Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1919-05-01
C0fIEE'pNIAIC THE
FAUTECK CASE

hSCSuIly dC Eau claire, HduI j. Fdu
teck, formerly of Reedsburg, was sen
fenced to one year at Fort Leaven
worth on an espionage charge, and
among other things the Chippewa
Herald says:
Attention is called to the fact that
United States Attorney General Pal
mer has dismissed the espionage cases
against Dr. William G.. Robinson and
Samuel w. Simpson, editors of "A
Voice in the Wilderness"
Paul J. Fauteck, former editor of
the Medford Sun, copied some of the
writings Of "a Voice in the Wilder
ness" in his newspaper, and for which
and~one other newspaper article taken
from the Charleston, S. c., American,
he was indicted under the espionage
act by U. S. federal grand jury at La
Crosse last October. Attorney Alex
ander Wiley was retained in his case,
making trips to La Crosse and Madi-
son and finally when the case came to
trial, in federal court at Eau Claire At
tOrney Wiley put up a brilliant de-
Tense for Mr.. Fauteck, but without
avail. Though Attorney Wiley was
freely cOmplimented on his handling
Of the Fauteck case, yet the system OF
grinding through these esp Onage cases
in the courts of the western district of
Wisconsin is SO firm that the Unitel
States district and the whole court
thought that justice would not be sat
isfed unless Mr.. Fauteck was given
one year at the federal penitentiary at
Leavenworth.
The ed tors who wrote the dope that
Mr.. Fautcck copied are freed by Y. S.
Attorney General Palmer, who in a
broad minded way, says the war i8 ever
and though these editors have made
mistakes, yet let bygones be bygones,
and it is high time for a spirit Of mercy
to temper the justice Of our courts n
these espionage cases.
The Herald offers no criticism Of the
coU proceedings at Eau Claire which
resulted in Paul J. Fauteck being sent
to Leavenworth. To all appearances
the court endeavOred in every way to
be fair and impartial The war is over
and our courts should realize that
there are far more vCXat GUS problems
that affect the body polite now than
any espionage ac-s In most OF these
cases the offenders have already been
punished far more than one would cas-
uaIly think. So it is time now fer
some mercy to be shown people who
make mistakes.
In looking over the war the people
discover a vast number Of mistakes
that were made by many high il au-
thOrity, These mistakes have been
extremely costly. 1t will De years be-
fore the people finish paying for these
mistakes, which will plague folks a
great deal more thar small infrac-
tons against governmental policy
officials who made thejr mistakes are
not blamed. 1t is claimed that they
were not intended to be mistakes. Yet
the results show that these mistakes
were very far reaching and serious
OrseQuences resulted, which have
caused unusual harship upon the body
polite. Tie verdict of the voters has
already been recorded in the recent
congressional election, showing that
the voters have passed judgment upon
cur public servants for their mistakes,
of which the courts OF the land take
no cOgnfZance.
Where individuals have made mis-
takes it would seem that the courts
of the land could afford to pursue a
liberal policy, especially since the war
is over Our eminent United States
attorney of the western district or
Wisconsin does not need any proof
that he is an American citizen. We
know he is. No one doubts it. 1t
is not the intention of the Herald to
criticise the methods that are now
being pursued by our federal courts.
We are merely speaking from the
rank and the file of the electorate as
to the view now generally held. We
believe that in most of these espiona@e
cases that the victims have been pun
ished severely for their foolisEnesS
before they were ever in court, and
the court proceedings generally Civ
them a severe punishment before any
sentence is imposed