The morning call., October 29, 1893, Page 15, Image 15

About The morning call. (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

JURIES AND JUSTICE.
A Peculiar System of Jurisprudence.
•"> .'The law bearing on criminal procedure
.; Jet- California is regulated by a code, and
V-'Jthat code itself is an evolution out of
'.: the centuries of jury trials and their pre-
nihil nary proceedings, which have come
•'.down to us from England and the colonies,
..'land from American practice after the
I '•'•assertion of independence. In the practice
••.."'oi our courts the law makes wonderful
-,': '. allowance for the presumed innocence of
"": the defendant and gives him every facility
i/.lj to clear his character from the aspersions
'•'of' the indictment, and to have a new
trial or a series of them when convicted.
As 'B rale, when awaiting trial, adefendant
•". has the advantage of bail. This temporary
.' .liberty may even be allowed in cases of
. .• murder.
-A defendant is not harshly treated
'•/before his trial. He may comfort himself
. with recherche banquets, sent from the
". Palace Hotel or the Maison Kiche, or he
/; may eat the jail fare and find it whole
some and appetizing. He may see any
'J. person who calls at the jail. His wife
' '.; may sometimes be his companion in the
•'^ cells. His solicitor has free access. Con
.". venations are not listened to by detectives'
'.;• either openly or in concealment. News
;•• papers and books are admitted. Every
thing, in short, is done to enable a prisoner
to feel that he has a certain prospect of
.acquittal if he is innocent, and a very good
• cbance of getting clear if he is guilty.
At the trial the selection of a jury Is
/ conducted on the principle of calling many
. '.. and choosing few. It is a weariness to the
. .'-flesh to watch the examination of juror
1 after juror on his opinions about capital
punishment or his knowledge of the case
■■; through reading newspapers, and numer
ous other matters presumed not to be
imponderable in prosecuting a person
accused of crime. Out of a large venire
*" twelve good men are ultimately found, per
}'•'■ '■ haps after a week or more has elapsed.
. ■ A prisoner has many resources left to
... \ upset a verdict. A new trial is rarely re
• fused if counsel are skillful. Exceptions
•to rulings are taken by the volume, and
• . '= shorthand notes supply some basis of cvi
-••• dence. Besides the hope of acquittal there
.Mb the not remote hope of tbe jury diagree
", Ing. At every stage the defendant's inter
: ests are considered leniently, and with
-•■- '• such clemency is the whole system ad
.: justed that the accused could hardly by
'.ingenuity devise a method of prosecution
■": which would better comport with their
'■'■'];. notion that any law which seeks to incar
■.;-■• cerate tbem must be put to a mistaken use.
.This may be all for the best. Prisoners
.•-•".; do not as a rule complain until tbey come
■.'"•■'.'• up for sentence, but citizens who are com
pelled by jury duty to think about the ways
• of law are apt to wonder at its elasticity.
Verdicts by a majority are advocated by
'.'■■. some reformers as an improvement on the
-•" present requirement of a unanimous find
.- :'" ing. It woulQ not then be so easy to hang
'".'•'a jury or to corrupt one. A small num
•"> =;-ber Incline to the abrogation of the jury
'. system, but that would never do. Quite
■/apart from the commission of crime, there
: are cases of civil right involving the sacred
;'j' principle of liberty, which it would not do
,;•;• to imperil by leaving trials to judges. It
: -is facile to point out defects in our meth
;••"•: ods of trial, but as regards juries and the
*:■'. '-.practice which hinges on resort to them
'i. as a tribunal the difficulty is to find a sub
■•-.. -stitute free from objection. No such sub
■' institute without blemish is possible. The
".- >jury system is dovetailed into our crim
.;.••'• ■ vial jurisprudence very tenaciously. There
■.. are grand juries, petty juries. Coroners'
.- •-? juries, and there are juries constituted at
• .•; times for special pun oses. Therefore
=;= when there is much litigation in a .nit the
.-.1 Sheriff has ad sinecure in drafting lists of
■•• .'-names of victims wbo are required to per
= : -:.forra their duty to the State under penal
ities sufficiently heavy to insure respect.
'■';. The Scotch system of criminal jurispru
' "■idebce presents remarkable contrasts to
.: '.."out mev-ods well as to those of E.ig
; [Viand. At this moment it is attracting
;■■■ -much attention on account of a trial pend
: i : ing in which an English gentleman of
;"•' means is the defendant, and the murdered
'. "person is also English, but has relations in
.:' "New York. This case is known as the
Y.Arulamonl mystery. Mr. Monson, aYork
■':, :• shire gentleman, leased an estate in Scot
. land for shooting and residential pur
". ro.es, ' and Lieutenant Hambrougb, a
•.young lieutenant of militia, who was
.... wealthy and had been staying with Mr.
"Monson, joined him at Ardlaraont. One
':" morning the young man was found dead,
'•''.. with a gunshot wound through the back of
.' the bead. Monson, who was with the de
ceased at the time, explained that the
'. shooting was accidental, but the doc
tor who was summoned would not
"'-certify tots this explanation. So the
■ '■'• authorities set an inquiry on foot
■in the usual manner that has been
• pursued for centuries, and Monson was
.arrested and awaits trial. The public will
- know little about the facts of the esse un
'.til the prisoner is brought face to face
: with a jury, and then only by the unfold
.'ing of the evidence. Were such a case to
'". .be brought to trial in California the ac
cused would have ample opportunity to
■ take the public into his confidence, and the
case for the prosecution would be as well
known to the community through the
newspapers as to the prosecuting attorney
:-.."• self. There would, in short. De no
.".:..; new facts of much materiality to elicit.
,:-': That a system which appears to be con
.ducted to a great extent in camera should
•' "give general satisfaction is to tbe Califor
' ' nian mind probably curious. Let us see
' what the procedure is.
• •" .Scotch law places crime upon the proper
footing of being an injury to the state,
and not one confined to the individual, as
"'. is the theory in England, where the
■ -private prosecutor figures so prominently,
'..often at bis own expense. Hence in eveiy
• '. -town of any consequence, and certainly in
=.' every county, there is an official appointed
' during good behavior, not elected, who is
called a "Procurator Fiscal" or in popular
parlance "Fiscal." He is virtually an
.attorney chosen through the crown to
make a preliminary inquiry into all crimes
and . misdemeanors occurring within his
» jurisdiction and when there is a warrant
;' to go further he "piecognosces" the wit
nesses thoroughly and has their "precogni
tions" made available for the prosecution
at the trial. Coroners and Coroners' juries
are unknown in Scotland. When a mur
" der occurs, the person accused is arrested,
the inquiry is held In secret, and only
when the case comes to trial are the facts
made known iv any detail.
■:'... In Monson's case the doctor refused to
'certify as to the cause of death, or rather
"' recalled the certificate he issued. There
' upon the local Procurator Fiscal was noti
fied. He put the police at work and Mou
.son was arrested. Tnvestieation continued ;
'.-.'' the body of Hambrough. which had been
." sent to England for intermeut, was ex
humed, and the prisoner was sent by
•magistrates before the Sheriff, or "re
• mitted," ns this stage Is called, and by
the Sheriff was sent for trial. The
Sheriff is not an official in either the
'•' English or American sense. He is a
Judge of limited jurisdiction who
-passes sentence of considerable terms
Of imprisonment upon offenders ana
■decides many things in civil law, but
cannot try capital cases. Before a pris
oner is brought before the Sheriff the Fis
cal h.s got hold of evidence which may or
may not be sufficient to sustain a charge
-and which bas been beard by ordinary
. • magistrates. The Sheriff has tbe right to
liberate the prisoner if the evidence does*
not warrant an indictment. He tells the
. .prisoner that he may make any statement
. he -pleases, and if he does it is written
.;• down for use at the trial. This is done in
. presence of the Fiscal and the prisoner's
solicitor, but without the public or the rep
resentatives of the press beiug present.
' The depositions or precognitions taken
before the Sheriff are sent to the counsel
• -for. tbe crown. If they hold that a prima
. facie case is made out the case goes to
'trial, but if not the prisoner is discharged.
•' At the trial the prosecution may "desert
.the charge.' which is not tantamount to
absolute abandonment, as the, prisoner
may again be brought to trial, but should
• e.v«n one witness be sworn the case must
proceed to a finish. The accused is con
sidered in many points very favorably.
He can neither have witnesses nor jurors
foisted upon him at the last moment, nor
can the indictment be kept secret.
Fifteen days before the trial the law re
quires a copy of the Indictment to be de
livered to the accused. This is a decided
advantage. He knows precisely what he
has to answer. Accompanying the indict
ment is a full list of the witnesses for the
prosecution, which cannot under any cir
cumstances be added to ; also a list of the
jurors on the panel, which always numbers
] forty-five, with particulars of their occu
| pation and residence. The accused has
j thus ample intimation of all that con-
I cerns him, and may challenge such jurors
as he pleases. Jurors are drawn impar
tially, by lot, from the number qualified to
serve, and challenges are exceedingly
rare, even in cases of murder. This cer
tainly is a much better method than the
! English one of keeping the jurors' names
, secret. It succeeds well in Scotland.
As ■to the witnesses,- the principle of
j only calling those of whom the accused
i has had notice is so absolute tbat convic-
I tions are quashed if it be shown that a
j single additional witness, on however
trivial a point, has been examined. To
such evidence there is no objection in
. America. This punctilio may be carried
in Scotland to the extent of defeating jut
tice. It is said that in a famous poisoning
case a material witness could have cleared
up a difficulty, but not having been named
fifteen days before the trial the evidence
was inadmissible and tne verdict was
"not proven." This provision is certainly
in favor of prisoners.
In the procedure at the trial the accused
has the advantage of not having an intro
ductory speech from the prosecuting coun
sel or from the Judge or anyone. The
indictment is known and evidence is ad
duced, or as the Scotch say "led," without
delay. When the prosecution witnesses
are exhausted the prisoner has heard the
whole case against bim. But lie is not re
quired to announce in advance what wit
nesses he has, if any. He may call
witnesses or not as be pleases. As soon
as all the evidence is in the speeches of
counsel begin, No rebutting evidence is
allowed. The Lord Advocate, an Advo
cate-Depute, or the Solicitor-General ad
dresses the jury for tbe prosecution, and
thus the counsel for the defense invariably
has the last word, whether be has called
witnesses or not. There is just one speech
for the prosecution and one for the de
fense, fortunately for the jury, who have
not their minds bamboozled by too much
oratory or rhetorical prejudice. The last
speech to tbe jury is the summing up by the
presiding Judge. In trials before the High
Court ot Justiciary in Edinburgh there
are three Judges, who all take notes and
consult each other on doubtful matters.
Undue detention or dilatoriness in com
ing to trial is effectually prevented in
! Scotland. Within twenty-four hours after
j arrest the accused must be brought before
i a magistrate, and upon being committed
; for trial by the Sheriff he can, by a process
known as "running his letters," demand
trial within sixty days of bis arrest
Nearly thirty years ago the poisoner,
Pritchard— a doctor who had murdered
his wife and mother-in-law— ran his let
: ters so closely that had the prosecutiou
j not been able to proceed he would have
I been at liberty in another week. He was,
j however, convicted, and bis days then ran
! nut fast enough, for he was hanged in
' Glasgow within three weeks. Pritchard's
was a notable case. The whole basis of
' the prosecution turned upon scientific
; testimony as to the traces of poison and
the properties of poison. Public excite
ment was Intense, but until the trial
not one word of any certainty bearing on
the case was allowed to escape. The
accused enjoyed tbe usual facilities
accorded prisoners awaiting trial, but be
j virtually could see no one but bis solicitor.
i Publicity of preliminary investigation
, may sometimes help both the prosecution
j and the accused, but the Scotch prohibit
j it. as far as possible, whereas in England
and also in the United States the examinu- {
'. tion of witnesses before commitment is in
public and the facts are all known. A
! prisoner who shapes his defense accord
i ing to what thus is elicited aud calls wit
■ nesses is sometimes mortified at finding
j rebutting evidence introduced. Even wit
nesses are allowed to give testimony im
; peaching eh trader.
In a Scotch criminal trial there are fif
teen jurors, who are drawn by lot out of
j the panel or venire of forty-five. Why
j fifteen should be selected is not apparent,
; but since 1815 Scotch juries in civil cases
consist of twelve, as in England, and a
I majority verdict also obtains in their case
if after three hours' deliberation nine are
found to agree; while if nine cannot
I agree after nine hours' deliberation the
; jury may be discharged. The better to
assist sweet reasonableness, and not to
coerce them into agreement by starvation,
; a Scotch jury is allowed refreshment while
I locked up, tbe expense of which, as indeed
I is the whole expenditure of criminal pro
i cedure, comes nut of the public treasury.
While a civil jury in Scotland maybe
discharged without a verdict the jury in a
criminal case must give a verdict. On tbe
' whole this is an advantage in Scotch law.
| The verdict may be "guilty," or "uot
j guilty," or "not proven"; either of these
findings may be given by a bare majority.
I Thus, eight votes of a jury may suffice to
! bang a man, though it is probably impos
| sible to point to a case where that narrow
I majority did carry the death penally— at
; least in these civilized times.
Objection is often scoffiugly taken to
; the miserable subterfuge, as it is supposed
- to be, of a verdict of "not proven," on the
j ground tbat it attaches a stigma to the ac
' cused, and that as it has the same effect
j as a verdict of acquittal it would be more
j manly and straightforward to say "not
i guilty." But is tbis reasoning sound and
i logical? As everybody knows, there are
I numbers of cases where a verdict of not
guilty is notoriously untrue, yet as the
'< evidence is insufficient to convict such a
j verdict ls admissible. The prosecutiou is
| bound to convict by evidence in a legal
I way, and must discard assumptions incap
; able of proof or testimony not procured in
a legal and warrantable manner. Law
i would be no science at all if rules were
| to be travestied and nullified, and faulty
! theories bolstered up by unjustifiable ex
; cursions beyond bounds. What Scotch
law does, therefore, is to accommodate the
< jury with a salve for conscience. The jury
may be quite convinced that the accussd is
j guilty, but the evidence has not proved
! this, and it is by evidence alone that the
I law declares tbey must be guided. So
! they return a verdict of "not proven,"
• which does not cross tbe solemnity of their
own oaths and is quite as efficacious as a
; verdict of "not guilty" in the effect on the
position of the accused. When he has
; "tholed bis assize" lie cannot be brought
I to trial again on the same charge.
The Scotch form of oath is quite differ
! ent from that commonly taken on the
i New Testament or the Pentateuch. There
|is no book to kiss. This is a decided im-
I provement on the somewhat nasty habit
| of saluting a dirty specimen of the book
■ binders' art generally kept in stock in
American and English courts, stained
with the osculations of hundreds, and it
i is not difficult to believe saturated meta
phorically with a large amount ..f perjury.
The art of "kissing the book" glibly is
possessed in perfection by those who are
frequently in court as suitors for small
sums which they squeeze out of poor
debtors, and the amount of lying and pre
varication they are capable of perpetrating
is stupendous, insomuch that Judges are
accustomed to cut such claims in half and
to allow easy terms of payment. In a
Scotch court the magistrate, Sheriff or
Judge of the High Court holds up his own
right hand and the witness holds up his, and
the terms of the oath are solemnly recited
by the one and as solemnly repeated by
he other, and both bands come down at
the same y time. There are no microbes
about that form of oath, and perjury is not
more difficult of punishment than in the
other case. Common-sense has prevailed
in England, and now the Scotch oath may
be taken, by persons who have sanitary
scruples about kissing a book. Probably
the percentage of truth elicited, whatever,
he the form of oa h. is about the same. It
varies according to the people, the neigh
borhood and the occasion, and is generally
piieuomeaaily low ia a horse-warranty
THE MORNING CALL, SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1893.
case or a street row. It does not appear
to be recognized by law that lying is a fine
art, assiduously cultivated by people in
terested in worsting their neighbors.
A word as to Sheriffs in Scotland. They
are peculiar in their functions. -Each
county and most' large cities have Sheriffs.
They have jurisdiction in criminal and
civil cases, and from their courts litigants
go to the Court of Session in Edinburgh,
or to the Circuit courts or the High Court
of Justiciary. But a Sheriff is also a law
yer at the service of the public as counsel
in cases ouiside the jurisdiction where he
is Sheriff. Many of the Sheriffs are advo
cates in regular practice in the courts at
Edinburgh. This is analogous to the Re
corders of England, who hold sessions
four and sometimes eight times a year,
and practice as barristers within their cir
cuit or in London the remainder of the
year. In such cities as Glasgow and Edin
burgh, however, the Sheriffs give the
whole of their time to magisterial duties.
In the Scotch as in the English
system there are no courts of appeal
to grant new trials in criminal cases.
There is a limited review of cases before
the Judges on points of law, and if|a fault
is found the conviction is quashed. In ad
dition, the Home Secretary, who is al
ways a member of the Cabinetof the Gov
ernment of the day, has plenary power of
review. He may institute inquiry, con
sult withsthe Judges, and pardon or com
mute the sentence by exercise ol the royal
prerogative, a convenient fiction for his
own opinion and will. This autocratic re
sponsibility is little swayed by popular
clamor or agitation. If the jury and
Judge commend to mercy there may be no
hanging, but a commutation to imprison
ment instead.
The luxury of new trials is denied alike
to the accused and the lawyers and there
is so much less lottery in the administra
tion of justice. In this manner the delays
of the law in ciiminal procedure are brief.
W hen a verdict has been returned sen
tence is generally pronounced on the spot.
This is invariably done in the case of mur
derers. If Monson, the Englishman whose
case is now attracting much attention,
should be convicted, he will leave the
dock, pass three weeks in a cell, have two
or three farewell interviews with relatives
and then be hanged by the necK until he is
dead. His wealth will avail him nothing
in. procuring one poor privilege denied to
the most impecunious of criminals.
It is an open question whether it is not a
mistake to have no investigation by Coro
ners. Great accidents occur in mines and
on railways and many lives are lost, yet
the official inquiry may not have the thor
oughness of a Coroner's inquest. The ob
jections to non-publicity in these instances
also apply to cases like that of Monson,
surrounded by mystery. Everything here
turns upon the sagacity of the search for
evidence — the measurements of the place
where the body was found, the position of
the gun and body, where the stray pellets
went, the kind of cartridge and the expan
sion of the charge, and man y little things
which keen eyes and scientific insight may
enchain into circumstantial proof. Pub
licity would facilitate research in some de
gree and retard it in others. The accused
himself is in the dark as to details, but his
counsel and doctor and any other person
he delegates may institute inquiry on their
own account. Tod Hill.
FOREIGN PARTS.
The Transvaal and New
Zealand.
{lining Riches of the One and Com
mercial Prosperity of the
Other Colony.
M. J. Courteney of Auckland. New
Zealand, is at the Palace for a few days.
Mr. Courteney is an old miner in the
African fields, having gone to that coun
try in 1859, and spent some years there
with good success. In speaking of the
gold discoveries there he becomes quite
enthusiastic and predicts a bright future
for that country. The section where
nearly all of the new developments in this
respect have been made is in the Transvaal
and of which Johannisburg is the prin
cipal point of supply. A range of hills,
called the Rand, extending over 600 or 700
miles, contains the precious metal in rich
and vast quantities.
Africa, Mr. Courteney says, is giving bet
ter returns in the mining districts for the
money invested than any other country
oc the face of the globe. The Boers con
trol tbe trade interests there and are not
at all disposed to resent the coming of
foreigners. In fact, Mr. Courteney says,
many Americans are going into that sec
tion in search of new gold fields. The
country, however, he says, is no place for
a laboring man. The average pay of a
Kaffir is only about $4 a week, ana white
labor stands co show in competition with
bim.
Railroad work is progressing in the in
terior as rapidly as circumstances will
permit. The great trouble encountered is
with the hostile natives and the lack of
water. .„
New Zealand, according to Mr. Courte
ney, is destined to be the greatest among
the British possessions. The production
of the country last year added about $55,
--000,000 to the wealth of the inhabitants.
Richard J. Seddon, the Premier, is a self
made man. who has apparently solved the
problem of "the unemployed," which is
causing so much discussion ; in this coun
try. In New Zealand these men are given
work on the co-operation plan and sent to
the country in gangs to develop the land,
etc. Each man is paid according to the
work which be accomplishes, and a tramp
or a vagrant has become almost an un
known quantity as a consequence.
His Coffer Mine.;
Celia Miller has brought suit to recover
from James Morgan the sum of $4050,
which she claims he obtained from her
by false and fraudulent means. The com
plaint alleges that on October 28, 1891, the
defendant told the plaintiff that he owned
the Coffer gold mine in Shasta County,
and that if she would advance $2000 to
develop it be would repay her and give her
a share of the profits. She gave him alto
gether $4050. of which only $450 has been
repaid. Tbe complaint alleges that Mor
gan never owned the mine in question, and
tbat his representations were false and
t,*l__Hß_t_P-V_nE--9
Heydenfeldt's Insurance.
Sue O. and Frederick Heydenfeldt have
filed suit in the Superior Court, again*
Julius Jacobs and Charles Ash ton to re
cover SI3OO each, which they claim is the
amount due them from the life insurance
of their father, tbe late Solomon Heyden
feldt, who had an insurance policy on his
life amounting to $10,400.
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lelJ. lr We_u_io
THE COLOR LINE.
Future of the Negro Race
in the South.
REPRESENTATIVE MURRAY.
A Man Who Was Born a Slave
Is Now a Member of
Congress.
Washington. Oct. 23.— only col
ored man in Congress comes from South
Carolina. Bis name is George, Washing
toe Murray and he represents 216,000 peo
ple. His district is the famous black dis
trict, which was represented by General
Robert Smalls, and it is the biggest negro
district of the Union. It is 200 miles long,
and it winds in and out like a snake,
scalloping the Atlantic coast and cutting
the State of South Carolina like a saw. It
is the district set aside by the whites of
that State for colored representation. It
contains few towns and only one-fifth of
its population is white.
There is no question about George W.
Murray's ancestry. Every feature of his
cannon-ball head is modeled ou African
lines. His complexion is that of the ace
of spades and his features are of the pro
nounced negro type. He is by no means a
bad-looking colored man. He stands about
5 feet 8 inches in bis stockings and is
broad-shouldered and strong-limbed. He
has shown himself to be a man of nerve
and a politician of shrewdness. He talks
well, hut butchers the King's English in
many of bis sentences. He has had to
fight for all tbat he has, and his education
bas been acquired in almost as remark
able a way as was that of Fred Douglass.
I had a talk with him last night about
himself and questions relating to his race.
I first asked him as to his history. He
replied: "I was born in tbe district in
which I live just about forty years ago.
My parents were slaves and when Abra
' ham Lincoln freed the negroes 1 was just
Hon. G. W. Murray, Our Colored
Congressman.
-11 years old. I had no money and no one
to take care of me, but I decided at that
lime that 1 would have an education and
went at it 1 learned my A, B, C's by
asking other children, who went to school,
what the letters were, and by practicing on
every person whom 1 met I finally learned
to read and write. 1 studied the best I
could until I became able to read the
newspapers, and I know I could stumble
my wav through a congressional speech
when I was 15. It was about this time
that George S. Boutwell. a Congressman
from Maine or Massachusetts, made a
speech, which I read. It made a great
impression upon me and I can quote one
sentence from .it now. -It was on the
Southern question and I think it read as
follows: 'i know that there is pro-slavery
desire and always has been and always
will be until we, the Republican party,
grind it Into powder, trample it under
foot, and freedom bl»ws the dust out witb
the healing of her wings.' 'this sentence
made an impression on- me, and I probably
read it to some of our people, as the col
ored boys who could read always read the
papers to the others. Well, in this way I
learned to read and write. Arithmetic
always came easy to me, and I could figure
out sums in my head long before I knew
bow to make the figures. When I was 18
years old I had so far progressed that I
began to teach school, and the first school
I ever entered was as a teacher and not as
a scholar. After teaching for several years
I went to the University of South Caro
lina and remained there at school until
the government of the State prohibited
the co-education of the races and forced
me out. I then went back to teach in the
public schools, and was engaged In teach
ing and farming until 1 was elected to
Congress."
"How about farming among the negroes,
Mr. Murray?" I asked. "Are they grad
ually acquiring property?"
"They are, indeed," emphatically replied
the colored Congressman. "The negro
naturally wants a farm on his own, and
my people are buying lands of long time
and are improving them. Some of them
Blanche K. Bruce.
own farms of from one to two thousand
acres, and there is a colored man in Wash
ington to-day who farms 7000 acres of land
in Georgia. He owns more than this, but
he has this amount under cultivation. 1
own a little farm of my own, and there
are thousands of colored men in the South
who own land. We are advancing right
along in the accumulation of property, and
the time will come when our people will
he a commercial and business factor in the
United States. I believe that our success
depends upon our education and enrich
en and 1 look for the time . when the
negro will stand even with the white man
as a i roperty-owner."
"How about the property rights in the
South? Are those of the colored people
respected?"
"Yes, I think so," was the reply. "The
Southerners are anxious that the negroes
should own property, and they encourage
them to save and invest their money.
They treat them fairly so far as any of
these - things '■; are concerned, but they do
not give them a fair sbow in any political
way. The ballot must be so many inches
long and so many inches wide. If : the
paper varies one-sixteenth of an inch the
ballot may be thrown out The ballots
are put into boxes labeled with the names
of : the officers to be voted for. Il a ballot
is dropped into the wrong box it does not
count. Many of our- people cannot read,
and by changing the 'boxes about they
make it so that the ballots go into the
wrong box and are thus worthless."
"How about the ku-klux?"
"There are no ku-klux in the South, and
there Is very little terror arising at the
: polls. The whites are able to accomplish
their ends without the use of a shotgun.
They don't need them."
■' "How about the feeling between the
negroes and the .whites—w ill there ever be
a war between the two races?"
"1 think not. The negroes appreciate
the fact that such a war would result ia :
their destruction, , and tbe " fight that they
intend to make is along business and edu
cational lines. We propose to educate our
selves and to save our money and when we
become the equals of the whites In prop
erty aud in business you will see that we
have better recognition."
"Do you think that the negro is the equal
of the white in natural ability?"
"I do," replied the African Congress
man. "History has shown that the sons
of Ham are as strong as the sons of Shem
and Japhet in every way. It was once
thought that the negro could not advance
in learning beyond a certain point, but the
colleges know that the negro is the equal
of the white and in many cases superior.
I think that we will gradually equal and
eventually distance the whites. The rea
son for tbis is that we have to start from
the bottom. We have nothing and we
must fight for every inch. We are very
ambitious and we will not stop until we
get to the top."
"What will be the future of the two
races? Will the negro ever unite with the
whites?"
"I believe," said Mr. Murray, "that
there will eventually be a mixed race In
(his country, made up of negro and white
blood. When the negro bee rues rich and
educated the objection to him will wear
away and there will be intermarriages be
tween the two races. At present the ne
Fred Douglass at 76.
groes have no objections to such marriages.
They think that the only ground of mar
riage should be that of love. The ob
jection comes from the whites and this will
disappear as the negro equals them in
property and other things."
"Do not a large number of your people
object to colored men marrying white
women? You remember the howl of In
dignation that wept up from the colored
people of this country when Fred Douglass
married a white woman."
"Yes," replied Mr. Murray, "I do, and
the indignation against Douglass was so
strong because he to a large extent repre
sented the colored people of the United
States, and the fact that he married a
woman of white blood was considered by
our people a slap at the women of his own
race. They thought it meant that he
could not find a colored woman good
enough for him and hence had to take a
white one."
"How about negro colonization, Mr.
Murray? Will such schemes ever suc
ceed
"No," was the reply. "The negroes
have never been in favor of such coloniza
tion, nor have such schemes ever been
engineered by people who have not
wanted to make money out of it There
was a movement about fifteen years ago
to take the colored people to Kansas, and
fiere have been propositions to send them
to Brazil and other places. The negroes
are in the United States to stay, and if
they could have free transportation to
Liberia or to Africa they would not take
it. Ido not think the people of the South
want to get rid of the negro, and I think if
we are let alone that we will work out our
destiny to the satisfaction of every one."
1 saw Blanche K.Bruce on thn floor of
the United States Senate yesterday. He
looks hardly a day older than when he
walked up to be sworn in on the arm of
Roscoe Conkling. Be is now devoting his
time to his estate in Mississippi and to lec
turing. He has made money in both pur
suits, and he told me not long ago that he
was dividing up his Mississippi property
into small farms and was selling it on in
stallments to the colored people. He has
built a church and schoolbouse on the
plantation, and he believes with Mr. Mur
ray that the future of the negro lies in bis
education and in the accumulation of
properly.
Senator Bruce now lives in Washington
in a fashionable part of tbe northwest.
His wife is a beautiful woman, far more
white In complexion than many of our
Washington society ladies. He met her
while the two were at college together at
Oberlln. He married while he was in tbe
Senate, and the event was one of two Sen
atorial weddings which took place at
Cleveland, Ohio, one summer. Mrs. Bruce
was a teacher in one of the Cleveland pub
lic schools. She bad been very well edu
cated, and she is, in fact, as. accomplished
a lady as you will find anywhere. She
dresses well, looks well and has great
natural refinement. The last time I saw
her was at one of Clara Barton's recep
tions, and she was assisting Miss Barton
to receive her guests. The other wedding
that took placo that summer was that of
Senator Don Cameron, who married Miss
Lizzie Sherman, the daughter of Judge
Sherman of Cleveland, and a niece of the
Senator. It was a grand affair, and its
story took up many columns In the news
papers. Mrs. Cameron also lives in Wash
ington, and her old-fashioned home, just
above Blame's, is now being repaired for
the coming season.
Returning to Senator Bruce: He had a
number of curious experiences during that
first term in the Senate, and one of the
queerest of these was when old Senator
Bogy asked him to vote for a bill which he
had before the Senate. Bogy was one of
the most aristocratic of the benators. He
came from an old St. Louis family, and as
he asked Bruce to uo this he sat down be
side him. Bruce laughed ns he made the
request, and said, "Senator Bogy. I think
we can arrange this transaction better than
we dirt our last business matter."
"What do you mean?" said Bogy. "I
never did any business with you before."
"Don't you remember meeting me before
coming to the Senate?" said Bruce.
"No, I do not," replied Bogy.
"Well," said Bruce, "I am not surprised
at that, for it was more than twenty years
ago. You were trying to catch a steamer
at St. Louis and you had a heavy bag with
you. The day was hot and the perspira
tion was rolling off you in streams. A col
ored boy ran up to you and grabbed the
bag, and he carried it for you to the
wharf. You got there just as the boat
was about to start You - jumped on and
called for the valise. The colored boy
stuck to the valise and called for his quar
ter. You had to go through every one of
your pockets before you could find a quar
ter and throw it ashore.- Then the boat
was too far out for the boy to throw the
valise. The captain had to stop the boat
and come back to the wharf for you to get
your valise. Now, do you remember?'? ;
"i'es, I remember." replied Senator
Bogy; "but I don't see where you come
iv."
"Oh," replied Bruce, "I was the colored
boy who got the quarter."
Frank ,G. Carpenter.
Sorrow in the Near Future
Await* those who disregard symptom* of liver
disorder. Be on time if yon feel distress in the
region of the liver, If your visage Is sallow, eye-
balls yellowish, tongue coated, or if you are
troubled with constipation, sick headache and oc-
casional dlzzlmss. Hostetter'* Stomach Bitter
will banish these unpleasant symptoms, and
should be used early and persistently. : The bow-
els are relaxed without pain or griping, and are
not weakened by It as they are by the action of a
violent purgative/ Digestion grows more active
when It is used and the system invigorated, be-
cause It Insures assimilation of tbe food constitu-
ent* by the blood. Kidney complaints, malaria
and r heumatlsm are overcome by - tbis searching
I and thorough remedy. 44 .
* ____'____■_ DRY GOODS. _ _._ _ _„___,
UNLOADING STOCK !
Great Clearing Up
Clearing Out Sale
OF THE BALANCE OF OUR
GIGANTIC CASH PURCHASES !
There remains only a short time before the arrival of our Holi-
day importations and the beginning of the Holiday season and in
that time we MUST make a clean sweep of the gigantic purchases
that we made during the New York money panic. This CAN be
done, and with the extraordinary inducements that we offer this
week, it WILL be done, for no lady who admires ELEGANT AND
FASHIONABLE DRESS MATERIALS will miss making an imme-
diate selection from the vast assortment of new styles, designs,
weaves, colorings and effects, offered at the TREMENDOUS SAC-
RIFICE quoted
TO FORCE EVERYTHING OCT QUICKLY !
COLORED DRESS GOODS DEPARTMENT !
At SES Cents.
100 pieces 38-INCH FANCY HOPSACK SUITINGS, In illuminated, glace and BOY-
elty effects, actual value 50c, will be closed out this week at 25c per yard.
At 35 Cents.
50 pieces 40-INCH ALL-WOOL ILLUMINATED CHEVIOT SUITINGS, in neat
checks, stripes and diagonal effects, regular price 75c, will be closed out this week
at 35c per yard.
At 50 Cents.
75 pieces 44-INCH ALL-WOOL NAVY BLUE STORM SERGE SUITINGS, in light,
medium and dark shades, actual value Sl, will be closed out this week at 50c per
yard. / V__*sti
At 50 Cents.
90 pieces 40- INCH ALL-WOOL FRENCH CREPONS, SATIN SOLEIL and FANCY
WEAVES, choice collection of new and desirable shades, former prices $1, will
be closed out this week at 50c per yard.
At 50 Cents.
45 pieces 40-INCH ALL-WOOL FRENCH BEDFORD CORDS, different widths of
ribbings, in a variety of staple colors, former price $1, will be closed out this week
at 50c per yard.
At 75 Cents.
40 pieces 53-INCH ALL-WOOL PANAMA WEAVES. shaded and novelty effects,
extra good value for $1 50, will be closed out this week at 75c per yard.
At 75 Cents.
50 pieces 50-INCH ALL-WOOL NAVY BLUE STORM SERGE SUITINGS, in fancy
weaves and diagonal effects, actual value Sl 50, will be closed out this week at 75c
per yard.
At 75 Cents.
35 pieces 52-INCH ALL-WOOL TWO-TONED CAMELS-HAIR CHEVIOT SUIT-
INGS, in wide-wale diagonal effects, new colorings, extra good value for $1 50,
will be closed out this week at 75c per yard.
SILK DEPARTMENT!
At S5 Cents.
150 pieces COLORED INDIA SILK, 23 inches wide, soft, heavy quality, perfect finish,
former price 50c, will be closed out this week at 25c per yard.
At 50 Cents.
500 yards 22-INCH ILLUMINATED SURAH SATIN, former price 75c, will be closed
out this week at 50c per yard.
At YES Cents.
20 pieces 22-INCH BLACK SURAH, fine, heavy quality, former price $1, will be
closed out this week at 75c per yard.
At 1.00.
50 pieces 23-INCH COLORED BENGALINE SILK, in all the latest shades for street
wear, beautiful, soft, heavy quality, former price Sl 50, will be closed out this week
at Sl per yard.
BQg At 41.00.
40 pieces FANCY TUFTED BENGALINE SILK, very pretty combinations, former
price $1 50, will be closed out this week at Sl per yard.
At $LOO.
25 pieces 22-INCH COLORED STRIPED MERVEILLEUX, former price »1 75. will
be closed out this week at Sl per yard. '
At Sfcl.OO.
10 pieces BLACK FAILLE FRANCAISE, extra heavy quality, former price $150,
will be closed out this week at Sl per yard.
At SI.OO.
.15 pieces 24-INCH BLACK SATIN, beautiful, soft, rich finish, former price $150,
will be closed out tbis week at Sl per yard.
At'-81.50.
30 pieces 24-INCH FANCY BROCADED SATIN, in evening shades, extra heavy
quality, former price $3 50, will be closed out this week at Sl 50 per yard.
At SB 1 . 50.
40 pieces 20-INCH CHANGEABLE SILK VELVET. In a variety of beautiful effects,
former price $2 50, will be closed out this week at $1 50 per yard.
BLACK DRESS GOODS!
At 30 Cents.
40 pieces 37-INCH SILK LUSTRE ALPACA, former price 50c, will be plaoed en sal*
at 30c per yard.
At 35 Cents.
40 pieces 39- INCH ALL PURE WOOL HEAVY SERGE, worth 60c, will be closed
out at 35c per yard.
At 50 Cents.
25 pieces 40-INCH ALL-WOOL FANCY STRIPES, former price Sl, 'will be closed
out at 50c per yard.
■ ___
At 55 Cents.
25 pieces 40-INCH ALL PURE WOOL FANCY WEAVES, extra value for ft, will
be placed on sale at 55c per yard.
•■ .
At 85 Cents.
25 pieces 44-INCH PRIESTLEY'S ALL-WOOL NOVELTIES, former price $125.
will be closed out at 65c per yard.
At 65 Cents.
30 pieces 41-INCH SUPERIOR LUSTRE ALPACA, former price $1, will be placed
on sale at 65c per yard.
BROCADED FREEH CREPE AT LESS THIN HALF PRICE!
Forlnartlculars of a special purchase of BROCADED FRENCH CREPES, worth
SS^O a yard, to be sold this week at Sl 50 a yard, see to-day's Examiner.
/S/M^^ MURPHY BUILDING, /
(/(/ Mit Street comer el Jones, /
&A.H- 3P_f^*A-_XrCI«OO-
15