The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-05-19
BALTIMORE.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1853.

Among other important news of the day, we
have the gratifying intelligence that the Railway
defaultcr TUCKERMAN, recently convicted in Con-
nccticut, of robbing the mall is doing Gas well as
can be expected" We regret, however, to state
that the hard-hearted descendants of the Puritans
have refused this illusrious individual permission
to carpet his CELL so that he might pass his years of
involuntary seclusion in quiet gentlcmanly way
OF course the Charter Oak officials are clearly in
the wrong. They ought TO have known that a
wide distinction is usually made between the gen.
teel and the vulgar criminal 1t is clear that in
this case, they have acted with unaccountabe OBJ
tuseness, since it has become settled rule. in our
larger cities, that the ratio of punishment should
be in inverse proportion to the magnitude of the
crime Popular sympathy always finds its most
legitimate expression in cases deserving of no SYM
pathy at all. In Rochester which has become
OF late, quite famous for its eccenrictes, the
victed murderer IRA Stout, has put forth Il
manifesto to the public, full of romantic sent-
ments about brotherly affection and sisterly hon
or, and winding up with an imaginary sketch
of what he might have been if he had not been
what he is. He has also issued bulletin, gra-
ciously informing sympathisng Christians, that he
has not yet selected his spiritual adviser but that
as soon as he has done So he will make an appro-
pirate announcement of the fact. Perhaps he
thinks that any anxiety for the welfare of his soul
IS altogether premature, as the women of Roches-
ter are interesting themselves greatly in his behalf
and hopes are entertained that their petition to
Governor King, for Communication of his SEN
tence, will receive from that very tender-hearted
and impossible Chief Magistrate, the most Ore
spectful consideration" Almost simultaneously
with these announcements we have from the ur-
melodious region of Sing Sing, the touching intel
ligence that HUNTINGTON, the Great Forgcr, bears
his faculties so meekly, and conducts himself with
such perfect proprety in his vocation that his
friends moving in his behalf with fair prospect
OF obtaining his liberation at no very distant dav
All this is, doubtless, quite cdifying. The mawk-
Ish sentimentality of the age transforms every
bold and INSCRIPTIONS knave, or brutal murderer
into hero; and the more fragrant the crime the
greater probability there is that the criminal will
escape his deserts, either through some legal loon
hole, or through an appeal to executive clemency.
If life and property are thereby, rendered less
secure, we have, at least the consolation of know
ing that ''sweet sensibility'' has not pleaded the
cause of the offender in vain In such cases
Justice wreathes her sword with flowers, and Gabr-
Gates her letters, of sken strands 1t is only for
your meaner rogucs that she puts on all her ter
rors. Why then should TUCKERMAN be denied n
carpeted cell-or .SToUT, the presence of his fem-
nine admirers? And why should HUNT1NGToN.
who is working out his sentence with such serene
patience, and whose only offence, was passion for
negotiating fraudulent notes of hand, be deprived
of his liberty, his cigars, and his fast horses,
merely because there exists vulgar prejudice
against the old feudal law of appropriation, that
lie shall take who has the power,
And he shall keep who can 2,