The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-04-02
JERSEY JUSTICE" is
GATHERING SPEED
Quick Trial, Prompt Conviction and
Immediate Sentence in Mosquito
State Courts.


State Courts.
Trenton, April 2.-Interest Light
has been thrown on the operation and
speed of Jersey Justice as result
of recent convictions for murder and
other crimes, While misdemanors
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 disa-
greements of juries and prison SEN
tences have been extended to maxi
mum limits in order to discourage yio-
lators of the law.
One feature of New Jersey law that
few, If any, of the other states have,
and which is said to have been a
prime factor in giving the state its
traditional reputation for lightning
like court procedure is provision
that a jury in a first degree murder
trial may designate life imprisonment
instead of the death penalty for the
cony. cted person. This has resulted
in many quick convictions for life Inn
prisonment where. otherwise, there
might have been jury disagreements
Cases like that of the Union County
band Is Charles and John krebs and
Mart n Shannon, who were senten-
eed to serve from 56 to Is years each
and who were tried, convicted and
were beginning to serve their sen.
4. ,,-ft Of thair
ture are occurring a'most da ly in
New Jersey the present so-called
"cr me wave" apparently furnishing
an excellent test for the efficiency Of
its courts.
Jersey Justice" famed from Maine
TO Florida from the Atlantic TO the
Pacific and even overseas, not only be-
cause of its speed, It's accuracy and
its relentlessness but also because Of
it's fairness and eiiic ency was not
established overnight, 1t Is scarcely
a tangible thing. 1t may be best de-
scribed as "a state of mind the
people demand ng that their law Of
fcers be efficient above everyth ng
else Thus prosecutors, grand luries,
Judges. petit mr'es and all the
branches Of the administration OF JUS
tice. which lead the criminal to PRISON
and the murderer to the death cha r.
are Just so many wheels ana gears
and belts in an almost perfectly-work-
ing machine" whose motive power
is the people,
Tradition has had much to do W tn
making Jersey iustice". 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
VIII CHI probably we're the roots OF
Jersey justice. Through the ante,
revolutionary period when organized
efforts were put forth to suppress
piracy in the Delaware and New York
hays. down to the present tine, the
speed exemplified and emphasized
here more. perhaps, than in any other
section of the Un ted States
New Jersey differs in no great re-
spect from other states as to the gen
eral legal procedure for the punish
ment OF fcr1me. IyHchings and crimes
against accused persons, however, are
rare Officers of the law, from the
highest judges down are we'll PAID ana
every effort is made to keep polit cs
ont of the courts. At present there
are more than three score life prison
ers IN the state prison here and elght
out of every ten convicts are III lor
long terms. -, H.
Wilde "Jersey Justice is swift, the
innocent are safeguarded through a
system of appeals, reprieyes ana
stavs. the latter sometimes operating
to save convicted persons from tne
death chair The case OF Frank r.
lanes and Raymond w. Schuck, con-
victed Of ling David 5. Paul, a
Camden bank messenger, s an nus
trat'on After their arrest the trials
Of the murderers were expedited anu
the same day they were sentenced
thew we've In the deathhouse here
candidates" for the chair. Their ap'
meals are now pending before the
Court of Errors and Appeals the hlgh
est state court and VIII be determined
within a month or two.
In july lfU4i CiiSt 9Ou'S hNo' ~
Aaron Timbers, William Austin, ana
Jonas Simms, entered the home OF a
farmer named Biddle, near Burlington
hound Mrs. Biddle and attacked her
Within few days all three we're cap
tured, tried, convicted and had begun
sentences of 40 years each IN state
prison.
"Bnl" Framer a Camden hold-up
man who terrorized women was re-
Gently captured and tried and convict
cd the next day. The evening OF that
day he was on his way to prison to
begin a long term Frank Gu'dara'
a Young motorcycle bandit, VINO heid
IN a Pubic Service Corporation pay,
master. stole $4,000 and was shot II
times In the body, was taken from a
bosnital to the Mount Holly Court
house and after being sentenced to 2S
Years was brought to prison the same
day on a stretcher Two companions
received like sentence
Richard Hammock Paterson
youth who held up and killed the
driver OF a silk truck received a life
sentence and commenced serving IL
- L.. - III. t,.iaI