The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 25, 1901, Page 1

be taken This Paper not \ from i the Library.+++¢ i @ SR = < A il S - GUEOR bl TATE ATE / 2% — VOLUME XC—NO. 11%. "GUILTY OF MURDER IN THE FIR ~ AND THUS CONGLUDES THE CI0LG0ST MUST PAY PENALTY Punis m_ehl— for the Termble Crime |sl]e_al : Fi-Justce Lewis' Plg Apainst Mob Rule, fity to-day of mur- he first degree by a jury III of the Supreme Court, on the 6th day of September, resulting in The wheels ce moved swiftly. The trial of the med eight hours and twen- and covered a period of Practically all of this time by the prosecution in pre- senting & case so clear, so conclusive that even had tae prisoner entered the piea of insanity it is doubtful if the jury would have returned a verdict different from the one rendered to-day. The announcement made this afternoon by the attorneys for Czolgosz that the eminent alienists summoned by the Ere t Attorney determine his examine Czolgosz and to exact mental condition had declared to be perfectly sane de- stroyed the only stage of a defense that ex-Judges Lewis and Titus could have put together. To Be Sentenced Thursday. rnment Justice White an- defendant on Thursday The prisoner was that has seen him People were lined big rotunda on rt convened and from the floor nonstration, ex- A large number ¥y's proceedings. District Attorney Penney abrv that the case | of the p: ended. Lewis | arose sl ng the court, sald losing of the case | 2gainst Czolgo as a surprise to him | and his colleague. They had no witnesses to call for the defense. He asked the court that he be allowed to address the | Jury at once. The court assented, and the venerable jurist began an address that will long be remembered by those who beard it Ex-Judge Lewis’ Justification. Lewis sald: “Gentlemen of the Jury: A calamity has | fallen upon this mation through the act t of an insane man. If it is not murder, and he should be acquitted of that charge. He would then of course be transferred to an “Much discussion has occurred in our midst and has been called to my attention as to the propriety of any defense being interposed in this case. Many letters have been received by me since I was assigned with my associate to defend this man, questioning the propriety of a de- fense being attempted. You, gentlemen, know, perhaps, how Judge Titus and my- self came info this case. The position was not sought by us, but we appear here in performance of a duty which we thought devolved upon us, notwithstand- ing it was an exceedingly disagreeable one. “His Honor, the Judge, who presides at this trial, as a Justice of the Supreme Court, is here because the law makes it his duty to sit and preside at this trial. “Our very distinguished and able trict Attorney has prosecuted this act’on because the law makes it his duty to do so. You, gentlemen, are sitting there be- cause you were commanded to appear here, and under our system of jurispru- dence it was your duty to sit here, hear the testimony in the case and perform the duty of determining whether this man is to be executed or to be set free. Accused Must Have Counsel. “The defepdapt's counsel sppear here unty Bar Association and by the Dis- | pronounce sen- | t the question is whether | SAN FRANCISCO, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1901. - ‘“ Vengeance! Dire Vengeance on the Wretch Who Cast O’er Him and All He Lov’d That Ruinous Blast.” | because under our system of jurispru- | dence no man can be placed on trial for the high crime of murder, under the pen- | alty of which, under the law, is death, without he has the assistance of counsel, The court has the power to designate counsel, and it is the duty of the coun- sel thus designated to appear in the case unless they can make some reasonable ex- cuse and succeed in being relieved of the duty. “Gentlemen, when they become mem- bers of the legal profession they become members of the court. They are com- pelled, if assigned, to defend criminals, cr rather, the one who s charged with a crime. They are compelled to accept the duty.unless they can present some rea- sonable excuse, and if they refuse to per- form that duty they are gullty of & mis- demeanor and are liable to punishment by the court, “Bo, you see, gentlemen, if any simple-minded, thoughtless ' per- son should entertain the notion for = minute that the counsel who appear in this case are doing something which they ought not to do, that per- son is laboring under a very serious misapprehension, as to the duties de- volving upon a lawyer. The defend- ant, no matter liow serious a crime he has committed, is entitled under our s to the benefit of a trial. In tae se of murder he must have a trial - ‘You sat here and listened to the de- fendant's plea of gullty when he was ar- raigned at the opening of this term, but the law of our State will not permit him | to plead guilty to such a crime as this. The law is so careful of the rights of its jcitizens that it will not permit a man to i plead guilty of the crime of ‘murder, so | that even after he had conceded his gulit in this case it ‘was incumbent upon the court to insist that the trial should pro- ceed and that the people should establish bevond a reasonable doubt that the de- fendant was guilty of the crime charged against him: ; i Anarchists and Lynch Law. “There are inour country individuals, not, T hope, in very large numbers,: but we know théy are scattered all over the country, who think in a case like this, or. even in charges of much less degree, it is ! =3 entirely proper that the case should be disposed -of hy lynch‘or mob law. We can hardly take up a paper without we learn that in some part of this free and inde- pendent country some man has been mur- dered on the suspicion or belief that he was guilty of some crime. This state of things does not exist in our community, but it does in some parts of our State, as every intelligent man knows. “It is charged here that our client is an anarchist, a man who does not believe in any law or in any form of government. And there are, so we are told, other individuals who enter- ‘tain that opinion. We feel that such doctrines are dangerous, are criminal, are doctrines that will subvert our il o i [ government in time if they are al- lowed to prevail. “Gentlemen of the jury, while I believe firmly in that, I do not believe it creates a_danger to this country equal to the be- lief becoming so common that men who dre charged with' crime shall not be per- mitted to go through the form of a trial in a court of justice, that lynch law shall take the place of the calm and dignified administration of the law by our courts | of justice, “When that doctrine becomes suffi- clently prevalent in this country, if It ever does, our institutions will be set aside and overthrown, and if we are not misinform- ed as to the state of mind of some people in some parts of the country, the time Is fast approaching when men charged with crime will not be permitted to come into court and submit to a calm and dignifizd trial, but will be strung up to a tree on the bare suspicion that some one may hold the bellet that they have committed some crime, “It is not long since I read in a paper that a colored man in the South had his life taken because he had insulted a white man. What it was the paper did not say, but he was strung up. “I suggest, gentlemen, that that class of the community who ars cry- ing out in our cities and are sending letters to lawyers suggesting that the man who is charged with the crime that this defendant is should not be permitted to have a trial before a court of justice are a more dangerous class to the community than the an- archists about whom we read so much. Stand Firmly by Law. “Now it is the duty of every American cltizen or every good man to stand firmly by the law and put his voice against any idea that a man should be punished for any crime until he is proven guilty in | court, beyond any reaconable doubt. “My- associate and myself are here to uphold the law. Some weak-mind:d peo- ple entertain the notion that the lawyer who appears in defense of a defendant is in court to obstruct the due process of the law, to balk justice, to delay by tech- nicalities. But every man who knows the members of the bar understands that this is not so. My associate and myself are here for the same purpose that the learned District Attorney is here for, to see that this trial progresses in a legal, orderly and proper manner. We must in every way possible put down and sup- press this feeling that cases may be dis- posad of without the intervention of | and he knew | liquor. PRICE FIVE CENTS. ST DEGREE" 15 THE VERDICT OF THE JURY THIAL OF THE ASSASGIN OF PRESIDENT MKINLEY —_— DECLARES e AIDED ASSASS Warter Poses as an Accomplice of Loolgosz. An Ex-Convict Makes 2 Very Rambling "Confession,” —— T. LOUIS, Sept. 24.-—Edward S Saftig, arrested Monday aftef- noon, suspected of larceny, told Chief of Detectives Desmond to- day that he was one of three men who conspired to assassinate President McKinley at Buffalo on September 8, and that he (Saftig) tied around Czolgosz's hand the handkerchief that concealed the ‘weapon with which he shot the President. .. Saftig prefaced his remarks by tellng of his life prior to the present year. “It was on the Monday before the Pres- ident was killed that I first knew that anything was to happen in anarchist cir- cles,” sald Saftig. *“On that date Frank Harrigan, an anarchist that I had known in New York and other Eastern citles, located me and made an appoin:ment for me to meet him at the Michelobe saloon in this city. I'did not know them why I was to meet him. He knew me of old, that my weakness was ‘We both drank, but what I drank affected me most. “Harrigan told me that he wanted me to go to Buffalo with him. He said that there was a man to be killed, a prominent man. I asked him who it was. He toid me to wait and I would see. Says He Went tc Buffalo. “I finally consented to go with him. We left here on Tuesday and got into Buffalo on Wednesday evening late. Har- rigan gave me $0 and paid my way there and gave me a return ticket to St. Louis. “When we got to Buffalo we went to a boarding-house. I do not remember the name of the proprietor nor the street where it was located. The man was ar- rested after the President was shot. When we got into the boarding-house we saw Czolgosz. I knew him, having met him in Chicago several years before. Czolgosz toid me that he intended killing the Presi- dent. He said he had gone to Niagara Falls with that end+in view, but had failed. He was to make another attempt soon. Harrigan was present at that time. Harrigan told Czolgosz that he had bet- ter postpone it until the President left Buffalo. He said there were so many peo- ple present that it was a sure thing he would be caught. Czolgosz said he did not care if he were caught. He saild he would shoot the President (he called him ‘Mack’) where all people would know why he was killed. Told Him to Go Ahead. “Harrigan told him to go ahead. If money could sgve him he would be saved. Next day, day, I got up about 10 o’clock. Czolgosz told me this was the day that the killing was to take place. He asked me to tie a handkerchief around his hand. I did so, and he placed a re- volver in his hand under the handker- chief. He asked me if I could see that there was a weapon in his hand. I said that I could not. “Then he told me that I was to the Temple of Music. I was to fix up my hand the same as I had fixed his. If the guards allowed me to get by he would have no trouble in getting by. But if they stopped me he would not try ft. “That afternoon he went out as he sug- gested. I tfed the handkerchief about his hand. Mine was fixed up the same way. Harrigan was to meet us at the grounds and he was to be immediately back of Czolgosz to prevent any interferance. Weakened at the Gate. “At the gate I weakened. I told Czol- gosz that I would go back to get Harrigan to do what had been laid out for me. I left Czolgosz tken and never saw him afterward. wAt the boarding-house I saw Harrigan. He told me that he had not been on the grounds when the murder took place. He gave me $20 as I was going home. I feared to take a train for St. Louls for fear of being detained. I tramped it part of the way and beat my way on trains. It took go to courts of ~justice. A “I remember, gentlemen, when 1 was a Continued on Page Two. <. me four days to get back.” __Continued on Page Three,