Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-03-24
THE WORKINGS OF THE LAW.

Eight months ego, on Irish lad arrived in this
city from Connecticut, carrying all his worldly
goods in a valise in bis hand. While making in-
quiries, he fell in with two ward politicians nam
ed Edward Tracy and Daniel Grogan, by whom no
was decoyed into q secluded place, robbed Of his
little oil, and ~savagely beaten. His cries brought
tho police TO his rescue, and led to the arrest o.
his assailants and the recovery Of his property.
Grogan and Tracy we're indicted by the Grand Ju
ry for highway robbery, and Notwithstanding the
atrocity OF their offence, we're actually liberated
on bail, played a prominent part in tho elections
in this city last fall, and were no. brought to trial
until last Tuesday in the Court Of Sessions. There
was no doubt or dispute about their having COM
mitted a robbery Of the very worst kind upon II
poor and helpless boy il was The head and front
OF their offending and yet the District Attorney,
Mr.. Nelson j. Waterbury, actually agreed to let
this pass upon their conserving to plead guilty on
an assault and battery simply. For this shey have
been sentenced to the Penitentiary, Tracy for
ninety days and Grogan for sixty. This is tolera.
bly, bad, every one must admit; but what will the
public think when we inform them that The Irish
lad, whose only crime is his having beeu young,
weak, iriendless, and the possessor Of q valise, has
aCNuhhJ Dttu III ptlSOn ever SINCE ne was TOOpeu,
and was only liberated on Tuesday lasti Being
a total stranger 10 the city, and consequently I'M
able to find bail to appear and prosecute, he was
committed to the House Of Detention as coon as
his assailah!s we're Indicted, and has ever since
been languishing in confinement, while they are
roaming at large. In other words. while they are
now imprisoned three months for robbing him, he
has sireadY been imprisoned eigh. months for be-
ing robbed.
If we allowed such q case as This TO pass with
out notice in the same week in which every news.
paper in the city records the personal visit of the
highes: criminal judge in New York to the cell Of
a v~agabond pugilist for the purpose Of a~fording
him speedy liberation on moderate bail, we should
certainly be fairly chargea5le with connivance at
ihe abuse of an administration of criminal justics
which is fast becoming not simply a disgrace, but
an abominatiun. If this case of Gtogan and
Tracy had occurred in OonstantiLople there is
hardly a tongue in Christendom which would not
wag in righteous Indignation against Mohamme-
dan barbarity. But it did not occur either in
Constansinople, or in Moscow, or Vienna. Il oc-
Cured in the metropolis Of the United States, un-
der Magma Chartd. the Bill of Rights, and at least
two constitutions, which are the Drag and boast Of
many millions of freemen. This poor Irish boy
has pinned for eight months in jail, while those who
waylaid and robbed him were drinking. bias.
%pheming, gambling, electioneering and wandering
where they pleased. within sound of every church
bell in the city and, what makes the whole ,hing
a fouler stain upon our Christianity and our civil
ization, by due process Of law The law it was,
as we have made it and maintained il, which
worked this scandalous outrage on Justice. 1t is
our law which enables the Distric, attorney to
postpone the trial Of two tbieveS for eight months.
and keep their unhappy victim in close confne-
ment -and a law. too, not like tina, of Naples or
Austria, the edic,s Of d narrow tyrant. but the
solemn enactments of constitutional govern
ments.
The District Attorney, an officer whose duties
the statute defines clearly to 10 the prosecution
Of criminals before criminal courts, holds and ex-
ercises the power Of deciding what offences he
shall allow to go unpublished. even after they have
been presented by the Grand Jury, aud if he de,
termines to prosecute at all, at what time the trial
shall come of. lie has, within the last week ina
letter under his own signature, addressed to the
Board of Supervisors. distinctly asserted. at the
tail of a long paragraph Of pathos, his right to
pardon criminals in advance Of trial, by deciding.
after a secret investigation in his own Office.
whether an indictment solemnly found in due form
OF law shall ever be preferred against them or not,
thcs, by one and the same act, nulliIying the pre-
sentiment Of the Grand Jury and u%surping the
functions of the criminal judges and Of the Cover
nor of the state. Moreover. to these extraordinary
pretentions be has added the still more eztraordi.
nary declaration that, for the manner in which be
exercises these Unprecedented and, as we believe,
unlawful powers. he is responsible to no one bur
God and HE own eonseierce, and he denies the
right OF any public body to call him to account,
We 6ay advisedly. that Il more singular production
Than that letter has not ia our day emanated from
the pen Of any officer not connected with the polics
Of a 'deepot. and that a person in his position should
have written it without attracting for liza greater
share oC attention, and, let us add, Of apprehension.
is a signal illustration of the apathy into which tn,
public mind has fall en- with regard tn the admin
istration Of the criminal justice. TAKEN ia eonnex-
ion with the occurrence Of such cases as this of
Tracy and Grogan, of Morrissey, of Australian
Kelley and dozens Of others of which We hear
less, but which are on that aceo unit none the less
heinous. it is an alarming sigu of the times. The
insighi6canee of the poor victim Of Tracy and Gro
CANS brutality only gives the greater claim on
our honest indignation. 1t is bad enough that We
should accord legal privileges not to wealth. or
b nth, or rank, but to brute force, bu, it is still
worse that we should allow the law to be tho in
strument for depressing the weak aud friendloss.-.
N. /. Erening Posi-.