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Show Ml' OBSOLETE. HtfMjt The right of trial by jury has been clung to with I$I.: much tenacity by Anglo Saxon peoples. rtkit It has come down from tnc time when the com- 3 mon people first began to assert, some of their inali- "i enable rights. p A part of the reverence for it comes from the an- ' I cient superstition that an accused person, if poor and j',i friendless, would have better chances of securing I ji justice if his case could be left to the decision of a k 'I jury selected from the common people, than in any 1 1) other way. But is it not time for all that rubbish it to be swept away ? A vivid object lesson of the effect i ?iii of the system has been recently supplied the people h I j; of this region. Some months ago a murder was coni- Hi '$ mitted in the outskirts of this city. Every particul- I f ar bearing upon the case, everything brought out by I j j the preliminary examination of the man accused of I W'M' ne atrocity, all the theories of policemen, reporters m jij and inspired cranks have been given, with elaborate Hjjlf' (? and wierd accompaniments in the newspapers. The (); I j natural result was that, when the trial was finally W II 8e required weeks of labor and involved much I Ifi'i $ expense to secure a jury. Now is it not time to decide that such work is 8 criminal foolishness and should stop? Would not an accused person have quite as much certainty of H ' M; i receiving justice could an educated judge with two IjjEr ;! associates, have the decision of the case as can be fir 'j possible under the present system? ifij I It would save no end of time and money, it would Mm prevent the publication, day after day, of all the Ijl'lij nauseating details of capital and other cases; it would liw:1 I cause the stopping of the present indecent offer of SSr premiums to imbecility, it would begin at least, to do Hratif' away with the superstition that profound ignorance I'Mliln! on a ne requirements of law. is presumptive evi- IPShkL dence of lofty integrity. I tjff!' Finally, it would put a stop to the gratification of BiflfiH "ne vaiuty of murderous ruffians and reduce trials to I ! HI P ne 0 basis f facts. B(Jm Our idea is and long has been that the usefulness HlKvll' Jur trials passed years ago. nZlpi |