NOTES.
THE Fleming murder trial in New York City, which lasted forty-two days and resulted in the acquittal of an alleged matricide, was the topic of much serious comment and of not a little rail lery in the city newspapers. As a specimen of the latter was the following excerpt, the sarcasm of which may possibly apply to many localities. "Now, children, what was the object of a mur der trial in the last century?" "To prove a murderer guilty and hang him for the good of the community." "Right. And what is the object of a murder trial at the present day?" "To prove the guilty innocent and protect him from the punishment he deserves." "Quite right. What is the prosecution? And what is its duty?" "The prosecution is supposed to be the State, and its duty is to make pegs for the prisoner to hang his defense upon." "Good. And what is the defense?" "The defense is the court oracle, who instructs the judge, the jury and the prosecution in behalf of the prisoner, and threatens them with reversals unless they agree with his views." "Who is the judge?" "The judge is the assistant defense, who is afraid to charge against the prisoner lest the latter be convicted and there arise a new trial. He pre fers to acquit the guilty in order to save his repu tation." "Who are the jury?" "Twelve men supposed to be peers, who get all tangled up with the evidence and vote for acquit tal because they don't know what else to do." "Very true. And who is the defendant?" "The defendant is the leading man, whose duty it is to amuse the spectators and make fun for the newspapers." "That will do." WE pride ourselves on our humanity, our jus tice. Therefore it may be well to note that we have now in the United States the most extreme code in the entire world in regard to capital punishment — sixty-two crimes punishable by death. A bill is before the Senate to strike sixteen offenses from our brutal list. Belgium, Holland. Brazil, Italy, Portugal, Guatemala, Venezuela and Costa Rica have wholly abolished the death pen- j
alty. In cruel Russia the death sentence has been, since 1753, never pronounced save for treason, while China has only eleven capital offenses. We have adhered to obsolete English laws while England has done away with them and has now only four capital crimes. It is certainly surprising and even mortifying to know that, in Maryland, setting fire to a hay-rick is to this day punishable by death. — Curious Punishments of Bygone Days, by ALICE MORSE EARLE. CHARLES EDWARDS, once a London solicitor, who became an old-time lawyer of New York, and whose son became British consul there, gave this ingenious legal aspect to three classic poems : The Iliad is an action of assault and battery, in which the Greeks were plaintiffs and the Trojans defendants; the yEneid was a suit in heaven's chancery, with bill filed by Juno against /Eneas and pals (Palinurus included); and the Jerusalem an action of ejectment, commenced by Christians against Pagans to recover the Holy City. THE following observation was made by an English nobleman to our late minister at the Court of St. James, Mr. Phelps : " Is it not very remarkable," said the nobleman, " that Mr. Web ster, who was a great American statesman and orator, should have compiled a leading dictionary of the English language, and also have been hanged for murder?" THE allowance of lawyers to population in this country is rather more liberal than* that of preachers. There are 89,422 men and 208 women engaged in the legal profession, and sup posing each to have an average of ten suits on hand, the litigation going on at one time in the United States would foot up 896,300 cases. — Current Literature.
THE late John Jay, once Minister to Austria, had this anecdote of Daniel Webster to narrate : "At a dinner party I once gave him, during the forties, he proposed the health of my father in these words : ' When the spotless ermine was dropped by Washington on John Jay's shoulders it touched a man not less spotless than itself.' "
