The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-09-17

with great flourish and much big.
black display lines that former Sen
ator John l.. McLaurin is preparing
for exclusive publication i'm that pa
per complete narrative of his deal
ings with the Standard OIL crowd and
other Wall stheet captains of high
finance. BY some strange oversight II
was not stated whether the forthcom-
ing serial story Is to be historical
romance or pure fiction.
The enforcement OF law and the
punishment OF criminals are essen
tlal to the maintenance of orderly
government. and tho apprehcr ZION
and arrest OF criminals are the first
steps In tho enforcement of Jaw: but
IL seems to us that private detectives
and some regular officers are permit
ted to so to undue lengths in arrest
Ing suspects on the fiimsiest sort of
suspicion. In their eagerness to earn
the large rewards offered for the cap
ture OF train robbers and similar bis
thieves they round up any man whom
they may imagine to have had an op-
portunity to commit the robbery. They
proceed on the theory that If the man
is innocent he should be able To es-
tabiish the fact without difficulty and
merely accomplish his release from
custody. They take the position that
y Is better for a private detective, in
search of a reward, to arrest a hun
dred innocent men rather than take
one chance in a hundred of permit
lis a suspect 10 escape. They do not
nsider the rights of an innocent
.n and his reasonable objections to
ng treated as criminal, on a
que suspicion thai he might pos
Sibly have committed the crime, but
place upon him the burden OF proof.
quite often man is taken into Gus
tody for no better reason than that, i'm
tnc opinion of reward-hunting
siueth. he looks like a criminal or Is
supposed to have been somewhere
within a hundred miles of the place
at the time the crime was committed.
When the suspect proves his inno-
cence beyond the shadow OF a doubt
TO the satisfaction of the detective,
who arrogates to himself the rights,
istrate. high sheriff and grand jury,
ne Is permitted to so his way and Is
expected To be grateful to the detec-
tive for the favor. III the suspect
cannot Immediately satisfy the detec-
tive that II is a physical impossibility
for him 10 have committed >the crime
he Is thrust into Jail and held i'm
durance until more likely suspect
can be landed. This sort of thing is
fine for the detective and imprcsses
the public with an idea of the zeal
and energy of the professional thief
catcher, but II is hard on the inno-
cent victim and damaging TO his rcpu-
tation. IL is "a blot on "a mans record
% be arrested, even though the arrest
hs the unwarranted act OF "a fool detec-
tive who is more concerned about
\ earning reward than doing justice
here should be some limit set to tho
over OF private detectives and off,
~tious regular officers to arrest "a man
whom they happen To suspect. There
should be some redress for the man
who is arrested without sufficient evil
cence against him To warrant com
Tnitting magistrate i'm holding him for
preliminary
Gov. Sulzer says he feels confident
that he will be acquitted of the
charges brought against him. He han
the faith that would move mountains
if he feels that way about a court that
has been packed against him by Tam
many hall.
The decision OF the state Board OF
Canvasscrs I'm the Sumter county dis
pensary election contest seems To us
To- settle the matter. An appeal To the
Supreme Court would be useless. for
Il is not To be supposed that the court
would revise it's own decisions that
tear directly upon the issues raised
Ia this controversy.
The people and newspapers that
have been blackguarding Bryan since
1896 are trying tO make much Of his
lccturing tour III thcy can prove that
lac has neglected or is ncglccting his
duties. or is not holding down his t"h
as Secretary of state as well as any