The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1911-06-17
District Court Proceedings
Judge Breen Delivers His Charge to the Grand Jury and
That Body Immediately Gets Down to Work

from malicious motives; that no mans
good name should be furnished by pre-
sentiment. except ON legal grounds. 1t
means also, that when it has been
legally ascertained q crime has been
committed, neither fear. favor, or af-
lection, or the promise or hope Of re.
ward, should be permitted to operate
against the enforcement of the law. 1t
means. that the utmost impartiality
should be exercised by the officers en-
trusted with such enforcement. and
that the utmost certainty should be at.
tanned in the punishment Of those
guilty of wroug-doing.
Certainty In the Law
1t was Cato the Younger, who said on
this question of certainty, that, 1T is
far safer a wicked man should never be
accused, than that he should be ac-
Quilted" But what would the noble
Roman have said should q state of
things have existed in his day justify
ing the widespread belief that certain
culIrits in the possession Of great
wealth. or having at their back, other
powerful though, perhaps, extrensic
influences. could not only make safely
reasonable an acquittal. but the (al-
most) certainty of escaping a trial at
all, thus bringing law aud courts into
disrepu,e, and leading to inevitable
disrespect of the law?
Dsrespecf of the Low
Now. disrespect for the law can have but
one tendency and that is to a breach of it,
whenever its violation can be accom-.
plished with any chance of immunity
for the violator; whilst the strict and
impartial administration of the law
must, on the contrary, tend toward re-
spect for it, and lead inevitably to its
observance, except in isolated instances.
Is the Law the Same For All?
That there is a feeling abroad to the
effect that the administration Of the
laws of the land is not the same for all,
there can be no question. That the rich,
and therefore powerful, or delinquents
who. for n reason or other, can com.
mand such influence, have a thousand
times a better chance to escape prosecu.
ton and their just legal deserts, than
the poor, or comparatively poor, can
hardly be denied. In plain language,
it is the general belief that the man who
steals a $40 horse, COW, or other chattel
Of small value, has a thousand more
chances Of expiatiDg his offense behind
prison bars, than he who commits the
highest crime known to the law, il he
have the proper backing. or he who pur.
loins 800. 900 or $500. 900. and that the
larger the sun stolen the brighter the
prospect for immunity.
What Andrew d. White Said
Do yon think what l have just stated
is sensational or e~xtravagant? Lat us
see. All, or certainly most of you, have
heard or read. of the well known
American educator, diplomatist, his
~torian, statesman. as well as one of the
organizers of Cornell University.
Andrew D. White and I feel certain no
man who knows. or knows Of him.
would for a moment consider that
gentlemen as given to extravaganza ex-
p~ressions Of opinion on any subject.
Well, then. in a public address delivered
last year In the State of New York. Mr..
White-and this / take from o law
journal-made the following statement
among others;
"One Of the worst results of these
cAses referring to recent trials) is the
growing opinion among people at large.
that men with money can 30 delay
justice by every short Of ~chicanery. thai
there is a virtual immunity for &
highest crimes"
And what does all this mean? Simply
that there is not impartiality before the
law. That the law is not the same for
all. whether in the palace Of the rich or
in the howell of the poor that there is
favoritism in its administration at abso-
Lutte variance with the constitutions of
Nation and State and the principles mp
on which our Government is founded.
Gentlemen. it is in the Grand Jury room
that the first effort is ever made to
Illustrate justice.
Reasons for Foregoing Reflections
Gentlemen of the Grand Jury. my
reason for taking mp SO much Of Your
time in giving voice to the foregoing re-
Elections is to impress on you the i'm
perative necessity for a strict compli-
ance on your part with the letter and
spirit of the injunctions contained in
the oath you have taken. to treat all
alike, for it is only by SO acting tina.
you and / can make the law respected.
and give I my court the opportunity Of