The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1912-11-06
VanVleet-MansfieId Drug Co.,
Memphis, Tenn.

to defer crime and protect the com
munity.
Henry S. Beattie in a rural com.
munity of Virginia, was convicted of
the murder of his wife 81 days after
his crime and was executed 1923 days
after it. His trial occupied II days.
DIR. Crippen, IN spite of the time
necessary to pursue him to the New
World, eXtradite him and take him
back to London, was tried and execut-
ed nine months after his crime, four
months and five days after the discov-
cry of his victims. body. His trial
lasted four days. lie had no new trial
on exceptions. if an appeal had been
taken it would have been tried the
next month, under the rules of the
English Court of Appeals.
New York City alone pays the enor-
nous sum of SG,0OO.OOO year for its
administration of justice, chiefly be-
cause of the proliXity and procrastina-
ton of procedure. AS Mayor Gaynor
says:
There is no excuse at all for the
delay. In London cases are brought
one month and tried the next, so eff
ficient is the judiciary, though rea-
lively not one-half the size of ours.
But they have system"
The Becker case thus far has more
resembled Beatties or Crippen's than
that of Thaw or Molneux. 1t con
sumed but II days; in spite of the
long search for gunner and witness.
es and some time-wastng by counsel
it closed 100 days after Rosenthal was
shot. In celebrity and dignity it has
set new standard for famous cases
in New York Unreasonable delay is
only now beginning and the discour-
aging fact is that, as matters stand,
delay is inevitable and automatic. No
matter how palpably guilty, any muir
derer can claim six months for appeal
and skilful attorneys can compass for
him much more.
Such delay fosters crime. The proof
is in the statistics of murder. Lon
don promptly conyicts eight murder
ers out of nine indicted; New York
slowly convicts one out of nine.
Largely as a result of this contrast,
Greater London had in 1909 10 muir.
ders and % cases of manslaughter, not
including negligence killings; New
York in 1911 had lbs murders and 10
executions. Chicago had more than
twice as many murders in proportion;
st. Louis and New Orleans more than
three times as many; Memphis more
than twelve times as many. Impunity /.
is the prolific breeder of crime.
In seventy of the largest American .
cities, in list compiled recently for .
The World, only six murderers of 1911 /
were executed within the calendar year.
These prompt executions took place in
four smaller cities. In New York, Chi
cago, Philadelphia, Boston, st. Louis
and sixty other cities there was not
one.
The remedy lies between the Legis-
atures and the courts; with neither
wholly. The Peck amendment in Ohio
provides for one trial and one re-
Jew, and requires unanimous vote
If the reviewing court to reverse
Common pleas court upon weight of
evidence. This is the reform urged
~ the late Justice Brewer Callfor-
Tia last October followed the practice ;
If New York by adopting an amend {
nent providing that a just verdict
hall not be set aside because of {
echnical error in procedure. I
=" A disgrace to our civilization" '
resident Taft calls the prevalence of '
egal delays in the United States He I
oes not overstate the fact. 1t is q
isgrace. Why need there be, as for y
ler Attorney-General Bonaparte once |
sked. "a foretaste of eternity between t
rrest and indictment, another be-
ween indictment and trial, and yet
mother between trial and actual pun
ihment?" What blindness afficts
ne American people that they permit
MS blot upon their government to
smain uncleansed?