An Account of the Proceedings on the Trial of Susan B. Anthony, on the Charge of Illegal Voting, at the Presidential Election in Nov., 1872, and on the Trial of Beverly W. Jones, Edwin T. Marsh, and William B. Hall, the Inspectors of Election by Whom Her Vote was Received.Anonymous
History
An Account of the Proceedings on the Trial of Susan B. Anthony, on the Charge of Illegal Voting, at the Presidential Election in Nov., 1872, and on the Trial of Beverly W. Jones, Edwin T. Marsh, and William B. Hall, the Inspectors of Election by Whom Her Vote was Received.
Anonymous
Anthony, Susan B. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906 -- Trials, litigation, etc.; Election law -- United States; Women -- Suffrage -- United States
Miss ANTHONY insists that in these proceedings, the fundamental
principle of criminal law, that no person can be a criminal unless the
mind be so--that an honest mistake is not a crime, has been disregarded;
that she has been denied her constitutional right of trial by jury, the
jury having had no voice in her conviction; that she has been denied her
right to have the response of every juror to the question, whether he
did or did not assent to the verdict which the court directed the clerk
to enter.
The trial of the three inspectors followed that of Miss ANTHONY, and all
were convicted, the court holding, as in the case of Miss ANTHONY, that
good faith on their part in receiving the votes was not a protection;
which they think a somewhat severe rule of law, inasmuch as the statute
provides the same penalty, and in the same sentence, "for knowingly and
wilfully receiving the vote of any person not entitled to vote, or
refusing to receive the vote of any person entitled to vote." The
inspectors claim, that according to this exposition of the law, they
were placed in a position which required them, without any opportunity
to investigate or take advice in regard to the right of any voter whose
right was questioned, to decide the question correctly, at the peril of
a term in the state's prison if they made a mistake; and, though this
may be a correct exposition of the law in their case, they would be
sorry to see it applied to the decisions of any court, not excepting the
tribunal by which they were convicted.
The defendant, HALL, is at a loss to know how he could have avoided the
penalty, inasmuch as he did all that he could in the way of rejecting
the votes, without throttling his co-inspectors, and forcing them to
desist from the wrong of receiving them. He is of opinion that by the
ruling of the Court, he would have been equally guilty, if he had tried
his strength in that direction, and had failed of success.
To preserve a full record of so important a judicial determination, and
to enable the friends of the convicted parties to understand precisely
the degree of criminality which attaches to them in consequence of these
convictions, the following pamphlet has been prepared--giving a more
full and accurate statement of the proceedings than can elsewhere be
found.
INDICTMENT
AGAINST SUSAN B. ANTHONY.
DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
IN AND FOR THE
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK.
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