Evening star., 1932-07-02

Surrender of the law to gangsters is
seen by the country in the release by a
Chicago court of bank robber, because
witnesses we're intimidated by machine
gun authority. There is wide demand
for greater courage from the officials
i whose duty it is to uphold justice.
The story as told by the Chicago
Daily News is: Two officials of a
Chicago bank which had been invaded
by five armed hoodlums and robbed OF
$4,000 identified in court before a
jury Daniel McGeoghegan. once sem
fenced to death for murder COM
mitted during previous robbery, as a
member OF the band of looters. One
of the II jurors held out for acquittal.
so the jury was discharged. An early
retrial of the case was in prospect
Then, to the amazement OF the presid-
ing judge an assistant States attorney
appeared before him and asked that
the case be dismissed, asserting that
the bank officials who were the State S
witnesses and the banks board OF dl-
rectorS desired that action. For, TO
prevent the witnesses from being as
saulted or even killed by friends OF the
hOodlum defendant. the State had un-
dertaken to guard them in down town
I1OlBl. buI Illdb tARCdlCilb PANNNAi1SNA
the bankers from carrying on their
work. So the accommodating assist
ant States attorney applied for a mol
prosequi in the case. The judge. who
expressed indignation at the request,
deemed it necessary to accept the Judg-
ment of the States attorneys office
and so entered the order" The Daily
News suggests that. In this case. 'the
upsetting of justice was more prepos-
ferrous as well as more disgraceful than
is usual even in Cook County and
that it "can not be administered in the
manner of Mad Halter tea party"
I'VE have workable judicial system,
says the Baltimore Sun, but 1t will not
survive the present threats to its in
tegrity if it docs not exert its full power
to protect the community from the
malign forces which bid fair to over
whelm US" That paper declares that
the case reflects a state of affairs
which decent opinion cannot tolerate
forever" The Sun also comments on
the details publicly recorded: THE in
timidation of witnesses is routine
practice Of the thugs that now run
things in our larger cities. There is no
occasion to look down the nose at Chi
cago on this account, unless matter
of degree is ground for contempt. But
here is a plain and successful tntimi-
daticn of the prosecutors office and, in
a backhanded manner, of the court it
self. The only response TO the definite
announcement that gangs are intimi-
dating witnesses against a suspected
robber is to release the suspected rob-
Der. No wonder the gangster left the
court room 'grinning broadly. He had
beat the system without struggle. Law
had been challenged and had folded up.
One explanation is that McGeoghegan
is a political worker and needed in the
election campaign The assurance de-
rived from this information is only
moderate"
Has government broken down in
this country? Have the people no pro-
lection, no certainty that the law
breakers will be punished?" asks the
Rock Island Argus, while the Mime
apolis journal voices the protest
"These are gangsters known to the
laws officers as public enemies Yet
the law does not get them. If they
come to retribution, it is the warped
kind that rival public enemies visit
upon them, not for violating the code
of the public. but for breaking that of
the underworld Going back to the
| Lindberg case and the laws impotence
but what's the use? What has any
city done to make society safer against
public enemies? What has been done
| by the law. anywhere, to wipe out
| through constituted agencies, the shame
and the menace of underworld codes?
What has been done anywhere this
year. to make the law efiective?"