The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-28 00:00:00

CRIME IN PHILADELPHIA.

Judge Brewster's charge to the grand jury which
commenced the Quarter Session of Philadelphia on
the sth instant contained some remarkable state-
ments. Noticing that there were more than 400
indictments, and the great increase in the cases of
murder and homicide, he said-"It is time that the
bad should be made to feel the power of the law.
It has been announced in the Police Courts of Lon-
don that in certain places in that city the Queen's
writ will not run. The same remark may almost
be applied to us. There are certain men in Phila-
delphia who cannot be brought to justice. They
can beat down, almost murder our policemen,
secure bail, and abscond until opportunity permits
their return. Others take life almost w ith impu
nity. The homicides committed in this city in the
year 1868, as compared with those of 1867, are in
the proportion of 133 to 91, an increase of 40 per
cent. Infanticides have increased nearly 50 per
cent., and the total of murders in one year is four
times the convictions for ho:nieiles in thirty
years. This is all due to the perverted sym-
pathy which exalts the assassin into the posi-
tion of a persecuted victim of the law. An able
writer has sai I In the legal duel between
a murderer and justice, we give the prisoner
not only a fair start, but we throw every obstacle
in the way of getting at the truth. ' Criminal li-
berty' will soon have to be toasted with ' Civil and
religious liberty.' It has thus come to pass, gen-
tlemen, that men are shot down or stoned to death
upou our highways, and that the law seems as
powerless for their vindication as it was for their
protection. Grand juries hesitate to find true bilk
and petit juries often refuse to convict except of
inferior grades, frequently coupling those verdicts
with recommendations to mercy. And even in au
occasional case of great atrocity, when a coavic-
tion is followed by a sentence to death, the Execu-
tive is besieged for a pardon. It is owing to these
efforts to thwart justice that it has come o pass in
Philadelphia that it is more dangerous for a man to
pick a pocket than to take a life. The thief is
much more certain of being punished than the mur-
derer. This will continue until public opinion un-
dergoes a change. Illinois has recently been com-
pelled to restore the death penalty to her statute-
book. Maine has just refused by a large ma-
jority to abolish it. Wisconsin, Michigan, and
Rhode Island are now the only States in the Union
in which capital punishment is not inflicted."
Commenting on this the Philadelphia Public Ledger
says :-" At a time when our criminal courts are
kept busy trying prisoners charged with the gravest
crimes known to the law-when the prosecuting
attorney found so heavy a calendar that he was ob-
liged to keep two Criminal Courts in almost con-
tinual session for three consecutive months- at a
season when no less than 19 homicide cases have
been tried at three terms, short terms, indepen-
dently of all other criminal business-when at the
commencement of every successive term the Judges
are exhorting Grand Juries to inquire earnestly into
this condition of affairs-when the same Judges
publicly state that in the year 1868 there was an
increase of homicides of nearly 40 per cent. over
the year 1867, and a similar increase in the propor-
tion of infanticides-there is seen on the other
hand the most extraordinary and persistent efforts
to screen offenders of all grades from the punish-
ment due to their crimes, and to relieve them from
the penalties of the violated law. Counsel for ac-
cused prisoners are seen going far beyond their
duty to their clients in securing them fair trials
under the protection of the law, far beyond their
duty as officers of the Courts in which they prac •
tise, and seem to have adopted the rule of seeming
impunity to offenders at all hazards, regardless of
the demoralizing effects upon society, and the im-
mediate peril to the public.
THE GREAT SAFE ROBBERY.-On the 4th April
the iron safe was broken into of the St. John's
Beneficial Safety Fund, and its entire contents,
amounting to over a million of dollars, consisting of
-$20,000 Delaware State G's; $lO,OOO 5-20's of
1867; $21,000 5-20's of 1864; $4,0005-20'sof 1865 ;
$102,000 Pennsylvania 5 per cent. bonds : $25,000
Connecting Railroad bonds; $15,000 Sunbury and
Erie bonds ; $20,000 Camden and Amboy mort-
gage bonds; $3,000 of $lOO each of Camden and
Amboy mortgage bonds ' • $lO,OOO Lone. Island
per cent. bonds; $4,000 Philadelphia 61' per cent.
Registered Loan ' • $38,900 Philadelphia 6 per cent.
Loan ; $50,000 Pennsylvania State 6 per cent.
Loans ; $77,700 United States 5-20's of 1865, re-
gistered-of these there were 15 bonds of $5,000
each, two of $l,OOO, one of $5,000 and two of $lOO ;
J 33,000 Pennsylvania War Loan ; $lO,OOO New
ersey State G's ; $4,000 Pittsburgh 5 per cent. Cor-
poration bonds ; $32,000 Allegheny City 5 per
cent. bonds; sl,ooo Camden City bonds ; $32,000
Schuylkill Navigation Ponds ; $15,000 North
Pennsylvania Railroad 6 per cent. bonds ; $l,OOO
No, tit Pennsylvania Hamad 7 per cent. bonds;
$25,000 United States bon Is of 1881 ; $20,000
5-20 bonds ; $27.000 10-40 bonds ; $25,000 Phi--
ladelphia and Erie 6 per cent. bonds. It asides these,
they had in the safe $12,000 in greenbacks and tome
coin, which the robbers carried away with the
s curities. The only bond left behind by the
robbers wee a $l,OOO one, which was found on
the floor. The burglary was effected in broad
daylight, between six in the morning and six in the
evening on a Sunday, an l the directors are blamed
for not taking better precautions, the s ,fo offering
peculiar facilities for the robbery. A watchman
remained as a guard during the night, but be left
the premises at six in the morning, and the robbery
was not discovered till six p.m. when he returned.
Entrance had been effected by getting into the
billiard saloon through Chesnut-street, and then
down the stairway leading from Twelfth-street.
Here it was discovered that the window opening
on to this stairway had been prised open, and
through this the President and other gentlemen
entered the office of the society. They found the
gas burning, and the office floor strewed with enve-
lopes, which had contained the securities of the
society. On searching carefully it was discovered
that every bond held by the society, to the
amount of over $BOO,OOO, had been stolen, as well
as some $200,000 or $300,000, it is supposed, coupon
and registered bonds, that had been left in the
fire-proof by private individuals, for safe keeping.
The fire-proof is built of brick and stone, inside the
office, with double doors of chilled iron, the outer
door being locked with a combination lock. The
burglars went to work in the most skilful and sys-
tematic manner, and must have completed the job
iu a few hours. They placed in front of the fire-
proof door a stout piece of oak timber about four
feet long, the end fastened to the floor by strong
iron clamps, to this another piece of timber was
connected as a brace. A large iron brace and
of the finest steel was then brought to bear upon
the lock, and after removing the plate containing
the letters, a hole was drilled through the door into
the lock, breaking the bolt, and thus allowing the
door to be easily opened. The breaking of the inner
door was but a trifling matter, and the work- of
rifling the tin boxes containing securities belonging
to private individuals commenced. 'There were
about 3,000 depositors, most of them poor, hard-
working people, by whom the loss will be severely
felt. Mr. P. Quinn, the treasurer, suffers heavily,
and other officers of the institution also. The Hon. J.
Campbell had about $4,000 in coupon bonds in the
safe; $2,000 of them were left on the floor, sup-
posed to have been dropped in the robbers' flight.
There was a diamond necklace, valued at $lO,OOO in
the vault belonging to Mrs. M'Caulley, which was
carried off. An experienced banker has given it as
his decision that the burglars can only use $70,000
of the amount, and steps have been taken to bribe
the ruffians to return what they cannot use, $25,000
being offered as a preliminary.

GOLD MINING.—The company which we lately
mentioned as about to come out has been advertised dur-
ing the week. It is based, as we before observed, on the
plan of securing to the investors a minimum dividend of 5
per cent. per annum, independent of the property and the
directors, through the means of a guarantee fund invested
in Government stocks, and deposited with the trustees,
who have named their own bankers. The property is
situated in the Grass Valley District, Nevada County,
California. The prospectus does not exaggerate
in stating that it is the best gold-producing
district in the State, nor that the Eureka mine is one of
immense wealth. The latest news from that ledge on
which the company's property is situated says that the
miners are preparing for a brisk summer's work, that only
about two feet of snow remained on the ground, which was
rapidly melting, and that the mines opened generally had
not stopped work during the winter. The district is
rapidly progressing notwithstanding the junme created
by the White Pine silver min-!s. Indeed some of the
ledges in Grass Valley, considering how c,miparatively
cheap it is to work the ore, are thought to pay as well.
In answer to a resolution of the House of Repre-
sentatives, the President reports, that the number of ves-
sels captured by rebel cruisers during the wax was nearly
300, and their estimated value more than 513,000,000.
Some time ago we gave a full list of every vessel taken by
the privateers, from which any ono interested may calcu-
late what portion of the sum is likely to fall to England's
share in liquidation. On the Bth inst. the decuments re-
lating to the correspondence on the Alabama Clelms were
sent to the Senate by the President. The manuscript
transmitted, closely packed and pressed, was about a
wheelbarrow full, weighing 1001bs. As it will be printed,
and each Senator furnished with a copy, they will have
something gratin to read on their summer tour.
Hamilton and Kimpton (tailors, 105, Strand)
wish their friends in the estates to know that the new
goods are now ready, and orders by post will km strict
attenticii by the firm.

NOTICh.

The Third Edition of " The Sun" of last Evening was
published in for delivery in town at 7.15 p.m.