ommis-
sion of the and or did in an IN
dictment, or the failure to describe a
weapon with which an assault was
committed and more specifically than
as a heavy stick
IAN instance of techn;calities which
should be a classic is that referred to
in a law journal. Two pianolas were
stolen in South Carolina. The indict-
ment in the case described them as
pianos A retrial was ordered. On
the next trial experts convinced the
court that pianos and pianolas were
the same thing, whereupon the court
discharged the prisoner or the ground
that he could not be tried twlce for the
same offence.
Fortunate Oklahoma, where the
courts mean not to permit themselves
to be involved in the tangle OF their
own subleties and where foolish pre-
cedents established elsewhere may be
treated with light hearted contempt"