The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-01-06
WHAT is THE NATTER

Grafton Record: Learned judges
claim that the administration Of our
criminal law has broken down. The
people have been crying out against
our courts over their poorer neighbors,
and generally there is dissatisfaction
with the laws delays" and the power
of gold to sway justice.
But are the courts. the lawyers and
the judges the only ones to blame for
this admittedly serious condition? We
believe not. We believe that the peo-
| pie themselves are more to blame than
those learned in the law" and charged
with the administration of our courts
of justice.
Mclean Cooper Of Hillsboro shot
and killed the foreman of his fathers
farm. There is no doubt Of the killing.
The young man pleaded fear Of vio-
lence and self-defence, and a jury of
twelve men picked from the body of
citizens Of Grand Forks county after
hearing the evidence, pronounced the
young man no guilty. At Mandan,
| Vincenzo Ginardi, an Italian laborer,
| shot and killed a fellow worker nam
| ed Ben Feraara. Again there was no
doubt of the killing, no circumstan-
tial evidence. The jury of Morton
county citizens, twelve men good and
true heard the evidence and pro-
nounced the murderer not guilty.
Samuel Treadwell, editor Of The Rock
Lake Ripples. shot and killed a man
in his home town. There was no dis
: pute as to the killing, o r the individ-
uaI who committed the crime and no
mystery surrounded the murder. A
jury of Towner county citizens listen
ed to the evidence and after due deltp-
Grafton found the man not guilty.
This is the record Of less h a
month in North Dakota Three men,
all from different walks of life, all
charged with deliberate murder, with
no question as to the actual committal
OF the particular crime, after trial,
were found not guilty n given their
liberty. These acquittals cannot be
charged to the judges who tried the
cases, because in every instance the
trial judge charged the jury as to the
law of the case and in at least one
made IT most clear that the defendant
under the circumstances must be
found guilty. But these thirty-gi
| citizens Of North Dakota. made up of
different types and nationalities,
unanimously decided that while it was
proven that the three defendants each
KILLED his man." he was not guilty.
On them. then. rests the onus. the
failure OF citizenship.
These men were swayed by the ora
tory of the defendants lawyers, they
were meved to pity for the unfcrtu-
nate men on trial. they had great SYM
pathy for the relatives Of the defend
ants and they lacked the courage and
manhood to do their fun duty. Until
maudlin sympathy for criminals is
banished, until jurors rise 70 the OBJ
LEGATION resting upon them, until men
sworn to try the case upon the evidence
and under the law are willing 70 keep
their solemn oath we shall not be able
to find q remedy for the continued mis-
carriage OF justice. The courts may
be blamed. the judges may be called
corrupt and the lawyers branded as
bribe givers and bride takers. but we
must admit the truth X we would be
honest with the situation and charge
to the people themselves the lack Of
proper administration Of U criminal
laws.