No Reward Necessary

New York, 1895

District Attorney Noble has asked the board of Supervisors to offer a reward of $250 for the apprehension of an Italian who killed another Italian in a fight, and in doing so Mr. Noble violated the law by saying publicly that the fugitive had been indicted, a fact which the law commands shall be kept a secret until after the offender has been apprehended.

There is no necessity for offering a reward in this case. Legally the Supervisors have no such power, but the power has been assumed with public consent where the victim of the crime was a prominent citizen, as in the case of Samuel Jones, who was murdered by Jackson and Jarvis, and in the case of the murder of the Maybee women by Rugg.

If the Italian has left this country for some other the country that has lost him is to be congratulated. To find him within our jurisdiction would entail an additional expense of $1,000 to try him, with a possible verdict of manslaughter. There are plenty of criminals out on bail who should be tried, some of them guilty of offenses more harmful to society than the killing of a man, the Democratic bribe takers, for example. Mr. Noble had better fry the fish he has in hand rather than go fishing for more.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 12, 1895, p. 2.