p. 277 | Untitled article

Pacific Press Publishing Company · New York · September 3, 1891

FromThe American Sentinel, Vol. 6, No. 35

Not Enforced Impartially.

THAT Sunday laws are not enforced against the very class which we are told they are especially designed to reach has just been illustrated in Walla Walla, Wash. The Union-Journal, of that city, in its issue of August 1, gives the following account of a typical case:—

Probably what was the wealthiest jury that ever sat on a case in this county was the jury that tried A. Schwarz for violation of the Sunday law, in Justice Taylor’s court, Friday. The verdict was, “Not guilty.” Prosecuting Attorney Blandford fought nobly for the State and the execution of the law, and its failure surely does not lay upon his shoulders nor upon any of the public officials. The responsibility rests entirely with the jury. The first witness put on the stand was Marshal Robinson, who testified that he was in the saloon, saw beer passed over the bar and paid for. Twenty-five or thirty men were in the saloon all day. His evidence was corroborated by that of other witnesses. About the same arguments were made by the defense as on the previous day, but were completely refuted by the prosecution. The Jury, after deliberating only ten minutes, returned a verdict of not guilty.

If the defendant had been a poor Sabbatarian on trial for digging potatoes or plowing, greatly to the annoyance and scandal of his Sunday-keeping neighbors, a different verdict might have been rendered. Certain it is that as a rule Sunday laws are made effective only in the most petty cases. They should be wiped out everywhere.