Show n t i STARTLING i I e The proceeding iji the District Court c t yesterday which is detailed elsewhere i i 1 in THE HERALD this morning was as I I 1 peculiar as it was startling It was 1 If something entirely new in the local administration I i ministration of the law We have long IL i been accustomed to surprises in court 1 i indeed they have been so frequent that I I 4 only the most extraordinary can astonish 4 e aston-ish It is saying only the truth to remark I I i re-mark that Fridays doings furnished a L r surprise that surprised Those men J j t who have presumably served faithfully i p t 1 r 1 i c Ii as members of the Grand Jury making I k f inquiries investigations that the ti II I t law commands hearing the stories of j t j 1 witnesses who were taken before them ii 1 f i I t and regularly voting to indict when it f 0 r was evident a crime had been committed I e f t t and the evidence presented made a conc t con-c r viction probable Finally cases are II 1 t t brought up in which they think no presentments pre-sentments should be made and holding I j i t I t t to their opinion like honest men they 1 i 1 are called into court denounced scolded r FI j 1 N and abused by the judge as if they were i t rogues and summarily driven from the r I i jury If this proceeding is like any a + i j other that ever happened we never tiff i i Ii i t t heard of that other It is purely original i i I 1 i origi-nal and it is to be hoped that it will for I I fivnr stand ilrm 1 I J f i I it Heretofore the Grand Jury has been t ft regarded as an independent branch of I n the court having its own peculiar f i duties to perform in its own way and 1 1 t presumably as free from the influence I i of the court and its officers as 4 I L from that of any private citizen t J A jury that would indict a man please 1 t J a judge or tinder the instructions of the I c t Judge or the District Attorney j should 1 i t itself be prosecuted and convicted is i I f r the case different when a jury refuses f If to indict at the command of the court 1 I ° or one of its petty officers The law i i I + i I jealously guards the inquisitorial body 1 U 1 i in its independence of action and protects 1I I I I i i I a H lc I pro-tects it from improper influence to the I I 4 extent of excluding the District Attorney > I t J torney from the room during its delis I deli-s s berations and ballotings and some i t judges on the very bench which Zane i y 1 occupies have instructed grand juries I f 1 Iii i to close the door on the public prosecutor t i il prose-cutor when discussing as to the propriety i 5 1 1 f pro-priety of finding an indictment and I + r whenvoting on a proposed resentmeqt 0 in order that no improper influence I I 1 could be used and the secrets of the I y t room including the individual actions I of men might not be divulged i Doe Zane assume that the inquisitors 1 it inquisi-tors are the mere tools the automatons j J of himself and the District Attorney t t f His i Honors conduct on Friday would j I indicate that he does r > 1 1 II If Judge Zane can summarily dismiss r it three men from the jury and go upon i f j f the street for others to take their t places he can discharge the panel and I I ii create a new one every day in the lit year if he can dismiss those men who i f 1 refuse to indict at his command or J n 1 that of his subordinates he can dismiss r t dis-miss them all and choose men who 1 1 k 1 t will do his bidding without question rit If he can compel the Grand Jury to indict I ll s k il dict against its will he can also refuse i 4 to let it indict If he can do as he s1 did yesterday he is absolute and 1 1 supreme + preme in the jury room as well as on the bench and the law is a humbug and its II A < administration a farce 1 i We cannot believe that His Honors i t course in this instance will be approved a and sustained it 1 n seems impossible that s I it can be One of his predecessors the r l unlamented but not forgotten AIcKeau f F X a 1 rode a high judicial horse at one time i j He assumed the right to make laws and Institute regulations and new systems 1 r y of practice at will he imagined that the ri i i t f court the law and the practice were all I i t centred in his person and that no I I > 4 1 t i d power could or would decide otherwise i i I v outrage after outrage in the name of I r H k law was perpetrated by him and justice I 1i fa mode mockery in his court 4 0 I nothing was too outrageous for himt l 1 j 1 attempt there was no stretch of authority I 1 1 4 author-ity too great for him to undertake to I j t j t i carry his point and satisfy his yin f M I dictiveness So selfconvinced was hej I t i that his marvelous assumption of jim 4 I i r nor I and authority was j-im a it f pregnable and so firm did he I 4 f t t feel himself in his seat 4T that I j ° 1 t 3 3f rJ he laughed tEr J scorn every r suggestion 1 t 1 r that he oould be reached byany thing j I w 1 less ithan the hand of Divine ProJiJ tip dehce but finally in the midst t of his 1 j t t j I presumed triumphs when in his mind J i i j I i i iS he was firmer than ever on the lof y r R I position which he had created for himself him-self he stepped one point too far and fell coming down the worst wrecked man who ever disgraced the bench by trying to deal out justice when his prejudices deprived him of all concep ton of the meaning of the term t We believe the afflicted Territory is on the eve of witnessing another such inglorious inglori-ous tumble and crash The government govern-ment cannot afford to keep on the bench a man who has lost his head in his mad desire to crush the Mormons There is less evil less shame and less immorality in all the polygamy of all the Mormons than in the outrage of the law and the mockery of justice A crank on the bench is far more dangerous to the country and its institutions than a handful of men living in violation of a law that has been thought so little of that for a quarter of a century the government has not deemed it worth a decent effort to enforce en-force it Whether or not society can endure without suffering an immorality it cannot afford to even attempt to cure the alleged evil by practicing a graver evil in its courts of justice If Utah has not before had something to carry to the administration upon which to ask relief from the oppressions of Zane she has something now and we believe it will be all sufficient Let the record go up and the response will be welcome |