The Caucasian., 1913-12-14
e0Dsesisoson osscs $3.50 Dss seer
udAcsaa Jsufos0 og Caddc Perish
Published ehSee Gimee Q weeko sun
day moroing tuesday and Xhuss-
das aftesnoon, % s0s Milano stseet
by The Caucasian Printing 60
Ltd 3. darosiean edisose
Naualia senfirpensaaiss Aeatn Jsi-
qmphale.

Ghichi is tRrmet septimentalit9 ls Ahe
EXPRESSION of Affections; 9 sentiment
akin % lose, OF esteeIn, of eriend,s
regarA: st 10 thae something which
is felt in heart snd dwells iD Mlnd,
ana which 10 manifested 90 kindly
acts and in dutiful consideration OF
the feelings Of others, tlse Sasis OF
which may rest oD the 0receDts OF
the Golden Rule.
The opposite Of sentimentallts ls
that maudlin, degeneratelng sleW
which is strained from misconcep-
tion of fact. 1t is contradls-
tinction of the sentiment which is
ennobling. 1t is the view which
blinds and misleads and which dis
regards all natural laws and which
will not hearken to reason.
Unfortunately maudlin sentimen-
tality has too frequently prevailed
in the courts of Caddo Parish when
criminals, frequently self-confessed
have escaped from justice. If the
law, or rather justice, prevailed III
Caddo Parish as in England, there
would be very few escapes for the
murderer and the assassin, ana
therefore if the law were enforced
as in England, murder and assassi-
nation would be of very rare occur
renee. As it is, human life, espe-
cially in Caddo Parish, is of little
consequence, since when a murder
- or assassin of either sex is called
20 the bar of justice, their acquittal
i almost a foregone conclusion,
especially if the defendant be pos
sessed of the means necessary to
nromote maudlin sentiment.
AS case in point may be cited
the trial of Mrs. Della Stroud, in
whose defense there was submitted
pathetically the plea Of her extreme
poverty, "a poor, friendless, unfor-
tunate woman" who has placed in
the possession of her attorneys the
life insurance policy for $1,000 Sc
cured for her by her husband,
which as indicated by evidence un-
cOntradicted she had boasted she
would kill, and she did kill.
II should be explained that there
was pending contest by the heirs
of Stroud against the payment OF
this policy to Mrs. Stroud, but this
contest can be of no effect, since
by the acquittal of Mrs. Stroud )f
the murder of her husband, her
claim can not be successfully con-
tested, and the policy must be liqui-
dated according to its stipulations,
of which Mrs. Stroud is named as
the beneficiary. In her acquittal
she is vested with all the rights as
the beneficiary of the policy Of
5000, which we repeat is within
the control of her attorneys.
In some respects this trial was at
tended with some remarkable feat
ures, one of which was the reading
of quotations from the Bible to the
jury by one of the defendants at
tOrneys, who, however, was careful
TO not refer to the Biblican injunc-
ton: Whose sheddeth mans blood
by man also shall his blood be she'd
The verdict of the jury was not
surprising. We may say in all can
dor that it was anticipated. It would
have been surprising if Mrs. Stroud
had been held for manslaughter.
The verdict Of the jury was expect
ed from an apparent Discrimination
Of jurors to convict a woman, es-
pecially if of the Caucasian race and
having some influence and friends.
It is equally clear that jurors ac-
cept too readily, especially in the
trial of women, the plea of self
defense which is not tenable when
the evidence attending the crime
could not fairly be sustained.
In this case some of the wounds
on the body of Jesse Stroud would
Indicate that he was shot in the
back. The shots We're inflicted by
Mrs. Stroud as she fired from
horseback at her husband who had
Beeler on the ground beating him,
or after she had jumped from her.
horse going to the rescue of Beeler,|
when she fired some of the shots
into Stroud's back.
One of the pleas of the defendant
is that she was acting in self
defense when she fired the fatal
shots. This is hardly possible, since
Mrs. Stroud's life was not in dan
ger when her husband was mailing
Beeler, then on the ground, with his
fist. As the three may be rated as
one kind, and as Mrs. Stroud had
been very familiar with Beeler ami
4. I. Es~sx-s,,, a ,,nan,,