The Watchman And Southron

PASSING THE BUCK.
(Yorkville Enquirer).

The Yorkville Enquirer has for many years held Judge J. K. Henry in the highest esteem as a lawyer and a gentleman and holds him in such esteem yet and will continue to do so; but in the opinion of The Yorkville Enquirer Judge Henry on last Saturday in continuing the cases against certain defendants on the ground of his personal admiration and esteem for honored relatives of those defendants, has passed the buck to the next presiding judge in York county's circuit court, who might possibly hold those relatives in just the same respect as does Judge Henry, and who might in course of events take exactly the same position as did Judge Henry in giving his reasons for refusing to hear the charges against the accused.

The next judge would certainly have the same right to do so: The precedent has been set, and in our courts precedent is everything.

However, in passing the buck, there are many people in York county—people who are in favor of the enforcement of the laws of the commonwealth regardless of whether a violator be high or low, rich or poor, of high social standing or otherwise—who are of the opinion that in taking the position that he did, Judge Henry has done as much as any other man has ever done in the county, to bring ridicule upon the courts of justice, to whom all violators, in theory, at least, should look alike.

It is certain that the position taken by Judge Henry in these cases has added nothing toward respect for the law and the courts.