Page:The Negro a menace to American civilization.djvu/260

236 Does anyone doubt that justice was fully administered by the English courts? " Opponents of this suggestion fall back on the an- cient maxim that ' It is better that ninety-nine guilty men escape than that one innocent man be punished.' Maxims, like other things, are good in their places, but, like other things, may often be overworked. When criminal trials were conducted as they were in England a century and a half ago — defendant without counsel, trial with little publicity and the press an un- known factor — that maxim was good enough ; but to- day, when a prisoner is guaranteed counsel, when trials are viewed by throngs of spectators, and the press makes public every detail, it seems well to as often consider President Grant's direction, ' Let no guilty man escape.' Prompt Action by Courts " Further, laws have been passed requiring an im- mediate convening of courts and giving priority of hearing to certain civil cases deemed of public mo- ment. Why may not direction be given to the pre- siding judge of the proper court, when such an atro- cious crime has been committed as those giving rise to lynchings, to immediately convene that court and put the accused at once on trial? If this were done and no appeal were allowed, would not the community be more confident that full punishment would be promptly meted out? If it be said that under the haste of such a trial some innocent men might be punished, a sufficient reply would seem to be that justice will be more likely done than when a mob takes the law into its own hands. If it were deemed necessary to guard against even a possibility of injustice, the statute might require that the testimony be taken down by a stenographer and at once presented to the Supreme Court, and if, in its judgment, not that some technical rules of law have been disregarded, but that an inno- cent man has been convicted, authorize it to stay the execution and grant a new trial.