The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1921-04-08
JERSEY JUSTICE FAMED
LIGHT rs THROWN UPON
IT'S OPERATION
People Demand Law Officers
Efficient Above Every
thing Else
ASSOCIATED Press Dispatch. ]

ASSOCIATED Press Dispatch.1
Trenton April Interesting light
has been thrown on the operation and
speed Of Jersey justice" as a result
of recent convictions for murder and
other crimes. While misdemeanors
and felonies have increased In New
Jersey, as elsewhere in the country
In the past year or so, state records
show that there have been few dls-
agreements Of juries and prison sen
fences have been extended to maxi
mum limits in order to discourage
violators Of the law.
One feature of New Jersey law
that few, IL any, OF the other states
have, and which Is said to have been
prima factor in giving the state rs
traditional reputation Tor lghtenng--
Hike court procedure is provision
that jury in a first degree murder
trial may designate life imprson-
suited sus Sod IN many p a., o. convictions for
life Imprisonment where, otherwise
there might have been jury disagree
ments.
Cases like that OF the Union County
bandits, Charles and Johns Krebs and
Martin Shannon who were senten-
ced to serve from fifty-six to seven
ty- five years each and who were
to serve their sentence within forty
eight hours of their capture, are oc-
curing almost daily in New Jersey,
the present so-called crime wave
apparently furnishing an excellent
test for the efficiency of its courts.
Not Established Over Night
Jersey justice" famed from Maine
to Florida, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific and even overseas, not be,
its relentless but also because of its
fairness and efficiency, was not es-
| tablished overnight It is scarcely
q tangible thing. It may be best des-
cribed as "a state of mind" the PEG
pie demanding that their law officers
be efficient above everything else.
Thus prosecutors, grand juries, judi
ges, petit juries and all other branch
es OF the administration of justice,
which lead the criminal to prison and
the murderer to the death chair, are
Just so many wheels and gears and
belts in an almost perfectly working
machine, whose motive power is
the people:
Tradition has had much to do with
making Jersey Justice. beginning
with the early days Of the settlement
of the state when many crimes were
punishable by death the Calvinists
brought into East Jersey distinctive
views of religious and civil matters
which probably were the roots OF
Jersey Justice" Through the anti
revolutionary period, when organized
efforts were put forth to suppress
piracy In the Delaware and New
York bays, down to the present time,
the ST ced Sirh WI. IN penalties havc
baen melted, out to the evil doer has
been exemrlified and emphasized
here Eiore. PERHAPS. than III any
other section Of the United States.
spect from others states as to. the
general legal procedure for the pun.
ishment Of crime. LynchingS and
however, are rare. Officers of the
law, from the highest judges down,
are well paid and every effort Is
made to keep politics out of the
courts. At present there are .aore
than three score life prisoners in the
every ten convicts are in for ioag
terms.
innocent Are Safesuarded
While Jersey justice" Is swift, the
innocent are safeguarded through a
system of appeals, reprieves and
stays, the latter sometimes operating
to save convicted persons from the
death chair. The case Of Frank p.
James and Raymond W. Schuck,
Camden bank messenger, is an IL
lustration. After their arrest the
trials of the murderers were expedi-
ted and the same day they were
sentenced they were in the death
house here candidates for the chair.
Their appeals are now pending be-
fore the Court of Errors and APP
peals, the highest state court anu
will be determined within a month
In July 1904, three young negroes,
Aaron Tmbers, William Austin, and
Jonas Simms, entered the home OF a
farmer named Biddle, near Burling-
ton, bound Mrs. Biddle and attacked
her. Within a few days all three
were captured, tried, convicted and
had begun sentences of forty nine
years each in state prison.
Bib Framer, Camden hold, up
Gently captured and tried and con-
victed the next day. The evening of
that day he was on his way to prison
to begin a long term. Frank Guidara,
a young motorcycle bandit, who held
up a Public Service Corporation pay.
master, stole $4,000 and was shot
twelve times in the body, was taken
from a hospital to the Mount Holly
court house and after being SEN
fenced to twenty eight years was
brought to prison the same day on a
stretcher. Two companions received
a Ike sentence. Richard Hammock,
a Peterson youth who held and killed
the driver OF silk truck received a
life sentence and commenced serv-
ing 1t within day Of his trial.
IErom SATURDAYS DaiIyl