Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1858-05-01
IMPOSITION AND CRIME"
Poros1,I( Wis., April 90, 1858.

Mr.. ED1TOR:-ln the drant county
Herald of the 18th inst.,.is published an
article, headed as above. Did not know
the Editor to be man OF high moral
character, should consider it mercena
~ attempt to extenuate the commission OF
one of the most fragrant crimes known T.
the laws of the country uttersng counter
felt money as true. The appearance OF
an article of this stamp, following upon
the heels of fee indictments found by the
Grand Jury of our county, against these
"three young men, country boys" they
being strangers in the country, looks to
me very much like Governor Bashford's
dealing with the land-grabbers But |
don't believe Cover sees land ahead, or
has pecuniary motive in it. He has been
misled; probably talked with by our wor-
thy District Attorney upon the subject,
who acts rs if the public welfare was pro-
NOTED, by letting scoundrels run at large.
Now, it happens that had glimpse OF
these "three young men"-pretty Jail
birds-before they were Gagged. AS a
Dutchman once said to me, they are mot
so id green" as they are taken to be-
They could drink whisky, play poker, and
converse in the language of the sharp
with proficiency which proved they had
seen the inside Of other places than red
school and country church. On their ex-
animation before the Justice, their words
and actions were anything but that of
"5oys almost innocent" He gave his
name as 'sJohn JONES'" the second told
the story of the watch, and attempted to
show that the money was genuine; and
the third, a IMAM of thirty-tive years at
least, said he obtained his bogus in change
from the boat. Their actions showed
guilt from the outset, and should not be
surprised to see the fact developed on their
trial that they were old messmates of a
gang of horse-theives and counterfeiters
which infest this Western country-regl-
lar travelling agents of some bogus instiiu-
ton. l trust the people Of Grant county
will not be led into an uncalled for sympa-
thy..for these boys,-who are men in years,
habits and understanding,-by reading
this untimely article Of the Herald, but
give them fair trial, in accordance with
the laws of the State, and ifglilty of the
cri me with which they stand indicted let
them suffer the penalty. Yours,
JUSTICE.
REMARKs.-The above correspondence
appeared last week in the Dunleith5 Id
vert,ser, and in justice to the writer and
the other side Of the question, ii there bt
any opposite side,) we copy it. The wri
Ter is probably well acquainted with u
and knows we are not in the habit Of spol
ogising' for criminals, but rather the con
trary. We have long been lending thu
aid of our feeblespen and paper to thos'
of our Potosi friends who have been SO in
strumental in bringing the rogues of ,hs
vicinity and the whole county 10 justice
and have CONSTANT, urged that much cred
it is due them for their trouble. We hav.
not sweIved in our sup port towards them
though often pressed to moderation, he
lieving with them that crime must b.
stopped by bringing criminals to justice a
whatever cost and by whatever means
We may differ with them as to the extent
of crime and of punishment due in partic.
ular cases, but in this we agree that fla
grant crimes must and shall cease in our
county-that criminals shall no longer 90
UNPUBLISHED as general rule.
In the particular case of the men alluded
to,charged with counterfeiting,we acknowl-
edge our indebtedness to street reports for
all We knew. We never conversed with
our worthy District Attorney about the
matter till after the appearance ofour ar
tlcle, when he came to us and said he
thought we erred in saying the men were
not much guilty; he said they were with
out doubt guilty as charged and deserved
punishment if men could deserve it for
uttering counterfeit money. In justice
further to Mr.. Lowry, we do not think he
"acts as if the public welfare was promoted
by letting scoundrels run at large" We
have yet to learn that any act of bis, 10
his official business, shows that he has fall
len short Of his whole duty. If We are
no particular admirer of Mr.. Lowry, we
are an admirer Of justice, and shall fully
award him the right until he errs wifully
ard to the public injury.
Our article was mainly aimed at that
class Of persons who are ready to censure
Others most severely for crimes, yet them
selves scarcely forgotten for rascality as
dark, and this case was used for illustra-
ton. But, as the case now stands, our
readers will do well in forming no opin-
ions till called on as jurors to try the mat