Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-02-07


born as lowly as the lowliest bull, in
a hovel, reared in poverty, with no
CLEAN of light or fair surroundings,
without graces, actual or acquired,
without name or fame Nevertheless
this plebeian was something of So
cial climber. and, having aspirations
beyond his humble station in life, 1t
wandered one day beyond the con-
fines of its own pastures and sought
the society of the adolescent and IN
sophisticated Martha, contrary to the
statute in such cases made and pro-
vided. And as result of this some
what morganatic mesalliance calf
was born. Kopplein then brought &C
ton for resulting damages and re-
covered SIS. The evidence showed
that thoroughbred calf would be
worth from s22.50 to $3.50, depending
upon its sex, markings, and other
characteristics. Its sinister birth dis
qualified the hybrid calf from becom-
| ing a candidate for pink ribbons at
county fairs. 1t was sold to Chi
cago butcher for 81, and was probably
epicures in some Chicago boarding
house"
A LESSON WORTH STUDY.
This SIS case is allowed to take UP
the time of the supreme court of a.
great state, and this sort of thing is
paid for by the taxpayers-while JUS
tice waits.
The opinion in the Standard Oil
case in the Missouri supreme court
takes up 507 pages. The Bell Tele-
phone case occupies a whole volume
of the United States e'1~~o-'- court
reports-5S4 pages.
There was famous decision by
Justice Scott of Missouri that occu-
pied two lines. On being reproached
for its brevity, Justice Scott asked
his critic how much time he supposed
its preparation had required His
critic did not know.
1.-TWO weeks of hard labor" was
SCOTS curt reply.
If this were a model for the 24.0o0
appellate decisions in 1910.
8. The Abandonment of Technicali-
ties of Procedure-With bench and
bar protesting against this grotesque
abuse, it still remains that thousands
of cases are reversed every year up
on the most trivial and imbecile tech
nicalities. And for every point that
is frowned upon as obviously raised
for no other reason than for the de
lay and defeat of justice, another
seems to raise it's head. To take bu
a single example; the New Yorl
court of appeals has set an admirable
Ginning to upset verdicts and deci
sions which manifestly have moth
ing to do with the merits of thu
case And yet this same court ha
recently people VS.. Faber) held tina
, failure to ask the defendant on be
| ing sentenced if he has any reason
| to offer why sentence should not b.
, pronounced is serious error ant
| constitutes mistrial.
Consider now that this is in 80
r cases out of 1000 the merest for
E mality, and that probably in not on
: instance in 10000 does the defend
: ant offer anything which in any wis
changes the verdict; and then thi
{ venial slip may upset the verdict i
{ case that may have cost the com
: munity thousands and even hundred
= of thousands of dollars.
r In 1896 to 1902 reversals in tn
D New York appellate court average
above 80 per cent; in the last yea
D 3,14 appeals and more than LOO
!. reversals. Here, as everywhere, tn
e larger part of these reversals turne
+ not concern the merits of the contrC
! versy in any way.
4. Enforced Time Saving in Cha
a longing Jurors-We have recent
r had a fresh example of this unendul
= able abuse in the trial just terminal
p ed so abruptly in Los Angeles. Hell
G nearly eight weeks were consumed
a securing the eight jurors. And "
v the chief counsel for the defense ha
v admitted, in his own defense, that h
=, knew from last March that his CT
!. ents were guilty and that he knew b.
o fore the trial began that the evidenC
n for the prosecution constituted a
:, impregnable wall-that the case VIZ
= absolutely hopeless.
- And the people of Los Angelo
= county foot the bill.
III Now confront these facts with IL
statement of Justice Brown, late I
: the supreme court, that in all h
p long years of service on the benz
y tbefore his promotion) the impane
- ing of jury had never required 4,
exceeded three hours in any cas-
nat one judge can do, all can do
). The Restraint of Abuses
Court esy-R ppapt1y in the SllDrau