The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1912-01-24
SYSTEM OF JUSTICE Is
FROZEN TO RIGHTS OF FEW



unearthed is an astounding tale or
judicial perversion and malpractice.
Il shall prove that when the high
est courts of certain states have rem
dered their final decisions, In some
cases unanimously. powerful political
leaders, such as those in Ohio. Penn
sylvania. Missouri, California and Col
orado, have, either in person or by at
torney. made their entrance into
court. and that thereupon the judges
have In matters of vital Importance
turned complete and undignifled SOM
ersaults, reversing their previous de-
cisions."
Connolly tells how in 1884 he went
TO Montana to take up the law. He
practiced before the bar OF that state.
He soon saw, he says. that the law
began in ideals and % ded In deals"
In Butte he repeatedly saw party
conventions packed and judges named
in the interest OF the largest litigant
in the state. He read decisions whose
foundering logic and hourishing
rhetoric puzzled him until later he
learned that those decisions were
bought and paid for In the market
place"
Continuing he SAYS: IT saw $4,000
wage-earners thrown out OF employ.
ment on the eve OF winter in order to
force the public into an attitude OF
consent to the sway OF local judges by
great corporation. l saw run
started ON a prosperous banking IN
stitutlon In Montana, its credit under
x.1fn L., q h.
effort to unnerve the iron will OF the
opposition and to force a favorable
judicial decision.
II once represented a corporation
which controlled a judge before whom
one OF my cases was tried, and Sc
cured rulings so favorable that cas-
lily won doubtful case. These rul.
ings would not have been given me II
had represented the other client and
knew had won unfairly.
II knew of Judge being trailed at
night like a beast or felon and final
iy trapped In a hotel room, where
from midnight until o'clock in the
morning he was beset by the bribe
squad OF a corporation, with s250,000
finally offered him, In bootless at.
tempt TO buy him.
Il was at one time an attorney in
suit involving title to certain mining
ground. Among our opponents, as an
undisclosed actor, was the Amalgamat-
ed Copper Co. When the evidence
was in the court instructed the Jury,
on a question OF law. to return a YER
dict against my client
When the Judge rendered bis de.
cision he was intoxicated. Two hours
later. still in the same condition, he
threw his arms about me and told me
that he knew | was right In my con
tention-that he had had a familiar
case in his own practice-but that
there we're too many strings on him
and he had to decide against me-"
Connolly became prosecuting attor-
ney at Butte and tells OF sensational
incidents in that experience as show.
ing how lawyers tried to break down
his ideals. He incurred the enmity
OF W. A. Clark, who he says was
elected to the United States senate
at the cost price OF s1.000,000.
Clark brought vengeance upon Con-
molly and others obnoxious TO him and
after a fight Connolly gave up the
practice of law and began TO accumu-
late material bearing upon the judi
cial evil In passing he says that the
courts of Butte were monoplized by
the powerful individuals and corpora
tons TO the exclusion Of practically all
other business. They won or lost
their judges on election day and de-
cided their litIRatlons on the turn oil
the ballot box" he says.
Dealing with the subject OF state
court decisions the writer says: Evil
decisions by the higher courts OF any
state do not poison the stream OF law
in that state alone; they flow from
commonwealth to commonwealth, cor
rapting the entire legal system OF the
country. Once out OF its environ.
ment there Is no suspicion that be
mind any decision was a foul influ-
ence."
For instance. he says, the supreme
court reports OF the state OF Wash.
ington are widely used I'm tho citation
OF decisions in an immense body OF
litigation throughout the northwest
Take this example:
NJ. j. Gordon. chief justice OF the
state OF Washington, once rendered a