The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-04-12
BALTIMORE.
MONDAY, APRIL II, 1858.

1t will be seen by a notice in the advertising
columns of this PAPER that reward of one hun
dred dollars has been offered by Jerusalem En-
campment No. - of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows 'for the arrest and conviction OF the
assassin or assassins'' of their deceased fellow
member, Benjamin Jones, who had been missing
from home since the Goth of March, whose body
wa. fshed up out of the water at thefoot OF Bowlys
wharf, on Thursday last and the cause of whose
mysterious disappearance and death Is now under
going investigation at the hands Of coroner Stevens
This reward is declared to be offered Sin addition
to any reward offered by the civil Authorities an
announcement which not only suggests the inquiry
whether 'the civil authorities have offered any
reward, but reminds us that in a recent editorial
upon the murder of young Worthington, we did
His Honor Mayor Swami great injustice, for which
we now seek to offer all honorable amends. We
wish publicly and formally to acquit the Mayor of
being open even to the very slight suspicion barely
entertained, and family suggested by us of being
supposed to feel as magistrate as much solicitude
for the detection of murderer, as he would pro-
badly manifest as an individual for the recovery of
his property. For "strayed or stolen pointer,
His Honor might possibly have deemed it worth
while to offer a reward, but as it was only man
killed, and the coroners jury were unable to find
out who killed him, His Honor evidently thought
the matter required no further investigation. We
do not wish to be too hard on the Mayor. Perhaps
the frequency with which such things have hap
pened since His Honor has been Mayor, has some
what blunted his official sensibties He has
grown used to hearing of murders and homcides;
and such occurrences, Incidental to all large
cities" have therefore ceased to disturb his repose
or even attract his attention. This may be the
reason why in the present instance he has suffered
Jerusalem Encampment No. l, of the Independent
Order of Odd-Feows'' to anticipate him in the
performance of his official duty, and why in the
case of young Worthington he let the matter drop
without troubling himself to take any further steps
to bring to light and punishment the assassin of a
citizen. Edward Worthington was killed more than
two weeks ago, and buried and since Dr. Busk has
been happily relieved from all professional doubts
as to the cause of his death, the evident wish Of
the civil authorities is that /" he may rest in
peace" They want no ghost of murdered man to
shake his CORY locks at them, and reproach them
with supinely suffering his bloody death to pass
care of the living, and are doubtless perfectly
willing to let the dead bury their dead" Coro-
ner Gorton has held his inquest over the corpse,
and the jury have given their verdict 'that the de-
ceased, Edward Worthington, came to his death
b. pistol shot fired by the hand of some person
OR persons to the jury unknown" What more
can any reasonable man desire than that the dead
body should be recommitted to the grave from
which it had been dug up and that the murderers
should remain forever " unknown" in accordance
with the verdict of the jury and the manifest dis
position of the civil authorities -?
Benjamin Jones disappeared from home under
circumstances well calculated to awaken suspicion
of foul play, and which ias appears from the evil
dence before the Coroner did in fact give rise to
very strong suspicious in the minds of all his ac-
quaintances. Three weeks elapse and 'the matter
according to the SIN, had ceased to he thought
o" when body is found floating in one of
the docks, over which an inquest is held and a
verdict rendered of death from accidental drown
ing. Subsequently the body is recognized to be
that of Jones; another inquest is held which is
not vet concluded, and the ''suspicions of foul
play which had all the while been floating in the
minds of the community, find expression for the
first time in the form of q reward offered by
benevolent society, of which the deceased had been
q member, 'for the arrest and conviction of his
assassin or assassins." Now, we do not wish to
be considered unreasonable unjust we do not
propose to insist impossibilites, neither are we
actuated by an insane desire % TO break down the
city government" or bring into ill repute the
name of the city in which we live We simply
~ o4+oo 10 4l,o q
human life in this community, and to the supine in
difference if not criminal negligence of e. the civil
authorities" That murders will be committed in
large cities and that murderers will not unfrequent-
ly battle all the plans Of the police and the best
efforts of the authorities for the prevention of such
crimes, and for the detection of the criminals is
nothing more than what may naturally be expect
ed-but furnishes no reason whatever why, when
murders committed, some attempt at least
should not be made to find out and punish the per
petrators. If man is killed in Pratt ST. at ten
O'Clock in the evening, in the presence of from ff-
ty to hundred persons, and the coroner's jury
are unable to decide whether the fatal shot was
fired by 'shump-backed man, dressed in q dark
sack coat and cap on, with large pistol" or by
"a gray knit jacket and plush cap
q
deed was done "by parties unknown" 1T is not
necessary that the ''cv authorities should adopt
this conclusion their own, view the matter in
the light of IA mystery" and resolve that for all
time TO come the assassin shall remain unknown"
So, if citizen Suddenly disappears, and is sup
posed to have been foully dealt WITH seems to us
that the duty of investigating the of his dis
appearance should not have been left entirely to
committee of Harmony Lodge of Odd Fellows, and
when his body had been actually recovered, bear
ing such marks of violence, the physicians say, as
leave mo doubt" according to the testimony of
one of them, 'but that the party had been MUIR
dered, and then thrown into the water it seems
to us, that Jerusalem Encampment' should not
have been found alone to manifest an interest in tthe
arrest and conviction of his assassin or asSassns"
The action of these charitable bodies is altogether
praiseworthy, and we cannot help contrasting
their concern for the fate of their fellow-member
with the apathy of "the civil authorities in re-
gard to the mysterious disappearance and possible
murder of one citizen, and the public and notorious
assassination of another.
MYSTERIOUS ATTEMPT AT AssAssINATIoN-We COPY
from the Washington Star the following account of
what that journal very properly calls ''mysterious