The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-01-20
City Politics.

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Nearly every citizen has experienced
feeling of insecurity and p dread Of walk
ing the streets at night Women have
sat at home and heard, shudderingly, the
shouts and eaths of drunken outlaws upon
the street Among many of the citizens,
a proposition to request the military au-
thorities to put the city under the re-
strictions of martial law, has been Sc
riously discussed, and it Is well known
that no public entertainment can be held
in the city without the presence and pro-
tection of the military guard. So many
lave been the burglaries, that number
of the business men have been compelled
to employ, at heavy expense, watch
uen to guard their stores during the
night. Rowdyism and malicious mis-
cnsi are things of nightly occurrence.
During the past two OF three nights,
pack ofyoung men and boys have made
night hideous" by the uproar they caused
on the main street of this city, while in
sdlting, With mock 'serenade," one OF
the citizens of the place. And yet no eff
tort was made to quell the tumult or al
rest any of the offenders.
Does any person suppose that such
disturbance would lie permitted to take
place on one Of the main streets Of any
other city in the United States, without
the dispersion of the crowd by police
men ; Not very long since, two men,
passing up Main street, between ten and
eleven o'clock at night, were knocked
down and seriously bruised by gang of
scoundrels, not one Of whom was arrested.
These are merely instances, selected from
dozens of cases of the same kind, which
nave occurred here during the past few
months. We have mentioned, in our To-
cal column, the various outrages which
came to our notice from time to time,
hut not one half Of the atrocities that
have been committed i'll various parts of
the city were ever reported TO us We
, have commented upon this state of affairs
repeatedly, and again and again, called
rpon the city council and the city officers
to take some steps for the prevention or
punishment Of crime and to give to the
peacsably disposed inhabitants of the
place something like the security and
quie vhich prevails in other cities, but
nothla- has been done. We are assured
that Z hing wiH be done unless some
cbar.e the government of the city is
e1ec by the election next Monday.
The real point at issue is, not the pre-
dominance of one or another set of ideas
upon questions of national politics. not
the advancement of any one man and the
putting down of another; not who shall
he United States Senator, for as between
MI. CAMPBELL and Mr.. WILEY, the ma
i0lity of the citizens of Wheeling care
not one straw which beats the other.
Tho real questions are shall We have law
and order, or shall we have anarchy!
Shall we have quiet and peace and secu-
rity, or shall we have tumult and rob
beryI Shall rioters and thieves be pun
iSbed, or shall we give them full license
to ply their vocation with none to mo-
lost them or make them afraidl" Shall
our city be governed by civil laws, exc
cited by civil officers, or shall a vigilance
committee take the reins ofgovernment,
or all armed guard patrol the streets at
every hour of the day or nights
These are the questions which are to be
dscided ON next Monday, and no amount
of shutting and misrepresentation can set
them aside. The city needs good and
efcient Mayor and it cannot be denied
that Mr. SWEENEY is abundantly compe-
toni TO meet all the requirements of the
occasion. Without an efficient Mayor,
the Sergeant and his deputies are almost
powerless We have stated heretofore,
and we say it frankly, notwithstanding
Captain BRITT is not our choice for the
Q lice of City Sergeant, that we do not
think that either he or his deputies are
responsible for the fact that the peace is
not properly kept. We believe that, as
general thing, both he and they have
sdliyen to do their duty, but he had not
the assistance and cooperation of the
Mayor, and was much crippled thereby.
Ir is n fact well known, that last summer,
when young HARRIS was shot while re-
sisting au officer, and when it was proba-
BILE that other atlrays would result from
the soldiers taking part against the civil
police, Mayor CRANGLR absented himself
f'om The city, and left Sergt BRITT to strug
gle to keep the peace alone. In the troub-
les that occurred on the 26th of Decem-
b.,l.. the influence of the Mayor was not
exercised nor felt The police tried to
q Tell the disturbances, but they could
not do SO alone, and the Mayor neither
increased their force by the employment
Ut special deputies or by the exercise of
his official power in any other way.
We might assail Mr.. CRANGLE, as Mr.
SWEENEY has been assailed, i'll relation
tn matters having no connection with the
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