The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-12-23
1t
Seems
to
Me
BY Haywood Broun

BY Haywood Br0un
NEW YORK, Dec. 23.-In all the
IN talk about the laws delays
and the thickness of criminal law
yers I think that we may lose sight
Of the fact that there is such a
thing as the innocent defendant.
1t seems to many that the pres
ent safeguards which have been
set up make convictions much too
difficult, and yet there is no doubt
at all that a number of men and
women in our prisons are guilty Of
no crime whatsoever. AS long as
Mooney languishes in a California
jail think it is preposterous to say
we go too far in protecting the
innocent.
The case Of Sacco and Vanzetti
and the recent Scottsboro trials
also tend to prove that not all the
errors in our courts lie in the di-
rection of umwarranted acquittals.
4 few years ago a professor at Y,.le
published a book in which he cited
dozens of convictions and some exc
cutions in the case of capital crimes
in which the victims of the deci-
sions we're later proved to be the
wrong persons.
A newspaper man told me of
L n case in point. When he was
working in Kansas City word came
to the Office that a posse had taken
to the roads in Missouri in search
Of two Negroes who had attacked
farmers wife who lived in a lone
ly cottage. My friend was assigned
to cover the story and managed to
catch up with the mob.
The woman said that her as
sailants were a tall, dark Negro and
short, light one. Presently the
cavalcade came upon two field
hands who seemed to answer tie
description. A farmer with a shot
gun climbed out of a car and called
on the men to halt. They jumped
over fence and began to run for
a patch of woods. The mob caught
them before they could make it.
They were just about to lynch the
two men when one of them made a
strong plea that he and his COM
panion could prove an alibi. He
asserted that both he and his friend
had been working in the field of
neighboring farmer at the time the
crime was supposedly committed.
The farmer could testify to that,
they said.
The mob was not much impressed.
After all, one Of the prisoners was
tall and dark and the other was
short and light. Both had run when
man with a shotgun ordered them
to halt My newspaper friend said
he would take two members of the
mob over to the farmers house to
see if the alibi was sound. He added,
as very vital afterthought, that it
would be a good idea to take the
two Negroes.
TINE farmer bore out the story
Il of the two field hands COM
pletely. They had worked under his
supervision all afternoon and just
couldn't have been the men who
went to the lonely cottage. Reluc-
family the mob released its two priS-
onerS with a warning.
Two weeks later the farmers wife
confessed to her husband that no
body had attacked her. She had
just made up the story because she
wanted him to give up the lonely
little farm and move back to town.
If he thought she wasn't safe out
there she might manage to induce
him to make the move. Two men
were nearly hanged because of the
lying story of neurotic woman.
And some have been hanged and
burned and shot upon no better
testimony.
The chief reason why so many
murdererS escape punishment in
America is that most of them never
are caught I hardly think that
crime will be diminished by the
simple process of merely picking
scapegoat in each case regardless Of
his innocence or guilt. There are
people in the community who seem
to get satisfaction from the thought,
after any atrocious crime, We'll,
anyhow, We lynched somebody" or
I'VE electrocuted somebody 1 do
not think that criminality will be
much diminished by having some
perfect stranger take the rap for
many of the crimes committed.
T ASSUME that the two men in
i San Jose who were lynched
were guilty of the murder of Brooke
Hart. I assume that they were
guilty because. according to the
newspapers, the police announced
that they had signed confessions
which were borne out. Moreover,
the community round about was
certain of their guilt.
However, Leo Frank was lynched,
and every reporter who covered his
trial tells me that he was certainly
innocent.
A confession is not good evidence
unless it can be brought out at the
trial under what precise circum-
stances it was signed. If America
intends to go into lynching in
big way some of these facts are
worth remembering. 1t will be all
too easy to frame anybody by max
ing an arrest and then sending out
word from the Jail that the priS-
oner has confessed. After that you
need only to invite the mob in.
I feel sorry for the victims of
crime, but I am quite ready to adj
NIT that I feel sorry for criminals
as well. And this includes the per-
petrators of atrociouS crimes. Man
isn't like that. He gets warped
and twisted. 1 want to know why.
It is necessary to kill mad dog.
And I feel sorry for him, too.
Copyright. 1888, by The Times)