The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-06-04
BAL 1TM()RE.
MONDAY, JUNE 4, 1850

moments respect, which does not hail, with |
thankfulness and hope, the new era of purity in |
tbe administration of Justice which is thus hap
PLY inaugurated, at last Not even the best of
our citizens however, could offer more decided
tribute TO the wisdom and necessity of the reform
in question, than has been rendered by the oppo-
site class and their abettors, in the extraordinary
proceedings which have attracted so much of public
attention, during the past week, to the Criminal
Court. We took occasion, few days ago, 10
comment upon some of these, and the subject is
well worthy of still farther consideration. There
are some things which the amplcst generosity can
not permit to be overlooked or forgotten, even in
the moment of victory in a good cause, and there
are some offenders whom neither justice nor policy
will allow to be embraced in any amnesty
That a large number of indictments, found at
different times during the past three years. against
well-known crminals-almost all belonging to
the class of political ruffians and many of them
charged with offences relating directly TO the Elec
tons-should have happened TO come up, en- maSse,
for trial at one and he same tme-would have
been a very singular occurrence, in itself, under
any circumstances. That it should have taken
place, suddenly, and without effort on the part
of the prosecuton-alter frutless efforts of very
honest and sedulous character Gas we have hereto
fore been asked to beeve) on the part of the same
prosecution, for so long q time, to bring the same
offenders to trial-would certainly have added to
the singularty Oft the development. That the par
ties accused should have unanimously combined
with the State-for the first time in history--to
tba cta ut bpr iron
hand against themselves-would have been still
more surprising and mysterious. But when all
these phenomena presented themselves, at once and
together, on the very eve of a great judicial re-
form, and crowding the last hours-nay chasing
the last twilight moment-of a corrupt and pros
tituted jury-sysem, under which partisan officials
and political manipulators and sympathisers
could still shake the wavering balance of re-
tribution-it is no wonder that the eommu-
nifty should have been reused and startled by
the insolent audacity of the exhibition. A
more universal feeling of disgust and Indignation
we rarely remember to have witnessed among our
much-enduring iellow-citizens. For ourselves,
we have no hesitation in declaring that we regard
the developments alluded to as perhaps, the worst
of all the shameless things which have brought
the departed dynasty Of lawlessness and corrup-
ton to so ignominous an end. And yet We deem
it well that they have been flung in the face of the
community. They have been, as it were, a
moral to all the tales which the last few years
have told. They have convinced many, who still
resisted conviction. They have demonstrated the
truth Of charges, over and over made, and as
frequently denied with an effrontery which some
misguided persons may have mistaken for con-
scious innocence. They have been, in n word,
sort of last dying speech and confession-made in
the very moment Of dissolution and under the
saluarv dread Of something that might come
after But it is not only in the light of the testi-
mony which they bear to the msdeeds of the
past that the matters in question are to be re-
garded. Their most important practical bearing
is upon the Misunderstanding key, as they do,
to official character and motive, and putting the
public fully on their guard as to both 1t is in
this view of their utility, that we recur TO few
of the prominent details. In our previous obser-
vations upon the subject, we referred to the case
Of the STATE as. LEVY, charged with an assault
with intent to murder Brown, and that of MADI-
son, indicted for murderous assault in our
office, and for, riot at the same time. The first
case was disposed of, without trial, because the
party shot at had lett the city. In the second
the accused was acquitted Of the riot, and found
guilty of simple assault We repeat, as we
stated before, that the chief witnesses in both of
these cases, remained for many months in the
city, to our knowledge after the indictments
were found. We now charge that there was and
is abundant testimony in the city, easily to be
found, within reach of the process of the Court,
to maintain both of the indictments fully. Both
of the parties We're arrested, in the very act at
midday. in the most public places of the city,
where the offences We're committeeman yet not
police officer concerned in the arrests not q s0li-
tary bystandcr of the crowds who witnessed the
crimes, was brought, by Mr.. WHITNEY, before
Court or Jury. The cases went, absolutely, by
default PAUL PLACIDE was afterwards arragned
for participating with MADISON in the outrage at
our office. Mr.. WHITNEY went through the farce
of having Il jury sworn, and of calling before
them no witness but our book-keeper, who, he
was informed beforehand, could not identify
the traverser. The policemen by whom the riot
was quelled, and who knew every man con-
carned in it, were utterly ignored, and the verdict
was, of course-not guilty. Two cases against
HTSEsLY-one for taking Illegal ballots, the other
for an assault upon brother judge of election, at
the Tenth Ward polIs-were called, pressed for
ward, and disposed of, during the casual absence
of the prosecuting witness for few days from the
city. The indictment against the rioters whose
scandaous proceedings at the polls of the same
ward at the last municipal election are perfectly
IN n,Io 4,oI %
the jury by 3ir. WHITNEY, without any argument
upon the facts, on the testimony of four gentle
men, none of whom pretended to identify two or
three Of the traversers-Sergeant MCCoMAs, who
was at the polls during the whole day. and who
knew every man and The misdeeds of every man
among the accused, and whom Mr.. WHITNEY knew,
from the positive testimony in the case to be the
witness, Of all others, by whom his Indictment
could be maintained, standing during the trial
within ten feet of the prosecutors chair, within
the bar of the Court, but not called before the
jury to testify. The verdict of the jury, as to the
parties not identified, could of course be but one
OF acquittal. As to those whose identity and
crminality were proven, the verdict was the same
Mr.. WHITNEY having allowed the counsel for the
traverser to submit to the jury, without appealing
to the Court, the Interpretation of the act of As
sembly under which the indictment was framed.
In the case of the Twentieth Ward rioters, there
was the same wholesale neglect of proper prepare
ton-the same lax, incomplete and Intellectual
prosecution on the part of the STATES ATTORNEY.
A few witnesses summoned at random--caed 10
the stand without any previous knowledge by Mr..
WHITNEY of what they were able to prove-could
conscientious jury to whom Mr. WHITNEY allowed
the case to be committed, and the verdict was
what might have been expected. The Indictment
against ENGLISH, LEVY and others, for the out
RACES at the Tenth Ward polls, on the I'd of No
vember, went through the same forms. jury
of talesmen empanneed, between five and
six O'Clock on the afternoon of the 3lst of May
so pressing was the necessity to have the case dis
posed of before the Inauguration of the new law.
We do not, by this, mean any reflection upon the
panel by whom the case tried On the con-
trary. they were fair and honorable men, 10 whom
any issues might have been confided, and who,
with proper evidence before them, would have
done full Justice TO the violated laws Of the State.
But the case was tried like the rest, without pre-
paratiOn, without care, with but few witnesses,
without argument, without due explanation OF
the law of riot, without any proof TO identify one
of the accused, and with but partial testimony as
IL r oofN H.,