The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-11-14


At an inquest held on Wednesday last, Coroner
SPARELIE committed q witness on the charge Of
perjury, and it is to be hoped this action on his
part may serve to remind the authorities of what
they appear to have forgotten-that perjury is ar
offence, and that the laws have prescribed penal
ties for lis commission. We believe there is {
vestiy larger class of men in this community thar
is usually supposed, who will not hesitate to make
oath to wiful lie to obtain vote or screen al
aceomplice, and the number of these is increasing
daily IF this is so, il is attributable to the fac
that punishment for this fearful crime is amos
obsolete. He who perfumes himself on electiou-day
in every ward in the city, may, it is true, avoid
detection nineteen times, but it is because he is
equally certain Of escape if the twentieth fraud is
discovered, that he is embroidered to attempt it,
Many Of the judges of Election have accepted and
repeatedly during the same day, statements, which
they must have been satisfied were falsely sworn
10, and scarcely one Of them seemed to think il
worth his while TO commit or complain of The
guilty parties. Even in the courts of Justice. the
most ralpable periuries are not infrequently per
mittcd to pass without censpre About the very
time when the aboye-named Coroner was accusing
witness of perjury, a prisoner in the Crimina
Court was resorting to the identical crime, in order
to postpone his trial Although he had been five
months in JAIL he stated, when his case was called
that he was not ready as two witnesses were absent
who would testify to his innocence. He detailed
with minute particularly, the nature of the
evidence they would give, but was unable
to furnish any information about them
except that they "were named JONES, and
lived on Fremont near Sarah Ann street "
On the following day when the only two persons
thus designated, who lived on the street in cues
ton, were brought into Court the prisoner ALLEGED
that thes were not the two he wanted, and
although he could not on the previous day give
the first names nor residences of either, he now
swore that his witnesses were called WILLIAM and
THOMAS JOKES, and that they were both out of the
city. Neither JCDGE nor STATES ATTORNEY deem.
ed it necessary to take The slightest notice of what
they must both have considered deliberate per
jury, committed though it was in open Court In
order to prevent the investigation of one offence
another was perpetrated directly under the eyes OF
the officers OF the law, who viewed it with apparent
indifference Though the second crime was prob.
ably worse than the first, and calculated to bring
contempt on the Court, as well as to induce those
who saw with what impunity it could be availed
OF TO resort TO 1t themselves in an emergency it met
so far as the public could know neither rebuke
nor retributon. It is easy to account for the &C
emulation of cases on the docket of Court like
this, without attributing it to the increaeed eff
cheney the police in arrestng evil doers 1t is be-
cause il has suffered notorious offenders to 20 I'M
punished that their associates have been encour-
aged to further deeds of violence and it is because
Ferjnry can speak there unchallenged that it so
unblushngly accomplshes its ends elsewhere.