Show orri OFFICIAL olal ciAL phlebotomy THE published reports bf ibi ro edings ce iii in the third district court on ba thursday last contain the tha following I 1 ito i I 1 the united states des indictment for unlawful voting defendant withdrew her plea of not guilty and entered a plea of bf guilty a jury w waa thereupon em panne led and returned a verdict mi 0 of guilty defendant sentenced to pay a fine flue ofa of 5 and costs T bissias one 9 of f t those hose R elain plain lain chiy chhy cases about which BO so much has been beeri said baid e the lady indicted is do ih e of mr godess and voted under rader the provisions of the statute conferring upon women the elective franchise she pleaded guilty under advice of some friends in order to save the expense of fully testing the law we do not wish at present to enter into the merits of the case except to say that the prosecution would have hae hard work to make it stick if the plea of guilty had bad not been entered we wish to draw attention to certa certain irr proceedings proceed in gs of the district att attorney 0 aney in relation to this and alm olm similar liar ilar cases the fine line of 5 was a merely nominal penalty and showed bowed that the judge was wa not disposed todeal harshly with the defendant under the circumstances butchen but when the costs were footed up they reached a total of a little over sa making M 89 and some oddments odd cents in all it appears that ef of this sum the district A claimed 50 and this is by no means a new jugon ing lug of this officers by what nhat right does he be make such an extortionate demand according to the united states statute governing these matters he be could only claim a fee of ten dollars section of the revised devised statutes allows him in cases at law wien when judgment is rendered without a jury ten dollars ia jury was ean can the atton py inform us what need there was of a jury to try a case base in which a plea of guilty had already been entered and when it was fully understood that a plea of guilty would be made any why was a jury even had not been entered but only agreed upon unless it was for the purpose of increasing the costs and opening the way for the excuse of al a bigger fee for himself we fall fail to see what object the attorney had in view but even supposing the case we had gone to trial before a jury and conviction obtained it would only be by an extreme stretching of the law straining it to its utmost possible extension that the district attorney could show any color of reason for this exorbitant demand A docket fee of twenty dollars is allowed to the attorney on a trial by jury and when an indictment for lor pr crime is tried before a jury and a conviction is had ss an additional fee is allowed in in proportion to the importance and difficulty of the casc case not exceeding thirty dollars 1 was this a case of importance and difficulty did he earn the fees be he demanded seeing that he had no argument ato to make and DO no trouble eLat at all ail the defendant having plead guilty the nine floe was but 5 1 and he wanted 50 for securing it t whim when officials are so technical and zealous about obedience to the lawthan law layr that they will cause ladies with nursing infants in their arms to be dragged from their homes fifty miles to plead to an indictment inspired by malice and to appear in court for trial for voting when they had good reason to bellave lave llave they had bad a legal right to do so ills itis certainly to be expected that those sticklers klers for and representatives senta tives of the law will themselves observe its provisions we hope those persons persona who have yet appear in jn similar cases will not submit to any such extortion and we hope the court will vill pre servel ts own dignity by preventing ing any such euch farce as the emean aeling of a jury when it Is understood by all parties that a plea of guilty is to reentered be entered also that the chief chleo justice of thib this territory will set his face fade against any such disreputable schemes to take advantage of persona unfamiliar with the lawn law as is disclosed by the geddes case and which fin din can be more fully exposed by reference to other cases which we shall feel it our duty to open up if this official phlebotomy is not put 9 astop to without delay iu |