Wairarapa Standard Published Tri-weekly, Price 1d. MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1885. A Failure of Justice.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XVIII, Issue 1745, 12 October 1885, Page 2

Wairarapa Standard Published Tri-weekly, Price Id. MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1885. A Failure of Justice.

“Jim Walden” has stood his trial on the charge of having assaulted, handcuffed, beaten, and “ tarred ” Mr Sydney Nimmo Muir, and been acquitted. Had “ Jim Walden ” been tried in one of the Scottish Law Courts, the verdict would have been “ " it Proven ” —certainly a much moieaccurate and logical deliverance in this particular case, than the decision of “ Not Guilty.” Most people who have closely watched the evidence given during the recent trial are perfectly satisfied in their own minds who the person was who assaulted Mr Muir. But moral certainty is not enough to secure a conviction in a Court of law, and so Jim Walden is absolved'by the verdict of a jury, and can hold up his head as a man declared legally innocent of the crime with which he was charged. Cot, it is remarkable hov cm trong was the chain of circ l 'nsta '. evidence against Walden. ML oad purchased a pair of handcuffs on the day previous to the commission of the assault upon Muir. Ho was seen late on the night when the assault took place, with his bauds stained with tar. He bad obtained permission to go through the grounds where the assault look place. There is more than a suspicion that Walden told the whole story of how the assault had been carried out to a certain person in Wellington. Altogether, ouite sufficient evidence exists to make

1 pretty clear, as a matter of proba--1 ; ty, who was the main actor in the perpetration of the outrage upon Mr Muir. Walden only escaped a conviction by the very skin of his teeth. The jury were long in deliberation and it was only by a small majority that the verdict of “ Not Guilty ” was agreed upon. “Jim Walden" may thank his lucky stars that he is now free instead of beginning a long sentence of imprisonment. The case referred to presents some deplorable featui ■«. In Tie first place, it has been made evident that the perpetrators of the outrage upon M' ' had no personal animosity agr t their victim. They appear to have been simply hired tools to obey the behests and gratify the vengeance of their employer Somebody in the background desired that this man, Muir, should he subjected to a filthy and brutal outrage, and ready tools were found to execute his work for a money payment. Surely, this is the development of a new and detestable species of crime. In the bad old days a Spanish or Italian bravo could he hired for a sum of mouoy to aasaesi uate another. Now, it seems that in this fair young laiui, a man, or men, can be hired for money to perpetrate a flltiiy out/ngn upon some obnoxious p rson. 'that such a thing should bo po .able is bad indeed. Vv c have no pi cular sympathy with this fellow Muir. His conduct while living at the } (.ult was ci I'iaiuly objectionable. His name was mixed up in social scandals, and, falling all things into account, if somebody hud met Muir on the (Queen’s Utah way, and—man to man —given him a sound thrashing,’nobody would iiaiu felt the least sympathy for tho victim. But this midnight attack, of at least two men agaiust one, and all the handcuffing, clothes tearing and tarring business was simply atrocious md abominable. The fd'ov/s who could, for money, he hired to commie such an out rug wer he very lowest and vilest of sen ndr; V ; ruffians, that nobody has ;Co cc , icted and punished for (his crime, in much to ho depleted. There has been a most lamentable failure of justice in (his matter.

But there is another aspect of this case of an equally deplorable character, which has to ho considered, Justice was foiled iu this trial simply

because men, ostensibly of decent character and repute, went into the witness box, one after another, and deliberately perjured themselves. The whole case positively bristled with hard swearing, false witness, and perjury. It was not merely that some witnesses “ trifled with their oaths,” but others went further than this and gave evidence of a positively misleading character. What mysterious and occult influences were at work to create the atmosphere of lying and false witness which enveloped the whole of this case, we do not pretend to explain. But it bodes ill for the social framework of society in New Zealand, when it is found possible to frustrate the operations of justice in a Court of law by using wealth, influence, position, money, and the vile tools which such powers can command, to screen the guilty and enable the wrong-doer to escape unpunished.