Heaven save his reputation! Many an innocent man has been
ruined for life through the efforts of a newspaper "to make a
case," and, of course, the same thing, though happily in a
lesser degree, is true of the police and of some prosecutors
as well.
In every great criminal case there are always four different
and frequently antagonistic elements engaged in the work of
detection and prosecution--first, the police; second, the
district attorney; third, the press; and, lastly, the personal
friends and family of the deceased or injured party. Each
for its own ends--be it professional pride, personal
glorification, hard cash, or revenge--is equally anxious to
find the evidence and establish a case. Of course, the police
are the first ones notified of the commission of a crime, but
as it is now almost universally their duty to inform at once
the coroner and also the district attorney thereof, a
tripartite race for glory frequently results which adds
nothing to the dignity of the administration of criminal
justice.
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