The Alaska citizen., 1917-08-27
P H 0 N E 26 ,
\ BLOT OK OUR ANNALS.

tl tlltJ bi llDl tlI.tN ''t '\N'i'. '''N ''' ,eeek. will go down in the history ot the ter .itorv a, one ol the most di,gracc1ul bIots m Judicial annals ot the NorthIand To tat Ioming generation, of Alaskan, it will show .&h1 the prc>cnt-day ,Aa~kau>, as loyal to heir government a~ any ot their fellow c1u- Eca- Outside. hold nothing but contempt and h,.u,, for the acts oi some oi the local 1cd- ral officials,
 Callahan wa, first tried in Fairbanks Iu1 was found guilty as charged. \ jury ], twelve men Wa, secured out ot a ycnirc l, ,. tlir>-thrcc men. Yet, when the case was kent back for another trial. the federal OI1l iaI> prosecuting the case declared that It lyouId be impossible to get a jury in Fair .oauk,-thi~ in spite oi the fact that there arc i f.0O0 residents ill thi, vicinity and in the l1reyou~ trial a iury was secured ont of B .ncn summoned
 Judge Bunnct in transferring the uia o Ruby. made the startling statement that Inc government i, entitled to d fair trial d. yell as the defendant It is a disgrace1u tate of affairs when d court has to take a lhaugc of venue in order to obtain a convc ion
 And this high-hauded otticiousncs, is not authorized by the law of the territory. Ar iclc i of Section 3O4, political code of Al ~Na pre>cribc~ when a change of venue may I1e taken in the following words: In any criminal prosecution the
 court shall change the place oi trial where 1t appears to the satisfaction o1 the court that the defendant will not be preudiccd thereby and that the
 Cuited States will be put to unncccS-
 ~arv expense in such criminal prosccu-
 ton ii the transfer is not made,
 Nothing in the code can be construed tc ncan that the court has right to change o lenuc i'll order that the prosecution may Sc lair trial In all courts oi our land, tho llu i~ so designed to give the defendant cN \ ry opportunity to establish his innocence 3' he court is court oi prosecution, not O Persecution. and the tribunal, if it is fair II
 ~ dealings, is certain to get fair play be au~e of the respect and confidence of tho Community in the courts fairness.
 \ court having to take change ot venue 5o escape prejudice i, perhaps without paral II anywhere excepting in Alaska. Aside arOm that the cost of taking the case to Ruby s,as a vast and needless expense. All of th' Witnesses were Fairbanksans Who would IaV' Aivtn the same testimony here Instead O lhat the government was put to the hcaV! losls of transporting the court officials an( N tncsses several hundred miles down th' liver. All of the facts ill the case could hav' een brought out as we'll if not better righ
 ere ill Fairbanks.
 The people of Alaska are loyal to thei lag and their government her cr1t1c1Sn lf certain local federal officials does not md1 late that Alaskans are unpatrlot'c It rathe hows that they are better citizens, becanS
 hey will not stand for the cicanerl and cor uption of petty federal officials
 They are justified in feeling shame anc disgust when a court goes out o1 it's way t' ersecute instead of prosecute a detcndan I ho happens not to be i'll the good graces O onniving officials.
 So many attempts have been made D, he prosecution and the marshals office t eemingly railroad political and personal enc l1ies that the people of this district have los bnfidence, not in the government, but in thes unworthy federal officials who are abusin! heir power And the people of Alaska d ) lot hold the government at Washington re bonsble for these scOundrels, either J Alaskans are the most laW-abiding peO # le on earth, and no people are more anxiou see just punishment visited upon the gull than they But they hate graft and crook r dness and the using of political positions t
 urther private ends and even political an
 ersOna scores
 And that is why the good people of thi . istrict rejoice in the acquittal of Dan Cal ' Phan