Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 March 1894 — TOPICS OF THESE TIMES. [ARTICLE]

TOPICS OF THESE TIMES.

\ - TYRANNICAL LAWS. This is a very free country, but some astonishing acts of tyranny are occasionally perpetrated by means of laws at variance with the spirit of our institutions! Striking illustrations of this great injustice are not hard to find. One of the most pitiful cases of this kind was that of Anna Wagner, who was arrested on the charge of poisoning a whole family at Indianapolis, After nearly a year’s imprisonment she was unanimously acquitted by the jury, and by public sentiment as well, at the close of a protracted trial, in which her friends were compelled to defend her at great trouble and expense. The innocent and ignorant Herman handmaiden has no recourse whatever upon any onr tar all her trouble and anxiety and ner weary months of imprisonment, and of course, was thankful to escape as well as she did. The great injustice and wrong that was done to an undoubtedly innocent person, however, remains unatoned for. Again, there have been numerous instances where witnesses, who were so unfortunate as to be unable to give bond for -their.-appearance, .being strangers in the community whero their testimony was valuable to plaintiff or defendant —have been detained as prisoners for many months for no offense whatever. But one of the most aggravated cases of this character was that of an unfortunate young man at Indianapolis, who but recently went to the station house —being out of employment—to sleep, because he did not wish to longer impose on friends. While he was at the station house his friends secured em-

ployment for him and sent a messenger to notify him to report for duty. The messenger'was refused-admis-sion by the turnkey, and the next morning the boy, in ignorance of the fact that work had been found for him, pleaded guilty to vagrancy and the maximum fine of SSO was imposed. Being unable to pay, he was sent to the work house. The poor victim served sixty days and came out worse off than before, his chance for work gone, guilty of no crime but poverty. Evidently there is something very wrong with a system that makes such outrages upon personal liberty possible.