The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-08
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1869.
THE WAR AGAINST THE WHISKY
RTNG

IHE wan AuhLNOL LdR HHlOh 4
RING.
The proceedings connected with the arrest
and prosecution of the Brooks assassins are
not to be judged by ordinary judicial rules,
and there are special reasons for caution and
severity in every ramifcation of these cases
which rarely exist. The whisky ring is a COM
bination of the most infamous and dangerous
character. 1t is at once the enemy of the
Government and of every honest citizen 1t
aims to cheat the nation of its revenues, thus
increasing the burthens of taxpayers, and at
the same time to swell its Golfers by exacting
from the consumers of its vile compounds a
large portion, if not all, of the sum due to
the National Treasury. Emboldened by many
successes and infuriated at the rapid sup
preston of its nefarious system of operations
which has occurred during the present year, it
has, after repeated Preparations of nearly every
other crime in the calendar, at last resorted
to the desperate and dastardly measure of at
tempting to assassinate a vigilant national
detective officer. 1t no doubt designed to
follow up it's first success in this
species of wickedness until every faithful
guardian of the interests of the nation was
no man could dare to brave the whisky lion
in his den except on instant peril of his life.
Men connected with such combinations and
animated by such purposes rise far above the
level of ordinary criminals, and while they
deserve unusually severe punishment, it is at
the same time necessary that extraordinary
vigilance and severity should be displayed in
the management of judicial proceedings
against them. The city teens with their
satellites. Vast sums of money will be readily
furnished to find a loophole of escape.
Cunning lawyers will be employed, wherever
bribery can be successfully resorted to it will
be tried, and every offensive and defensive
weapon which experienced criminals employ
in their warfare against justice will be freely
used. The proceedings up to this time afford
an indication of what may be expected here
after. The audacity of the attempted assassi-
nation, in open day, in store on one of the
busiest thoroughfares of the city, the skill
with which detection and pursuit were tenn
porarily evaded, the GOODNESS of the criminals
in luxuriating at an obscure watering place on
the wages of their iniquity, the attempts to
rescue them at New York by the friendly aid
of the Judge of that city who has gained an
unenviable notoriety for his partiality to cri-
minals. and the obstacles thrown in the way
of vigorous prosecution of the prisoners
here, all combine to indicate
that desperate conflict with these dangerous
enemies of society is impending. 1t is a
gratifying feature of this conflict, however,
that the Mayor and the trustworthy portion
of his police force, the District Attorney and
his assistants, and Judge Ludlow, have all
displayed an invincible determination to con-
duct the campaign against these criminals
vigorously. The Mayor and his detectives
deserve great praise for the skill and courage
displayed in working up this case; the District
Attorney is evidently fully alive to its impor-
tance; and the action of Judge Ludlow in de-
Gliding that he would not take less than 500 900
bail in any of these cases, will be warmly
applauded by the honest portion of the COM
munity. 1t is to the interest of every good
citizen that the campaign thus begun
should be prosecuted until not only the
subordinate tools and the hired assassins,
but their hackers, are brought to Justice.
1t is not only necessary that the active crimi-
nails should be safely housed for an extended
term in the penitentiary, but it is very desira-
BILE that the richer knaves who, from COM
paratively safe base of operations, planned
this iniquitous crime, should also be convicted
and imprisoned. These rascals have escaped
punishment too long, but as the tone of pub
lie sentiment in regard to evasions of the
revenue laws is rapidly improving, at the
same time that great indignation against all
fha nl,otto, NeAl HI Iofo
prevails, the present moment is especially
favorable to decisive demonstration against
the worst members of the whisky ring in
this city. powerful blow of this character
will be worth millions of dollars to the ma
tional Treasury; it will purify the moral
atmosphere more than hundred convictions
of ordinary criminals; and it will also teach
all whom it may concern that the cowardly
Venetian custom of hiring bravos to commit
murder cannot be established in Philadelphia.
TIE APPROACHING ELECTIONS.