Character and Reputation.
By Editor
IN a recent murder trial in Oakland, it is stated that the defense agreed to rest their case at a certain point, if the prosecution would agree that up to the attempt at murder the prisoner had borne a good reputation. To this the prosecution assented, and the case went to the jury. Here was a young man who carried a pistol in his pocket, and without provocation shot a woman on Broadway in open day; yet it is claimed that up to that time he had borne a good reputation. That may be true; but if it is, it only serves to emphasize the difference between character and reputation. It is absolutely impossible that a man of previously good character could have committed such a deed. Character is a thing of growth. No person acquires character instantaneously; a perfect character is the result of long-continued practice of virtue, each upright act tending to the final result. And it is equally true that no man of good character falls at once to the depths of vice and crime. When a man of good reputation commits some great crime, it may be depended upon that vicious practices of some kind or other have long been sapping the foundations of his character. The expression, "a good character," means invariably one thing. But the expression, "a good reputation," is very indefinite. It may mean almost anything, according to the class of persons by whom it is used. If used by honest men, it is a compliment; but if used by rogues, it is not much to one's credit. The prisoner in this instance may have enjoyed a good reputation among the hoodlums and prostitutes with whom he associated; yet that would be no recommendation to him. We are glad that in this case justice was not turned away backward, so far as the judge was concerned; for he ignored the plea of good reputation, and passed sentence according to the prisoner's character as indicated by his actions.