The Washington times., 1926-01-30

/ against the dependant in this court
are dismissed.
1t All Happened Here
Those are the words of tie court
as nearly as / can recollect them
land / have a good memory after
six years. In an evening news
paper-the one you are reading
now, and the only one thai pun
lished the stroy-I found a YER
batim report Of what the JGdge had
said. That helped to fix the words
in my memory, and while | do not
contend that my account of them
can be as reliable as stenograpnic
report, / say without hesitancy
that they accurately reject the
trend of the courts opinion, and
even the exact wording Is rot FAR
astray.
An unoffending citizen had been
savagely beaten by public officials
sworn to preserve the law; they had
brought him into court on charges
they knew to be false, and they had
tried to convict him with perjured
testimony-those facts were known
to the public. The rest of 1.-THE
loss of his job. the sorrow and dis.
tress / of his dependent mother
those facts werG not told. But
they were easily fuessed. And the
judge had Enthusiastically implied
that this case was not the first of
Its kind to come under his notice.
Were prohibition headquarters de-
iluged with demands for instant re-
moval of these officials pending
| their prosecution to the full extent
of the law? Nothing like that hap
pened. Those officials are still on
the job for all / knowif they were
discharged they were discharged
quietly and unostentatiously.
Danny's mother and neighbOrs
never had the assurance Of future
safety that public dismissal Of
these villains would have meant.
Did the better element of the
city get together and say to each
other We'll. we have a certain
| moral responsibility In this matter
no legal responsibility. OF course.
Danny and his mother haven't any
case against US in the courts. But
we claim credit for the good accom-
plished by prohibition we are in
honor bound, then. to assume a
share of responsibility for the few
harmful effects of 1t that may
sporadically appear now and then.
J pletely we can rectify them
Let's send committee down
there to southwest and see what
we can do for this unfortunate boy
after all, it is due to our efforts,
however well meant, that those
murderous agents were put in
position to perpetrate this outrage.
We don't want to see even the
shadow Of injustice resting on our
door, Who'll volunteer to go down
there and find out what we can
do for Danny" No-you OF the
better element didn't call any such
meeting.
You, did cali a meeting a long
while after that, but not for the
purpose of helping Danny Harris.
Quite the contrary. You mustered
the hosts of ELECTROMAGNETIC
tempted to say self-righteousness,
but who am l, to criticise others?
You mustered the hosts of right.
eousness, then, and marched up to
the United States Capitol, when
the reappointment Of Danny's Judge
was under considera ton, and you
dema nded I/he be not reappointed,
on the ground that he acquitted
too many people charged with
bootlegging.
That didn't make much of a hit
down in Dannys section of the
town. But he didn't live there
then.N He'd moved up Connecticut
avenue way. He isn't firing fur
naces any more. But I'm getting
ahead OF my story again.
Lem and Burkhardt and / took
up a sort Of a collection for the
Harrises and Burkhardt ran them
home. Lem was to leave for Balti-
more as soon as he could get away
from the trial, Tom had phoned.
and / was not to go over. I could
stay home and rest up until u
heard from him. l stopped at the
hospital on the way, and Eileen was
asleep. She was improving slowly,
they said. ] ought to have reported
there at $50 to have my foot
locked" at, and 1t was only luck and
chance that DR.. Stephens was there