The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-09-19
Schiele Goes Free


Peter schiele was freed by the state emergency pardon
board yesterday.
The man who has lived for the last eight years IN con-
slant fear of the law, need fear the law no longer.
When a policeman appears he need not quake at the
nrospect that he will be taken back to serve a prison
term.
A faithful husband and father, Peter Schiele had es-
tablished himself in a small business when the law I'M
ally caught up to him and he faced the prison term
which he had escaped by fleeing from justice eight years
ago. !.
That the action Of the pardon board is in line with
nublic sentiment was proved by the numerous letters
which The Tribune received in response to its request
that Tribune readers give their views Of the case.
There may be some persons in the world SNUG enough
to contend that the law should have been enforced In
this case, but they will hardly stand up to be counted
Peter schieles troubles are not over. They VIII not
be over until the grave claims him as its own, but in that
respect he is no different from other persons. This
"vale of grief and tears brings heartache and trouble
to everyone. sooner or later. and for that reason. II for
no other. all Of us are glad when the fates are kind to
the unfortunate.
It is not too difficult for many men, placed in the same
position as Schiele, to imagine themselves doing the
same things which he did. It was a recommendation for
the man that he got back on the right path after once
going estray.
The real contestants in this case were a man who had
l0 q 4UAANANN~ Jaw W. SSSe
and their four small children, on one side, and the grim
walls Of the state prison on the other.
That the penitentiary lost is. in q way, a triumph for
the humane feelings which exist in the breast Of every
man and woman worthy Of the name.
Had Peter schiele been Of that class which is inimieal
to organized society. which lives by preying on law
abiding people, the answer to his plea for clemency would
have been different. The rights Of society rise above
those Of the individual. soci.ty has a right to protec-
ton, but in schieles case 1t had nothing to gain and
everything to lose by applying the law in all its harsh
ness.
A man who wants to do right has been permitted to
60 on his way and to continue being a good citizen. His
wife is spared the grief and heartache of trying to keep
her family together while her husband served his prison
term. schiele is spared the bitterness which would come
to any nan serving q sentence under like ctrcum-
stances. The four schiele children are spared the stigma
Of having q father with a prison record and the actual
hardship which comes when the breadwinner Of Q fam
lily no longer Is able to perform his duty. The state is
spared the trouble and expense Of keeping the family
while the husband and father toiled In prison. All in all.
it was q good deal all around with no one the loser.
Justice is presumed to be blind and in some cases 1t
should remain so. The heartless killer, the criminal
who, by stealth, cleverness or force, preys on honest peo-
pie, should be punished and punished severely. In such
cases Justice should be deaf to maudun pleas for SYM
pathy and consideration: blind to statements presented
rs facts but which really are falsehoods.
But there come cases when Justice profits by doing
q little peeking around the bandage which Is presumed to
blind her eyes. She loses nothing Of respect by dis
playing a sense of humanity where such . feeling is JUS
titled.
Peter schiele's was such q case.