The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1931-10-26
(Official City. State and County
Newspaper)
Foreign Representatives
SMALL. SPENCER, LEVINGS
e. BREWER
Uncorporated)
CHICAGO NEW YORK BOSTON
A Peace.Time Hero

A Peace-Time Hero
"Ecarface" Al Capone, king OF
gangsters and a car whose sentences
of death could not be appealed, has
been ordered to serve II years III
prison and America has a new peace
time hero in Federal Judge James
Wilkerson, who imposed the penalty.
Not in this generation has a court
been watched with the same intense
interest which has been generated Ky
this trial in Chicago. Never before
in the modern history of the nation
has there been so much excitement
about q trial for an offense other
than murder. We have to 60 back
to the Hall Mills murder case in New
Jersey 10 years ago, or to the Harry
K. Thaw murder case a generation
ago, to find another trial In a court
Of law which has been given so much
publicity.
One reason for this, perhaps, Is the
fact that the American system of
government was on trial at Chicago
almost as much as was Capone. 1t
was q direct test of the question
whether the government Of the Unit
ed States or the powers Of the under
world were to rule in the second city
of the nation. Had Capone gone free,
it would have been q severe blow to
good government everywhere. It
would have meant encouragement to
gangsters and racketeers everywhere
to intensity exploitation Of their
business"
To the jurors, of course, goes the
credit for the conviction. In the Ca
pone case IL Americans risked their
lives and the lives Of members Of
their family by the simple perform
ance of their duties as citizens. They
are entitled to full credit for their
demonstration of manliness and pa
triotism. In the fullest sense Of the
word, they + peace-time patriots.
But Judge Wilkerson carries off
the lions share of the honors. BY
cutting through the red tape which
can surround cases in any court, he
has made himself a hero In all the
land. The sentence imposed, while
twice as sever rs any ever before
meted out in a t~ax-evasion trial, the
offense with which Capone was
charged, will win the appreciation Of
all good Americans. Most Of us prob.
ably feel that, had We been in the
judges place, the penalty would have
been heavier. But II years is long
enough to serve ample warning that
the g~angster business" can really be
made dangerous by the government
as we'll as by rival underworld fac.
lions.
For Judge Wilkerson to deny bal
pending appeal was both good gov.
eminent and good policy. Had bal.
been granted, we should have hac
the spectacle Of a convicted nan loll.
ing at ease on his Florida estate ant
laughing at the government while Il
attempted to complete the Job O.
sending him to prison.
For one thing, Wilkerson,s actor
will automatically eliminate the de-
lays in administering justice of which
u courts too often are rightfully &C,
cused. Such delays always are causet
by the defense in cases such as this
and with Capone doing time" tn
incentive to delay will have van
ished. His lawyers will, by necessity
make every effort to speed up thei
appeal in order to get their client on
of the p~enitentiary If it is possibl
to do so.
The outcome of the Capone cas-
should have the effect of vastly in
creasing the respect of the averag
American for law, the courts and tn
government.
That Chicago jury and Judge VIII
kerson have proved that the terribl
and mysterious influences Of tn
gangSter are not all-powerful.
Somehow, we get the same thru
out Of this case as out Of q move
where right and justice triumph i
the end.
Tho Ioh Is pos~~ no~~