Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-08-12
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.

the recess o. the july, yesteroay-
Mr.. Scott resumed his argument. He called
the attention of the jury to the disturbance which
occurred after the military came to the polls on
the day Of the riots. He said that the Indictment
embraced but criminal act, and 1t was the
province Of the District Attorney to select from
the many acts which were performed on that DAY,
and try the accused defendants on any one OF
them. He had attempted TO show the jury this,
and that IL was not competent for the learned At
torney to select any other than that generally
charged in the Indictment and when he makes
his selection he must be confined to that. IL
he was right in that proposition, unless some
connection was established between the occurren-
ces of the morning. and those that transpired SUBJ
seQuently, he was transcending the legitimate
province of the prosecution to go into anv other
than the occurrences of the morning of the first
Of June. After the United States had given evil
dence upon the occurrences of the afternoon, and
sought to make its argument upon the bloody
events which characterized the presence OF the
marines IL was not its province to recede from the
responsibility Of coming TO the issue upon that
point His honor had said that one might sup
pose that the city authorities were upon their trlal
here How an impartial investigation could be
had without putting them on trial, ii passed his
comprehension to determine. What connection
had the disturbance OF the morning with that OF
the afternoon, and the acts OF the Mayor there!
1t is only upon the hypothesis Of connection Of
the two that the argument Of the District Attor-
new was based. The purpose, il was claimed, of
the morning atfray. was to break the column of
Irish voters, to disturb the election; but what
connection had this with the ARRAY in the after
nOOn1 The purpose of the afternoon atffav was
entirely different from that Of the morning IL
originated from the marching OF the marines
from the barracks. 10 was participated in by half
a dozen bows from the Navy Yard; Ii had its ORR
gin at the Navy Yard; ITS cause, the marching OF
the marines. The appearance OF cannon at the
polls was the first intimation Of the disturbance.
IL was impossible to connect these two cases.
The frSt was the attempt of the Plug Cgiies to
force the Irish voters away from the polls the
second was the introduction of the cannon to pre-
vent the Irish marines from coming and interfer-
ing with the elections. Can it be insisted that
there was ;.nv connection between the two acts
What does the District Attorney mean then, when
he says that these polls were in possession OF the
mob through the entire day, What Is the evil
dence to sustain that argument? That Of wea
pom being stuck up in the fence, and Plug Ugly
Standing over H. where il remained but i've min
utes and SWEARING that no lrishman should vote
that day. This dreadful Plug Ugly only remained
there FIVE minutes, and then took his weapon out
of the fence and walked away with it. How does
that sustain the argument of the learned counsel
that the polls Were in the possession Of the mob
up to one o'clock upon that day. Is IL evidence
of continuation of this riot that the names of
these one hundred Irish voters who, ii is alleged,
were driven from the polls on that morning, were
not on the poll book after the afffay. Mr.. Dom
that he several persons (lriShmen )driven
from the polls and beaten while their papers were
being examined. Mr.. Dom was not the only man
there who had eyes and ears. Several witnesses.
among the Commissioners of Election, were
there. and had given evidence TO that point. and
save in one instance, that of an irishman who
taken away while attempting to vote upon the
papers Of dead man, no such thing was done
The defence had entirely disprUved the state
Jnents of Dir. Dom by the sworn statements of at
least three creditable witnesses. Between and
10 O'Clock of the morning of June first, the aray
occurred in the manner he had explained. accord
ing to the testimony. Information of it was
lied To- the Mayor. After some delay, he, accom-
panied by Baggot or Mills, his Chief Of Police.
drove to the scene of the disturbance; he did not
descend from his carriage; Goddard did not
descend from the carriage; man named w heller,
the tax clerk, spoke to him; he spoke to no one
else; he commanded no peace; he cautioned no
disturber of the peace; set up no authority; but
sat in his carriage, where he was left undsturbed
The Commissioners made no complaint; he made
no inquiry Of them; he put out his Chief of Police
and went of to the Navy Department. The Chief
of Police was there, and he took 10 pains to stop
the lawless mob; he a city officer brought
there by the MayOr-left there by the MayOr-to
see that the peace kept, and the United
States had not dared to bring him to the stand
witness in this case.
The Mayor ought TO have commanded the peace
If il was being broken. He did not and for the
best of all reasons, is pTOyed-there wss no
disturbance He 1.-THE Mayorl saws that the voting
was not resumed. MIR :. did not mean to charge
him with falSity, but If we are TO believe human
testimony il was proved that when the Mayor
was in his carriage the polls were opened and
persons were voting The name of the witnesses
10 that fact Is leg ron. There is not witness
who has been found to testify that while the
Mayor was there there any disturbance of
the peace. IL parties were violating the peace
why was he not on his post of duty Why
further In the face of this mountain of proof
True or false, that was just after the morning
shindy; il is proved that the Baltimoreans were
then OF the ground
II is established beyond all controversy that
when the Mayor was going to the polls he met
party OF rioters who were going in another dice
ton. Who were these parties but the Plug Ug-
lies The Mayor drove up the city on official
business, We all know that that Official bust
ness was to get 70 the Navy Department by the
shortest route Now what was his authority for
al hnZi IaA to
results, The duties which they were called upon
10 perform were the duties which belonged TO the
civil authority. What was the pretext Of the
Mayor! The condition of things at the Fourth
Ward pOlls-aBd q condition produced by that
visit Of the Mayor to those polls
The Mayor came back TO his office, and had
affidavit Of Mr.. Goddard. which was sworn to
before the Mayor: he had to go to the Navy De-
partmen;, ~ the President; tine consultation re-
sultug from th:s visit necessarily consumed some
time-hOw much tine could not be aSce rta ned,
certainly not short Of an hour or hour and
haif-befoTe the order could have been obtained
Now, during all this time, were the polls closed,
Was TiOting going on then, Is IL to protect this
party from the conSeQ Of this act, that the
zeal OF The District Attorney was exercised to
prove that the polls during all this time
closed He asserted that no such thing true;
that there was no IiOtng there, and that the vO-
ting was going on, usual, all this time. IL the
Mayor had known the true state OF things at this
time, he would not have called out the marines;
certain Il is that the statement which led to the
calling out Of the marines was false. Ii the Pres.
ldent and Secretary of the Navy plead the impO-
sitiOn passed upon them, the CITY officials who
pTactised that imposition escape the consequent
CesI IL does not follow that because this was a
discretionary power, therefore the Mayor was not
responsible for the exercise Of this discretion
Suppose the Mayor, in endeavoring 20 arrest d
man who had committed a misdemeanOr, ordered
platoon of marines TO fire upon and kill him,
although lac would be in the exercise Of his dis
cretion, yet would he not be guilty of murder and
held responsible therefor ftwa; an exaggerated
statement Of what had occurred, and false state
Tnent OF what had not occurred, which had led to
the dreadful massacre Of those -nocent persons
who were Inundated upon the altar Of executive
Partisanship upon that fatal day
The parties who brought the cannon on the
ground made no disturbance, troubled no one :;
the voting was going on, they took position by
the market house. The District ATTORNEY had
asked the question, Why did not the Coinmis-
siOOers complain OF the parties who brought the
cannon there IL he had thought but for A mo-
ment he would have found his own answer: Sim
Ply because the boys did not annoy them The
Mayor informs US in his evidence that he was on
his arrival al the polls received with soothing and
lndlgntyi that the polls were closed and that ne
made Intellectual efforts tn address the crowd hid
fp rTnfg