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LINCOLN. NEB., SATURDAY. JANUARY 11 ISSG.
(gj 0
ereil with. Such a contention may be
admitted. But it might be asked, was
it demonstrated during the trial, tin
ally, conclusively and beyond all per
adventure, that Davis had committed
the crime with which ho was charged?
entered is the post office at LINCOLN No one will answer "yes'' to this inter-
as second-class matter rogation. It appears to me that the
proceedings in the Davis case came
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY much nearer establishing the fact that
the jury had been improperly influ
enced and was incompetent to renderan
THE COURIER PRINTING MD PUBLISHING CO. " verdict.than they did the guilt
, of Davis, and the judge could, without
Office 217 North Eleventh St. any straining of the law or conscience,
have given the prisoner the benefit of
Jelephone 384 the doubt. As it stands now tho rail-
way cojapany and tho able attorneys
W. MORTON SMITH Editor and Manager for the railway company have all of the
SABAH B. HARRIS Associate Editor benefit Qf dQQht OQ the;r B;de wh;,e
' the poor negro is judged by circum-
Subscription Rates In Advance. stances and sentenced to what is, in ef-
Per annum 92 00 'ec imprisonment for life, not because
Six months ".'.'.'. '.'....'.'. 1.00 the prosecution established hie guilt, but
Three months 50 because the defense failed to make ir-
One month 20 refutable demonstration of his inno-
Single copies 5 c(jnce
-
Just compare for a moment the case
of Monday McFarland with that of
OBSERVATIONS Davis- Both are colored men. Both
were charged with murder. Both con
fessed. In this community there was a
general belief, amounting practically, to
Judge Holmes refused to grant Davis unanimity, that McFarland was instru
a new trial. He sentenced the colored mental in causing the death of John
man accused of wrecking the Rock Sheedv. The evidence against him was
Island train, which wreck caused the certainly much stronger than that
death of several persons, to twenty years which was offered against Davis. Mc
imprisonment in the penitentiary Farland went free. Davis made a con
Judge Holmes' action was repugnant to fession. it is true, bijSit is an established
the sentiment of an overwhelming ma' fact that confessions by negroes are far
jority of the people of Lancaster county. from conclusive. The evidence was
Davis may be guilty of wrecking the weak, wholly circumstantial. Davis was
train, tho comparatively few people be- foun(j gmlty. '
lieve he is; but it was not proved in the
trial that he committed the. crime. If circumstances are to weigh so hea v
There were strong circumstances tend- ilyasthey did in the piosecution of
ing to show his guilt, but circumstances Davis there is a ctrong case against the
are not always convincing fact. In alleged jury fixers,
this instance there was no certainty that
the accused was guilty, and much room A friend tells me that he is pained to
for doubt. Considerations of justice and note the excessive pessimism that, in his
humanity should, it is generally be- opinion, permeates The Courier. Now
lieved, have prompted the judge to give there isn't a single pessimist on the
'the negro suspect the benefit of the staff or about the office. The editors
doubt. Probably no motion for a new are fond of walking in the sunlight,
trial in this county wtfB ever supported They Iikv to hear the birds sing, and
by such a weight of evidence and argu- they like to smile and laugh. They be
ment as that brought to bear in behalf lieve there is infinitely more good than
oftheplrato give the negro another bad in the world. The men in the corn
chance for his liberty. The public was posing room who set these types are
prepared to see a new trial granted, optimists. They whistle while they
Evidence tending to show that some of work, and sometimes in an excess of op
the jurors who passed judgment on timistic exuberance they perform very
Davis were incompetent and that the amusing antics with the copy which is
verdict was secured by improper means, placed before them. Even the janitor
y was introduced, and whatever may have is not a pessimist. He is a black man,
been the effect produced in the offici- but when he comes into the sanctum
ally judicial mind, there was aroused in every evening at 6 o'clock, he brings
the average mind a reasonable doubt of hope and mirth and lightheadedness
the regularity, to say nothing of the with him. No, we are not any of us
justice, of the verdict rendered by the pessimists. We are proper optimists,
jury. The judge may contend that it I hardly think my friend was justified
was not demonstrated finally, conclu- in declaring The Courier pessimistic,
sively and beyond all peradventure, that '
the judgment of the jury was improper- Master Pangloss taught Candide the
ly or irregularly rendered that jurors metaphysico-thcologo-cosmolo nigology,
were incompetent or had been tamp- and Candide, the optimist, came to
think that everything is for the best
and this is the best of all possiblo
worlds. And Candido, after going
through life and receiving all manner of
cujs and bruises, held to his opinion to
the end. Candide was a philosopher.
The editors of this paper are not phil
osophers. They can hardly follow Can
dide, but they boo much good in this
life. Their optimism, if it does not go
as far as Candiue's, goes to the length
of admitting a preponderance of good in
men and tho institutions which men
have set up. They are glad to applaud
when the act seems to them deserving
of praise and frequently they do ap
pUuil. They take notice of tho bright
and pleasing and beautiful things and
see every day manifestations of virtue
a consideration) tickets entitling
them to stacding room, and thoy
will bo permitted to mix in the great
show, the assembling of nations. Fred
H.-ug s browery will have a flowing keg
in each window, and an American eagle
on the great chimney. The Beo build
ing will be painted red, indicative of its
blushly feeling as tho pride of two conti
nents. Th' union depot will shimmer
in tho golden sunlight. The packing
houses in South Omaha will squirt eau
de cologne, and Omaha will revel in an
ecstacy of hilarious magnificence. Too
bad its such a long time till August,
1898. In this city G3.7H persons will
put in ten hours a day for one and one
half years waiting for the Trans-Mississippi
exposition.
and honesty and nobility, and gladly do
they report these things. But they, are The appearance of tho play, "Trilby,"
not blind. All the sunlight and the in this city this week emphasizes the
glitter, all the singing and the laugh- fact that all great literary sensations
tor, all of men's goodness and irirdness are ephemeral. Du Maurier's sketch
do not make them incapable of seeing has gone the way of all of the books that
wrong and injustice, and they do not be- have been sensations in tho last ten
lieve they are chargeable with pessi-vyears. The obscurity that reached out
mism because they give heed to these and enveloped "Robert Elsmere" and
things also.
Omaha and Nebraska received not
able recognition in the selection of Carl
Smith as the successor of Eugene Field
on the Chicago Record. Mr. Smith has
been connected with the World-Herald
for many years, and his verse and other
literary work have been of an exception
ally high order. Like Field, he has a
fondness for writing children's poetry.
He will drop into his new place grace
fully, and success will surely come to
him.
"Sho" and Amelie Rives' book, and
others of this class, is fast taking hold
of "Trilby." The play may be said to,
have outlived the book. But De Mau
rier should not be insulted by a com
parison with Mrs. Humphrey Ward and
Amelie Rives. His book had what
their's had not. It had the touch of
art the impress of truth. It was quite
tho most delightful, deft bit of sketch
ing since the days of Thackeray, and
while it has ceased to be a sensation and
is in a sense ephemeral it will remain as
a work of art, to be taken clown and
dusted and admired, after the contem
porary literary sensations have been entombed.
The World-Herald is doing some ex
cellent service along the line of "Stand
up for Nebraska." Its editorials on Ne
braska have the double merit of truth
and force.
Providence permitting, the people of
Lincoln will have the happy privilego of
attending the Trans-Mississippi expo
sition to be held in Omaha during the
months of August, September and Oc
tober, 1898. It will be a great affair
greater than the annual chicken show,
greater than Mr. Furnas celebrated
state fair, greater than the Knights of
Ak-Sa--Ben"s betinselled Feast of Mon- Coincident with the refining infiu
damin, greater than the Atlanta exposi- ence of the state university and the
tion almost as great as the World's various schools maintained in this
fair. The people of the United States immunity, there is a degrading
and New Jersey and Council Bluffs and criminal influence spreading in this
St. Joe will be invited to attend and city that must, as time goes on, have
make exhibits, as will also the people of a marked effect, if indeed such an effect
Mexico, the Central and South Ameri- is not already observable, on public and
can countries, and all foreign nations; private morals. It is the convict influ-
and they will come. There never has ence. This subject was called to my
been such an opportunity to see the wild attention tho other day by a county
Omahan in his native lair and there officer whose duty lies in the prosecution
never will be again, and greasers from of criminals. We were conversing in the
bull-fighting Mexico, dwarfs from Terra lobby of the Capital hotel, and as an
del Fuego, Eskimos from Iceland.police- illustration of the fact that Lincoln is
men from Ireland, Polanders from the full of ex-convicts the officer said:
poles. Siamese twins from Siam, Turks "There are two men standing within
from Turkey, Hots from Hottentot, twenty feet of us now who have served
Senegambians from Sengambia, alder- a term in the penitentiary." He pointed
men from Aldernay, Altrurians from them out and gave their names and
Altruria, Lairds from Scotland, pea- crimes. Continuing he said: "I believe
nutti's from Italy, all men of all climes it is entirely within the truth to say
and nations, colors and morals will that there are five hundred ex-convicts
flock to the west bank of the Missouri at large in this county. They are to
to observe the Omahas with their war be seen on every hand. A large number
'paint on. A limited number of petty offenders taken before the
of Lincoln people be given (for police judge have served their ter,
"p-Ajv"-. --"-
