The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-01-28
BALTIMORE.
FRIDAY, JANUARY %, 1859.


simultaneously with the announcement that the
Jury in CORRIE's case had agreed upon a verdict,
fixing upon that individual the responsibility and
guilt of principal in the murder of RIGDoN
there appeared in some of the papers of the city,
n Judgment of His Honor the MAYOR, formally
acquitting Captain BRAsHEARs and Sergeant Nc
CoMAs of the crime of being accessories to the
murder before the fact Both judgments, we
doubt not, are in accordance with truth and JUS
tice. If there is no question-as of course there
can be none-about the guilt of CoRRIE, there is
still less reason for supposing that either of the
officers named knew anything of the transaction
Such an idea does not seem to have occurred to
any one except His Honor the MAYoR-un-
less, perhaps, similar suspicion was in the
mind of our respectable contemporary The Amer
ican when, on the 18th of January, it clamored
for an investigation" and declared that ':the
opposed to have been shot, by Capt. BRAsHEARs,
Through the agency of Sergeant McCoMAs, to
'LEvYs house, is properly judged to be circum-
''sance needing the most satisfactory explanation
eff these officers to be retained in their posi-
''tions." Such an investigation has been had,
and with the result we have stated. The officers
in question have been reprimanded and suspended,
for 'violation of ORDERS" but, in pronouncing
sentence upon them, the MAYOR took occasion to
say, that CATER most careful examination into
''the facts he felt bound TO acquit them of any
terminal intent. There is no evidence to show
he says-addressing them personally-"that it
twas your design to arm any one for sinister
"purpose" The delivery of deadly weapon, to
a notorious rowdy and leader among the political
clubs of the city-on the eve Of an exciting cleo
ton, by one of the appointed guardians of the
public peace, he simply considers to have been an
"act of censurabe indiscretion." The fact that
the weapon was comparatively useless" one
the absence of any previous knowledge on the
part of BRAsHEARs and McCoMAs of the precise
use to which it would be put by the thieves and
ruflians who congregate at LEWIS tavern where
it was left-and the general good conduct Of the
officers themseves-are the extenuating circum-
stances which seem to have influenced the judy
ment of the MAYOR. Now-with respect to the
value of the weapon i'll question-we do not con-
ceive that TO have anything to do with the
The loss sustained by the city in consequence of
the misappropriation of this particular pistol
by Captain BRAsHEARs, is not a matter
about which We are in any wise solicitous
We do think it rather singular that the Captain
should have selected a weapon which he "would
''not have fired off for a hundred dollars" and
which the other officers would not have
fired off on any consideration-to present to
friend to whom he had promised pistol; and
consider that Mr.. ENGLISH has just cause to COM
plain of his want Of generosity Neither, do we
perceive the necessity of taking such weapon
from an '1rshman in the street. - in whose hands,
according to the testimony, it might have been left
with perfect proprety to do whatever damage it was
capable of inflicting-upon its owner. 1t is true
the Captain states that 'when he gave the pistol to
"ENGIsH it was more for a curiosity than any thing
"elSe." We were not aware before that Mr.. Eng
LIsH madea pretensons to the tastes of a yirtuoso
although we do remember TO have heard, that about
election times, he and his fellows exhibited quite
a number of such ''curosities," and were
in possession of considerable armory-
museum we mean-of pistols and guns. Whether
comparatively useless or not, there seems to be
little doubt but that the arm which was left at
LEvY's was the one with which RIGDoy was killed.
1t was the same description of weapor-and, if we
mistake not, was positively identified by LEWIS
bar-keeper in whose hands it was left If it was
not the same-where is it, and why was it not
produced either at the trial at Towsontown or dur
ing the examination before the MAYoR2 Mr.. ENGLISH
certainly cannot have mislaid or parted with the
gift Of his fricnd-the f'curiosity"-which was
to impart additional value to his already choice
and extensive collection. 1t is true-the officers
say that the pistol given TO ENGLISH was longer
than the one exhibited on the trial of CRopps-but
that is easily accounted for. Both-accordng to the
feshmony-were of that species of arm known as
'bob-tails' short muskets or fowling-pieces.
with the stock and barrel cut down, so as to ad-
NIT OF easy conceament and handy use. The
weapon which McCoMAs left at LEWIS had doubt
less been further 'bobbed" for the express pur-
pose, perchance, of being used in the assassination
OF RIGDoN. However that may be, or may not be-
we, of course, allude to the probable identity of
the two weapons-not for the purpose of convict
ing Captain BRAsHEARs or Sergeant McCoMAs of
any ''sinister design of which, equally with the
MAYOR, we believe them to have been entirely nno-
cent-but in order to illustrate more forcibly the
mproprcty of that conduct which His Honor pro-
nounces to have been merely ''an act of censurable
1ndlscreton." Captain BRAsHEARs knew perfectly
well-none better in fact-the desperate and
abandoned character of the into whose hands he
was delivering theinstrument of death, and however
Ignorant he may have been of their actual inten-
tons, we cannot but hold him in part responsible
for any unlawful use to which it may subsequently
have been put. No good purpose could such
weapon serve in such hands-and at such time-as
he well knew. He had every reason to appre-
bend that it would be employed for the
worst. Neither can his own general good
character, or that Of his subordinate be
permitted to shield either, from the censure which
they have justly incurred, and which will be the
greater, in proportion the punishment inflicted
by the MAYOR seems to be regarded as wholly dis
proportionate to the magnitude of their offence
If they who rank among the most exemplary and
efficient members of the Police are found upon
terms of such easy familiarity and apparent friend
ship with the rufans and cut-throats whom it is
their duty to hold in check, and so negligent of the
rules they are appointed not only to enforce but
to obey-what degree of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
utter disregard of discipline-what open and
shameless conaivance and completely with awless-
ness and crime may we not expect to find among
the less highly placed and favoraby known mem
bers of the force? Among the many startling and
pregnant developments which have been made
during the progress of the late trials at Towson-
town. there are none more suggestive and important
than those which disclose the character of the rea
tons which exist between the Police and the
Clubs-between the officers of the law and its har-
dened and habitual transgressors
The MAYOR in his recent Annual Message quotes,
what he terms just remark, from the memorial
of a subcommittee of the Board of Trade, to
the Councils in 1852, "that the Patapsco river and