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Show An Unsavory Case MR. E. O. LEATHERWOOD, you are no longer candidate for mayor; a review of matters in which you have borne a more or less conspicuous part will not be charged to politics and so in the interest of society and of eternal ji ie, we beg to recall your official part in the 1 ecution of Belle London. On tho testimony of a confessed woman of the tmm. town $Hfi2gad Belle London arrested and H arralgneraggHHti had no testimony savo such as 'fl you woulEjMave considered for a moment, had H ueen BMK any ordinary person. But you H were by me law and under your oath, bound to H assume that even Belle London was innocent until H by due process of law she was convicted. Due - H process of law means a fair trial, not general H roputation, not a hue and cry raised by a couple H of characterless and depraved newspapers; not H to take advantage of a worked up excitement on H which to ride into popular favor. H This witness of yours testified that she went H to the stockade, stood outside a window and that H Belle London solicited her to enter. Belle Lon- H don says when she found her there she asked her H where she came from and her reply was from M a certain laundry, whereupon Belle London bade H her hurry back as swiftly as possible. You will H notice that Belle London did not go to the laun- H dry for her, but that she of her own account H went to the stockade knowing perfectly the char- acter of the place. Which witness, from the testi- H mony, told the truth? H Why did your witness -go down there? Is there nny but one of two conclusions to reach; either M that she went there because she was tired of earning an honest living, or that she was Bent there as a decoy? If the latter, who sent her? H Still, on her showing you had Belle London ar- H rested; you prepared an indictment thai gave the H victim no chance to know what she ,;w,ould be H called upon to defend; you forgot apparently that H you were a part of the court and bound by the H law as well as your oath to interpose if you saw H an accused person was being railroaded to a con- Wk viction, but you pressed the conviction with all wk the power you had and brought to your help ex- fl traneous influences to drive the prosecution to conviction and though all you proved was what H Belle London confessed to the keeping of a M house of ill fame, an offense disposed of every M morning in ten minutes by every police court In M every city of civilization you obtained a sentence M unparalleled in its inhumanity and mr ;ous M cruelty. H Tho whole thing is a reminder of tho Harry B Thome trial. In the review of that case by the Supreme Court, tho Chief Justice of Utah in his M concurring opinion, said: H "So long as prosecuting officers will disregard H the rights of an accused, and in doing so prevent H him from having a fair and impartial trial upon all questions in issue, and upon all questions in- H volving a substantial right, just so long we are H bound as the reviewing court to interfere with H judgment." It seems to be a clear case, Mr. Leatherwood, H that you are following the evil practices and tra- H ditions of district attorneys who have preceded H H More, all through the case you were clearly B playing to the galleries; in your argument you H declared some things for which there is no justi- H flcation In fact, but which the experience of D thousands of years has proved impossible of ac- H compllshment. The primaries are past. Now if you H will look up the authorities American and Eng- H Ush, you will see that where extraneous influences M are brought to bear, if you have been involved in H a trial where such influences have been worked, it jH is your sworn duty to confess to the motion for HH H a new trial and advise the court that it should he H granted. H In the meantime the moral which Our courts H seem to' wish .to inculcate is to commit highway H robhery, or burglary, both attended by cold H blooded murders, and you are all right; but if a H characterless woman of the underworld, for spite H or revenge, or money, charges that you are none too good, then look out for a sentence worse than H death. |