Year: 1859

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Wilkins TO ONE MONTHS IMPRISONMENT IN


the county Jail, ANpTo PAT ONE DoLLAr


FINE into the United States Treasury, fol


tho murder Of Capt. Henry L. Jones. i


we are not greatly mistaken, this sentence
will take the public by surprise, as it Ger


tainly did us. We have not united in the
clamor of some Of our cotemporaries fol


the blood of Tyler, nor in their efforts tc
create a prejudice in the public mind to.
wards him. On the contrary we have stu
diously avoided any reference to the case
that might injuriously influence the course
of justice, and taken more than one occa-
sion to rcpel the assaults made upon the
United States officials in this State, under
whose exclusive jurisdiction the matter has
come. We believed, and we have said,
that the trial was fair and impartial one,
though it cannot be denied that mercy lean
ed quite as strongly towards the criminal as
Justice could sanction, as we'll in the find
ing Of the Grand Jury as in the ruling and
charge of the Court, and the verdict Of
the Petit Jury. But with this the public
has not been disposed to complain: Glenn
ency is virtue, and its exercise is seldom
condemned when it docs not run into mawk-
ish sympathy for crime. This is rarely an
error of the United States courts, except
when necessary to carry out some favorite
views of the government, or to screen from
justice some of its more prominent suppor-
ters or partsans. In the present case no
such motives existed for screening Tyler
from the penalty which his offense deserv-
ed.


Why is it, then, that this farce Of sem
fencing Tyler to fine Of one dollar and
one months imprisonment for shooting
a human being while in the discharge Of a
duty he had no legal right to perform p
1t may be admitted that there was no pre-
meditated intention on the part Of Tyler
to kill Capt. Jones---it may even be ad-
mitted that the discharge Of the pistol
which sent fellow being suddenly into
eternity, was purely accidental, and yet
not deprive the act Of its criminal features,
nor lessen the necessity of making pub
lie example of the offender. There are
many reasons why the public should have
been spared this bulesque, and there are
some for which the homicide deserved
something more than a punishment which
would have been inflicted upon chicken
thief or the smallest act of petty larceny.


In the first place Tyler was doing an
unlawful act in attempting to seize the ves-
sci in Canadian waters. In the second
place he had no right to have iu his posses
eion deadly weapons while attempting to
execute civil process. And in the third
place he had no right to point his pistol at
tho head Of Capt. Jones, and that, too,
when within two or three feet of him.
For either Of these acts, leaving wholly
of view the question of his intention to
commit murder, if necessary, and especial
ly the last, he morited ascvere punishment.
And how much more rigdly did he deserve
to be punished, when these illegal and
cowardly acts resulted in the death of an
innocent and unarmed man?


Henceforth there will be some ground
for the charge of our Canadian and Clevc-
land ncighbors, that justice in Detroit, as
dealt out by the United States authorities,
is the vericst farce and humbug-a mere
mockery. One dollar and one months i'm
priSonment for what, under the circum-
stances that resulted in Capt. Jones' death,
we cannot help designating q murder, is
the value of mans life, as estimated in
the United States District Court Of Michi-
gan, Hon. Ross Wilkins presiding. The
DOLLAR which Marshal Tyler was ordered
TO pay into tho treasury of the United
States, covers the sentence with feeling
very like contempt and ridicule, and affords
almost parallel to the benevolent English
man, who bequeathed farthing upon his
death, towards the payment of the nation
al debt Of Great Britain. If the benevo-
lent Judge could have ordered that this fine
of one hundred cents should be appropria-
ted toward the payment Of tho debt of
sevcnty.fve millions of dollars which Mr..
Buchanan has created, or to help supply
the deficiency of fifty millions of dollars in
the government receipts, the parallel wo'd
have been complete. But as it is now
and we suppose Judge Wilkins had no pow
er to avert tho danger--the sum will pro-
badly be squandered without conferriug
any substantial benefit upon the country.
There is great doubt whether it will even
find its way into the two hundred and fifty
millions dollars fund required for the pur-
chase Of Cuba.


But Judge Wilkins had it in his power
when passing sentence upon Tyler, to have
rendered the Governmrnt, or at least the
cause of civilization and Christianity
moro substantial service, without having
materially violated his humane impulses
for the criminal. We need not remind the
learned Judge Of the practice which pre-
walls in England, known by the legal term
of "deodand," Of giving to God-that is,
the Hing-the personal chattel which is
the immediate cause Of the death of lu-
man being, and to be giveu in aims by the
proper public authority. For instance, if
man is run over by carriage or cart,
shot with gun or pistol, stable with
dirk, or beat to death with gold headed
cane, the chattel is forfeited to the state as
deodand. Now, as tho President takes
the place Of the King in this country. eS
pecially in these after days, Judge WI
kins might without. materially increasing
the punishment he had resolved should be
inflicted npon Tyler, have declard the re-