The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-04-06
The Aurora Tragedy-And a Warning

Deep N the foundation of our national life are i'm
oedded certain inalienable rights. Such rights as
Heeoom OF speech, OF religion, trial by jury and peace
able assembly are the products of centuries of strue-
gle by peoples against oppression. Their history be-
gan long before the founding of America. They we're
transplanted when our constitution was written. They
are TWO fundamentals OF our liberty.
Among those inalenable rights is one which
declares that a mans home is his castle. Expressed in
constitutional language, that principle says:
The right OF the people to be secure in their per-
sons, houses and effects against unreasonable searches
and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrants
shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath
or affirmation, and particularly describing the place
10 be searched and the persons or things to be seized"
Prohibition officers in Aurora, Ill, forced their
way into a private home, dubbed the owner into I'M
consciousness, then shot and killed his wife. 12-
year-old son seized a gun and wounded one of the
invaders.
Not only did the extreme measures employed in
the raid Immediately challenge the reasonabIeness of
1t. but evidence at once pointed to the faulty nature
Of the warrant under which the raid was conducted.
Unvarranted searches and seizures have been an
increasingly frequent phase Of prohibition enforce
ment. As they have multiplied, public Indignation,
except among those zealots who would sacrifice all
other law in order to enforce one, has grown in pro-
portion. The brutal details of the Aurora raid acted
as a climax and famed that indignation into some
thing approaching a white heat.
One evidence Of the extent of the feeling appeared
when newspaper readers began tc make voluntary
contributions of money to be transmitted on to the
son who had risen in defense of his parents and his
home.
Accompanying one of those contributions came a
letter from a citizen of New Rochelle to the editor of
the New York Telegram. In conclusion it said:
we can't all be fortunate enough to shoot a
revenue officer, but we appreciate the opportunity of
showing how much we would like to!'
While approaching the emotional impulse that gave
rise to the fervency OF that communication, we de-
sire to take the incident as the occasion for sounding
this warning:
The spirit expressed in that letter is just exactly
as wrong, Just exactly as dangerous to the welfare Of
society. as the act which inspired the letter. The two
are of the same piece. Both breathe anarchy.
BY all findings to date. the shooting of the Aurora
revenue officer was justified, under the law, in defense
OF a home. The raider who was wounded now faces
prosecution for killing the mother Of that boy. The
officer himself violated the law. He should and must
lace the penalty.
But by the same token and under the same prin-
ciple, other officers who perform their duty within
he law. should and must be supported by the society
hey serve. This, no matter what cause for righteous
indignation may arise from the conduct of other
officers who as in the Aurora case. desecrate the law
they are supposed TO enforce.
Such events as the Aurora tragedy call for clear
medicines on the part of every good citizen. They
csll for the exercise of that most wholesome Of all
qualities, common sense. They call for the applica-
lion by all of US that great and simple truth, that two
wrongs do not make a right.
Ours is a government of law. The structure of law
Is complex. If our civilization is to survive, we must
not get lost in the maze.
We must think as well as feel.