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Show LEX EST SCRIPTA. A Lncld, Learned and Latter-day Saint Exposition of the law of Criminal Libel. Jfow Comes Charles W. Hemeniray, .Editor of the Ogden "Herald," -. and Demurs. He Meant to Praise the Chief Justice, Bnt to the Wicked His Praise Was as Damnation. , The public have manifested some interest in-terest in the case of the People of Utah vs. Charles W. Hemenway, charged with libel on Judge Zane, more particularly because Hemenway is to conduct his own case. In the Ogden Herald of yesterday is a lengthy editorial explaining the law ot libel. The article itself is a libel on the law itself. We will endeavor to make a few extracts to show the drift of the argument. This is a part of the article upon which the indictment is found : "Lewdness, then Murder. Scarcely had the news of the decision of Chief Justice Zane (meaning him, the Charles S. Zane) in the Vandercook habeas corpus case been disseminated last Saturday, when the tele-, graph announced that another Deputy United States Marshal in Utah, named Collin, Col-lin, had surrendered himself on the charge of murdering Joseph W. McMurrin, in Salt Lake City, about seven o'clock p. m. of the same day. A full account of the foul deed appears in this issue of the Ogden Herald. The charge of lewdness against . Deputy Marshal Vandercook has. just been successfully success-fully evaded through the agency of a Federal Fed-eral Judge (meaning him, the said Charles S. Zane) in such a way that it became reasonably reas-onably evident to anti-Mormon villains that the average Utah Federal Justice would permit no atrocity committed by an anti-Mormon anti-Mormon to be. speedily and condignly punished pun-ished according to the demands of justice." Following this came these expositions as to the law and the facts : Now, the first three words of the above extract from the alleged libelous article had self-evidently no reference to the worthy Chief Justice. The next sentence commencing commenc-ing with the word "Scarcely" and ending with the word "day" contains nothing upon its face that could be construed as being even disrespectful of His Honor, the Chief Justice. And the following sentence is upon the face thereof blameless. Then comes the sentence averring that: "The charge of lewdness preferred against Deputy Marshal Vandercook had just been successfully success-fully evaded through the agency of a Federal Fed-eral Judge," and this sentence neither directly di-rectly nor by implication charges corruption upon any one, nor is there m it any intimation intima-tion that in acting as the agency through which Deputy Vandercook evaded investigation, in-vestigation, His Honor acted otherwise than in his best judgment according accord-ing to the law of which he was the agent, justly enforcing justice according to its mandates.1 If as the balance of the last sentence seems to aver the alleged evasion of Vandercook through the agency of a Federal judge, acting honorably and fairly, presumably for no other sort of action is alleged caused "anti-Mormon villains" to think it reasonably evident that "the aver age Jjederal justice would allow no atrocity committed by an anti-Mormon to be speedily and condignly punished according to law" the fault self-evidently lay in the law in its admission of a technical evasion, and there is no imputation, direct or indirect in this fact to reflect in the least upon the impartiality, honor and integrity of the Chief Justice in administering the law honestly according to the best of his knowledge and ability. The last portion of the last sentence in the above alleged libelous libel-ous article upon its face shows nothing even disrespectful much less libelous- of the said Chief Justice, Charles S. Zane. Then comes some more excerpts from the indictment, followed by this comment: com-ment: . ' The statement which the defendant is here charged with publishing libelously in the first of this paragraph is: "On Saturday forenoon last, Chief Justice Zane rendered a crooked decision, screening Deputy United States Marshal Vandercook from even legal investigation on the charge of lewd and lascivious conduct." Now, self-evidently this meant nothing more than that the Chief Justice honestly and fairly probably,, or as far as we knew, rendered a crooked decision that is to say, a decision that did not bear straight upon or adjudicate the charge of lewd and lascivious conduct pending against Deputy Vandercook, and that the technicality of the law under which the Chief Justice rendered his properly crooked decision, not bearing directly upon or reaching straightly the adjudication ad-judication of the pending charge, legally screened the Deputy in question from further fur-ther legal investigation of the accusations against him, by the penal code denominated denomi-nated "lewdand- lascivious conduct." Therefore, if it was a fact, as the alleged libelous article goes on to say, that "stnnu-lated "stnnu-lated by the aid which was thus extended (by the law and not by the Chief Justice) to the alleged offender, and probably nerved by a prospect of like immunity, Deputy United States Marshal Collin spilled the blood of a Mormon; and who can say that the Chief Justice Jus-tice is guiltless?" Where is the alleged libel here? Now the last portion of the last sentence sen-tence quoted is merely a question. It neither avers nor insinuates anything,' but asks who can say or assure us that the Chief Justice ! is guiltless because it was impossible for us to tell. "Who can say that the Chief Justice is guiltless?" Guiltless of what? Guiltless of nothing but of being the innocent agency in the legal rendition of a properly crooked decision, as hereinbefore explained, under a blamable law, which encouraged anti-Mormon villains to think (overlooking the law and attributing the blame to the Judge) that the average Federal Justice would permit no atrocity perpetrated by an anti-Mormon against a Mormon to be speedily speed-ily and condignly punished according to the demands of justice not justice under the defective laws, but intrinsic and -supreme justice. The article closed with this : ,? appears to us that the prosecution in this case is an unjust and altogether inexcusable inex-cusable one, devised to fetter the pen of the defendant. After carefully reading the.- very learned and logical exposition of the law according to Lord Chief Justice Hemenway, Hemen-way, we are compelled to coincide with the Ogden editor and exclaim, "Me, too." |