Fitzgerald enterprise. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1895-1912, 1912-02-17
Why Our Criminal
Laws Are Not Respected

Thursdays issue neaueu. Amoo'
Prosecutor ANSWERS QUESTION: WHY
MEN KILL" can you blame the peo-
pie for taking the outraged laws INTO
their own hands when an atroclous'
blood-curdling crime is committed!
How long yet will it take our law
makers to learn that THEY THEMSELVES
ARE TO BLAME for every lynchlne
which occurs in this country! lsay
THIS country because we hardly ever
hear or read of lynchings taxing
place III foreign countries. why!
Simply because the people there.
know that just and swift retrlbutlon
is sure to overtake the criminal by
the duly constituted authorities.
Not so here. The way the law is
manipulated in this country was so
forcibly expressed by the old lawyer
to the Prosecutor, Arthur Train, then
young man, that it is worth repeat
ing in its entirety, so as to RUB IT
INTO every one whom it may con-
cern-lawmakers and people alike:
my young Teller" said a grizz'ed
poouhar of the bar to me years ago
after our jury had gone out, There's
lots of tnings in this game you amt
onto yet. Do you think care what
tbs here jUry does? Not one mite
! | got a nice little error into the case
the very first day. Suppose we are
convicted! I'll get jim here (he
Drisoner) out on a certificate, and
! i'm be TWO years before the Court OF
ApleaIs will get around to the case
ADJ Meantime Jimll be out maxi
III money to pay me my fee. won't
Won. jim? Then your witnesses Will
be gone and nobody'll remember
what on earth 1t was all about
You'll Oe down on Wall Street prac-
ticing law yoursel and the lndlct-
ment will KICK around the court
house for year or two, all coVere
with dust, and some day I'll get a
friend to come in quietly and move
to dismiss the case. And it'll be
dismissed, dou't you worry. A thou-
sand murders will have been COM
mitted in this country in the mean
time. Bless your soul! You can't
90 on trying the same man foreverl
Give the other fellers chance Ito
murder). [ nave paea doing this
thing for over forty years"
But that LETS THE CAT OUT OF THE
BAG" only on one side Of the house.
That old grizzled criminal lawyer
looks out for the fee ali right enough,
YOU may rest assured, but who foots
the bill Of the state-the costs OF
the Prosacution?! The people of
course! While both sides dilly-dally
with the laws, making laughing
stock of them while carrying the
case from one term of court to an
other the costs are piled up sky-high
for the apparent object of getting as
much money out of the people as
possible.
Do you think the people are such
fools as not to be aware of this? Do
our lawmakers labor under the de-
fusion that the people can't see
through their game of thus frustrat-
ing the ends of justice and cheating
the hangman out of his job? Itverily
seems so! But that they are mis-
taken was made evident at recent
lynching when appeals Of the officers
in charge of the prisoner to LET THE
LAW TAKE. IT'S coURsET were met by
the mob with cries: SAVE THE COUNTY
cosTs!!! In that cry the thoughts
of the people were crystalized and
found expression. 1t tells the whole
story. 1t might be interpreted to
mean: Save us from the endless
GRATING which is sure to follow in
the wake of every crime committed
in this country" Now. who is re
sponsible for the outbursts of VIC
lence by an Infatuated populace!
Who BUT THE LAw-PERvERrERS THEM
sELvEs!? Those who exploit our
laws for their own individual bene-
fit and ACKNOWLEDGMENT? Doesn't
a comparison of the RESULTS of the
way in which our laws and those of
forei5n countries are administered.