The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-06-24
BALTIMORE.
FRIDAY. JUNE q, 1859.

FRIDAY, JUNE a. 1903.
Mr. ALFRED D. EVANS is the present Warden of
tho MARYLAND Penitentiary. That he is an ''effi-
Govt Warden that he is 'gentlemanly;' that he
is s.ndefatgable' that he is, in short, everything
that Warden and public functionary ought to
he we have every to believe; for has it not
been expressly stated, and without contradiction,
that he is each and all Of these things in success
sve reports of successive Grand Juries and other
official persons, who have visited the Penientiary
and partaken Of his hospitality, since his term of
Office commenced? Just such q complimentary
Report we published few days since, in which a
Committee of the Grand Jury, informed US, that
they had made "caretul and thorough examna-
''ion of the prison and its inmates, and that the
CENTRE premises were in the most clearly condi-
"hon" That besides being faithful and capable
officer, Mr.. EVANS is likewise a Christian and a
phllanthropist, is rendered not less certain by
the same high testimony. We are assured
that under his administration Everything is
"done by the officers, consistently with their
"duty to ameliorate the condition of the untor-
"hu,ate beiagSn who have their involuntary
residence WllHlll tHc iiSoH "allH, "i'iS eHo lCi-
est which is felt in their spiritual welfare, by Mr..
EVANS, is best shown by the following extract from
his own official Report
ssThe Sunday School, he says (which established
with the aid of number of Christian gentlemen in Janu
ary, 1889 has progressed successfully and its
zing influence the State of Maryland and Baltimore city
lin particularly will be greatly indebted
Now let not any reader suppose for one moment
that we design to call in question: either the pety
Il. ri
prise he has set on foot. We hope that the success
of the Sunday School may be commensurate with
the most sanguine expectations of the benevolent
gentlemen who have II in charge, and that numer-
GUS individuals, who are at present at large, may
ultimately be brought within the sphere of its
''morazing influence Our object in calling at
tenton to these things, simply to give Mr.. EVANS
the benefit of everything that he can say in his
own praise, or that others can say for him,
before speaking of certain other matters which do
not rebound quite so clearly TO his credit.
1t will be remembered, perhaps, that some time
ago the charge was made in this community
and repeated, we believe, in, at least one of the
newspapers of the city, that at the MAYORS
election, last fall, Ironically so called, the Mary
land Penitentiary was stripped, by order Of the
Warden, of the weapons provided by the State for
its defence for the purpose of arming the rufians,
who, on that day, took possession of the polls and
trampIed on the rights of free people. This
charge, reaching the ears of the Directors of the
Penientiary, and being forced upon their atten.
ton in a way that gave them no alternative but to
order an investigation of the facts, Committee
was appointed, to whom the matter was referred,
and of whose report we have obtained from re-
sponsbe source the following authentic copy for
publications
''BALTIMoRE, April q, 1859
seen leuen ofHe Board Of Dfreco,s--Y our committee
whom was referred the matter of aTning the charge
relative to the Warden letting the of the Institution
he taken away om the prison for political purposes beg
leave to make the following report:
After examining Mr. Frazer, Mr. Cook Mr. Roberts and
Mr. Pierce your committee fully conrinced that the
guns and pistols Of the prison '9ere taken array for poli
cal purposes the evening before the Mayors election
The committee decline to comment further upon the evil
dence obtained by them but purpose to present the
evidence to the Board received by them for their dis
posa"
That the action of the Board, under the creum-
stances, did not respond to the Importance of the
case, or the magnitude of the outrage committed,
is sufficiently proven by the fact, that Mr.. EVANS
still retains the office of Warden and receives the
compliments Of Committees and Grand Juries. 1t
longing to the Penitentiary had actually been ex-
changed by Mr.. EVANS, on the eve of the election,
for revovers, the Board contented itself with pass
ing the following mild resolution:
Resolved, unanimously, That the removal and sale of
the barreed guns, without the approval of the
Board from the institution, by the Warden meets with
our disapprobaton.
with this simple expression of Misrepresentation,
the Directors dismissed the case when they should
have dismissed the Warden. The character of the
evidence upon which the finding of the Committee
was based, may be sufficiently inferred from the
following sample:
Deputy Warden T. G. Roberts, being sworn testified
The wachman came to ard said his pistol had been
taken from him. and he afraid go on duty without
It, had seen Of the bunderbusses in the case in the
Office half an hour before this and started to get it but
upon examination found gone; then went tn the
cellar after the old muskets and the boxes were
empty The muskets here referred were old arms he
longing to the State which, the receipt rifles
haa been boxed up by order of the former Board D
recors and ordered to be returned Adjuant Gene
raj at Annapolis searched about the cellar found
four SIX took them the guard room and called Mr.
start to load them; he did Mr.. Evans to the
guard room and took the muskets away | saw him
take them towards the wagon yard ! could not find
the pistols belonging to the prison. the guards in the
dormitory had pistols that night The night speak
of 'uaS the might before lie last Mayors election I-aye
not seen the muskets since the pistols came back the
next day after the election have not seen fine gnns
since. The guard in the wagon yard came to me few
minutes after Mr. Evans took the muskets from the euar
room, and said he would not like attack that wagon
that he had just let out for ii ouing battery or
words to that effect -
Now, as we have already sad we do not think
1t at all necessary TO charge Mr.. EVANS with being
either hypocrite or an unfaithful officer. His
interest in saving the souls of the convicts under
his charge may be quite as sincere and unaffected
as his zeal in promoting the success of the Amer-
can party, at the Municipal Election last fall He
may be quite industrious and successful in the
distribution of tracts in his Sunday School, now,
as he was in that of pistols and muskets among
the clubs them but we do submit that before he
is permitted to parade again these pious labors of
his before the pablic for the appreciation of the
Grand Jury and the churches he shall be compelled
to give stricter account of his completely in the
bloodshed, the violence, and the fraud, of last
Election day, than the Board of Directors have
seen proper to require at his hands