The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-10-15
Three of Lvle,s .Deputies."

SHERIFF LYLE claims to be law-abiding oiH-
zen, and heretofore has stood well before the
community, which has honored him with one
of the most important and profitable positions
within the gift Of the people of this city.
Having made such fair record in the past, it
is cause Of deep regret to any one to find him
casting this record aside and pursuing a course
which is SO inconsistent with it in every re-
spect. To put the matter In the mildest way
possible, his attempt to usurp the police
powers Of the Mayor on the day of election
was an overfowing of partisan zeal
which imperilled the peace of the
city and gave just cause of alarm
TO all order-loving citizens. But when we
glance at the names and characters Of the
deputies whom he charged with the duty OF
assisting in the preservation of the peace, we
find cause for the most unqualified condemna-
ton. To these men Lyle issued positive in
structions respecting their department on the
day Of election, which were openly and de-
family violated in many sections of the city.
His instructions were mere farce; and the
worst of it is, we have good cause to believe
that Lyle knew that such would be the case,
even il he did not issue secret instructions of
a character directly contrary to the published
ones.
Take three of the deputies" as speci-
mems. John Tobin was one. This man is
well known to the community. He is a vaga-
bond, loafer, a gambler, desperate. He
has no visible means of support, is an open
and defiant enemy of the law and its admins
traitors, and is constantly under the surveil-
lance of the police. His conduct on the day of
election surprised no one who has ever heard
his name; it could not have surprised Lyle
himself. Washington Hamilton was another
of the deputies" To the residents Of the
lower section of the city this man is well
known for his desperate and reckless career
For years he has been terror to the neighbor-
hood in which he operates. With almost every
crime in the calendar he has been charged
and of almost every crime in the calendar he
has undeniably been guilty. A more thorough
going and accomplished villain does not live
in our midst. Still another deputy" was
James Flanagan, the murderer of the young
lad Perkins, whose blood now cries aloud for
retribution. Flanagan is bartender in one
of the vilest dens in the northern section OF
the city, and his brutal conduct on Tuesday
morning shows him to be rival of Tobin and
Hamilton in utter disregard of law and order.
Why did Sheriff Lyle appoint men of this
character as his deputies? To assume that he
was ignorant of their reputation in the COM
munity is to demand stretch of our fancy
altogether too violent. That Lyle knew these
men as we'll as he knows himself is beyond all
question. His action in appointing such
scoundrels to be preservers of the peace of the
city is one of the most glaripg outrages which
has been perpetrated in our midst during the
past six weeks, and that is saying a great
deal. These three deputies" are the
men who revel in disorder, who re-
joice at the prospect of disturbance of the
peace, whose nature and instincts prompt
them to inoite riot on every possible occa-
sion. And on Tuesday last they did not
belle their reputation. By their appointment
as deputies" Sheriff Lyle necessarily as
sumes the responsibility of their actions while
wearing the badge of the Office with which he
clothed them; and before these matters are
permitted to rest he will be called to strict
accountability.