The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-01-31

GAMBRILL was being removed to the hack. THE
facts to which these officers have testified admit of
broader and more general applcation-to which
we intend to confne ourselves In the first place,
they prove deliberate and persistent effort on the
part of mob to rescue convicted murderer out of
the hands of the officers of Justice That the unpar
alleed audacty and nsolence of this attempt should
not have attracted at the time, more attention from
the community, is attributable, of course, to the
deeper impression produced by the yet greater
crime which followed it. In the midst of the
universal horror inspired by the assassination of
RIGDoN, it is not strange that men should have
forgotten to be indignant at the attempt to rescue
GAMBRILL. Yet it cannot have escaped the atten-
ton of the intelligent reader, that the one crime
was but the sequel of the other, and that had the
perpetrators of the first offence been properly
dealt with at the time of its perpetration the
chances are that the other would never have been
committed Had Crops and CoRRIE been at
once arrested and committed, as they should have
been, for the part which they took in the riot and
attempted rescue of GAMBRnL-the life of R1GpoN
might have been saved; at least, it is not likely
that he would have met his fate on that night or
IN that way-certainly not at their hands. Yet
that they were not so arrested and committed, we
must not necessarily impute as fault to the Off
GERS whose testimony we have quoted It is true
that officer MAGEE at one time actually had CoRRIE
in custody, and let him go;-and that Lieutenant
CARMICHAEL contented himself with merely
pushing back Crops, when he pressed too
closely upon him in the crowd-and Sergeant Nc
CoMAs with simply releasing himself from the too
affectonate grasp of the same determined ruffan.
But officer MAGEE is clearly not to blame for he
but obeyed the commands of his superor-nor
are Lieutenant CARMICHAEL and Sergeant MCCoMAs
necessarily in fault-because, in the critical posi-
ton in which they found themselves, surrounded
by the friends and associates of GAMRRILL, and in
imminent danger of being overpowered by num-
bers, the former may have deemed it inadvisable
to spare any part of the limited force under his
command for the purpose of making arrests, and
the latter may have found it equally inexpedient
to cucumber himself at that time, with desperate
and unmanageable prisoner. Indeed, something
OF the sort seems to have been implied in CAR
MIcHAEL's clamation-'this is no time for
'making an arrest' and as it is the most charita-
bic construction to put upon the conduct of these
them from the responsibility of failure in duty
The censure which they escape, however, must
light somewhere If the responsibility of CROPS
and CoRRIE's escape from arrest at that time, and
consequent opportunity-if not encouragement
to proceed to the murder of RIGDoN-is not theirs
it must be somebody's. The case is plain
one. If these officers had force enough to
arrest and detain Crops and CoRRIE, the
ringleaders in the riot, and failed to use it-they
are to blame. If they had not force enough
for the purpose-then the blame must
rest upon the authorities who made such in
adequate provision to meet such crisis. That an
attempt would be made to rescue GAMBRILL every
body anticipated That the attempt would be
successful was the apprehension ofmany. In fact-t
very nearly proved successful-probably would
have been so, but for the disreputabe artiice re-
sorted to for the purpose of eludng the pursuit of
the mob-of having one hack, apparently designed
for the conveyance of the prisoner, stationed on
Lexington street. and then placing him in another,
and driving rapidly from the Courthouse by an
unusual and cireutous route. Even then, it was
found impossible to proceed in safety further than
the Middle district station house, and thther &C
cordingly the prisoner was taken until sufficient
force could be collected to furnish an armed escort
to the Jail. Why not such force in attendance
at the Court-house-in the first instance? The au-
thorities had ample warning, and ample time for
preparation, and ample means at their disposal to
meet every emergency. If the Sheriff was respon.
sibe for the safe custody of the prisoner the
MAYOR was equally responsible for the preserva-
ton of the peace of the city, and both were known
to be endangered by the threatened attempt at res
cue on the part of GAMBRILL s friends. Had then
the authorities met their duty in the premises man.
fully and courageously; had they confronted the
congregated elements of laweSsness gathered, that
evening, in the Square, with frmness and determi-
nation, and in numbers sufficient to overawe all
opposition and punish any disturbance-the fate
which befel RIGDoN might have been averted But
when Justice was compelled to stink ignobly from
her accustomed seat, and flee away by unfrequent-
ed by-paths, from the presence of mob-is it any
wonder that ruffanism, baked of its object, but
UNPUBLISHED and unawed, should have proceeded
eisurely and with ostentatous publicity to the i'm
notation of its victim? For thus it is, that like
many things besides, Crime t'grows by what it
feeds on" and its liberation in one instance
begets the hardihood and sense of impunity requi
site to its preparation in another