The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-08-25
The Reign Of R0vvtlySSua.

The Reign Ot ROvvdylsnn.
The bad notoriety of Baltimore and Philadel- |
phis for rowdyism and disorder has not yet died
away. The rowdies of those cities ar deter
mined to sustain their reputation. The execu- |
ton ut Baltimore of three of their number five
months ago, appears to have been already forgot
ten by the surviving demons in that city, not.
withstanding the warnings uttered by those
unhappy men as they stood upon the threshold |
Of eternity. A few d1Vs ago gang of them
took possession of a steamboat, on an excursion
trip, assailing Unfortunately every white man
on board, putting out the lights, and robbing |
all the passengers and committing an atrocious
outrage on q negro woman h the presence Of
her husband, whom they stabbed. On the
very heels of this intelligence, we learned yester
day BY telegraph that another band of rufisns
from Ph,acelphis created disturbance with
the Franklin Rife Company, from that city, who
were on target excursion at Tacony. About
twenty persons were stabbed and otherwise
wounded. To-day we publish further partcu-
lars of the riot
1t does not appear that the military had
either bayonets or ball cartridge with them, on
which, no doubt the rowdies presumed, being
themselves well armed with knives, dsggers aud
other deadly weapons. The military ought
never to place themselves in the power of mob
of that kind. They ought to have had their
basonets, if not ball cartridge If they had
charged on these fellows with fixed bayonets,
they would have very quickly taken to their
heels. If some fifty or hundred of them had
been killed on the spot a great gain would
have been accomplished for society. So peril
nacious were the scoundrels, that on the ar.
rival Of the military in Philadelphia they recon-
menced the riot, and but for the interference of
the police the results might have been serious.
| This is one Of the very few occasions on which
tue police have been ever known to prevent any
| crime.
| What is the cause of this rowdyism assuming
SO bold and SO defiant an attitude, domineering
over law and order, and keeping respectable and
| virtuous citizens in continual fear? We answer
that politics, parry politics, and the corrupt prac
tices connected with them are the fruitful source
of the anarchy which is foul disgrace to our
free institutions and cause ofprejudice against
democracy throughout the civilized world. The
| political wirepullers and managers of elections
have for many years subsidized class Of men
| who have cheated the State prison and the gal
lows Of their due, to do their dirty work, and to
commit every sort ofviolence. This villany has
been connived at by the leading men of each of
the successful parties in turn, on the prin-
ciple that the end justifes the means. And al
most every attempt to bring the rufIians to jus.
tice has been frustrated. Thus IMMUNITY for row.
| dyism at elections has gradually grown up among
| us; and so formidable has il become that decent
citizens are afraid to 60 to the primary elections,
where only those candidates who play into the
hands Of the criminals have any chance Of sue
cess. But the evil does not stop here. The
rowdies, finding that they possessed i'm
munity for violence at elections, have
"bettered tie instruction" of their masters, and
made general rowdyism an institution of the
country, supplantiug and superseding the autho-
rity Of the laws, and driving us back to barbar-
ism. The politicians who have obtained Office
through the fundamentally of the rowdies are
under obligations to protect them against the
operation Of the law If they sit on the bench
of justice they throw the shield of their own ig.
potant or corrupt interpre taton Of the statute
ar the culprit or, if they cannot do that, they
administer the mildest punishment it is in their
! power to infict. If the rascal is sent to the
! penitentiary or to State prison the politicians
will soon get him out. If one Of these DULLES is
indicted for murder, he enjoys the joke and looks
On the trial as good farce. He is certain that
rowdyism is so well organized, and is so identi-
fed with the political parties, that he can never
suffer the penalty of his crime. Either by hocus-
pocus the jury do not agree, or new trial is OBJ
tanned on frivolous point of LAWN some way
| or other justice is robbed of its sacrifice.
II is true that sometimes the rowdies here are
caught when they fall into the hands of Judge
Russell, or some Judge like him; and sometimes
III Baltimore they dangle from the gallows, as
they did last March. But the general impunity
they obtain is sufficient encouragement for too
many OF them to persevere in their crimes and to
hope for escape from the consequences that fol.
low in every well regulated society.
The result Of this system, on the whole
will be that the rowdies will virtually
rule the country And to such an alarm
ing extent has this anomaly already grown
that the peaceable and orderly portion of the
citizens are beginning to consider whether
the community would not fare better-whether
there would not be more security for property
and life and limb-under government like that
OF France or Russia, than under the best and
freest government ever devised by the wisdom Of
man. The place to strike mortal blow at
rowdyism is the primary elections, and every
good citizen ought to lay this to heart and act
accordingly. If that lie not done, it seems to us
that there is no other alternative than Vigi-
lance Committees. There is as much need of an
organization Of that kind in Baltimore and other
cities az there ever was in San Francisco. In
the latter city, owing to the rapid influx of popu-
LIZ AL; l..