Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1914-07-26
MURDERS AND PUBLIC OPINION
An Excess of indignation May Hurt
the Cause of Justice

Public feeling will be relieved by
the news that counsel for the crown
acting on the suggestion of Justice
Atkin. yesterday withdrew the charge
made against John Starchfield of
numbering his son in a railway train
on january s. 1t is doubtful wheth-
er on the evidence the accused ought
ever to have been to trial. The case
will serve. however in many respects
to point its own moral.
Several murders of recent years
have presented similar difficulties
to the police. and it is not surprising
that thousands of persons with a
keen sense of Justice and a dislike
Of unsolved mysteries should form
their own theories and indulge their
own speculations. 1t is a wholesome
sign of proper public sentiment, so
long as that sentiment is kept within
reasonable bounds. The danger is OF
hindcring instead Of assisting the
course of justice. Indignation has
been stirred. no doubt, by the cumu
! latve effect of number of notable
crimes for which no convictions have
| been obtained.
| In many instances the press gives
/ substantial aid to the police, and
thus helps materially toward a just
conviction where, as in most train
murders. only ci.cumstantial evidence
| is available Yet, valuable as this
assistance may be. it has its dangers
and one Of those dangers was exem-
plified in the Starchfield case. When
the horror of a murder sinks into
the minds of persons with nervous
temperament, they are apt hastily to
respond to calls for evidence made
through the newspapers. For the
moment thei. loathing of the crime
and their instinct for the protection
Of society oversway their reason;
they volunteer to become witnesses
of occurrences which are distorted
if not wholly invented by their ina
gination
When, about the middle of January
no clue had been found to the muir
derer of the boy Starchfeld, theory
after theory was sent to Scotland
yard by amateur detectives, and any
man who was seen with a boy OF
the evening of January was il
peril of becoming the victim of ;
hue-and- cry When at last the cast
came for trial at the central Grim
! iral court the prosecution was CON
strained to rely for identification O
the prisoner on three witnesses TIVE
! of these admitted that they nevcl
had seen the prisoner before the day
of the crime, and one of them con
fessed to having had no more thar
| a passing glimpse Of him on tina
day. The evidence of all three wa!
cut of harmony on various points
Each spoke of a man who had beer
wearing a different kind of hat, anC
each swore to having seen him a
places which could not be reconcile(
with any plausible set of circum
stances There will be general agree
ment with the judges condemnation
of the violation in the Starchfiel'
case Of all the principles on which
such corners inquest should b.
conducted The sending of typewrit
ten copies of their dispositions t.
\ the witnesses To-. their signature il
| various parts of London, and I'll
acceptance of alterations made il
those dispositions in the witnesses
own homes. disclose a form of pro
cedure which Justice Atkin was jus
titled in describing as moekery
Nothing less conducive to the ad
ministration of justice could be con
ceived.-London Times