The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-09-23


with much respect remain, very truly yours,
John w. Bittenger, Esq, District Attorney, York,
Pennsylvania.
YORK, Pa, Feb.2, 1s51.-Hon. B. II. Brewster-Dear
Sr:-I an in receipt Of your communication ol Jan,
81 relative TO the recOgnizanccs OF Fred Stal'man
and Jacob Koons, in the cases or Sanford ana
DemOt. In answer to your request that | should
furnish any special reason why the forfeitures IN
these cases should not be remitted nave Iy 10 say
that have consulted with the Hon. j. X. Flsher,
President Judge of this district, who received
similar letter from you, and we are both Oh @ tne
opinion that the applications to nave INC iecVg- w
nzances RENTED are without merit, and that the
prayer of the petitioners should not be granted.
Sanford and Demot, strangers In this community
were arrested on suspicion of being professional
burglars, and in their possession was iouna tne
most complete and elegant set of burglars toolS
ever imported into the county OF York Ihese IN, IN,
struments including even powder ana Iuse, are ye..
in the hands Of the officers who made the arrest anu
are securely deposited for safe Keeping SANFORD any
Demot were, in addition, each armed with spenulu
reyolvers, which are also secured. They were coiir
mitted to jail, but overt act OF burglary
vas yet committed jy them, so far as could dis
cover, the indictments were framed and true
bills were found for feloniously carrying Iea1y .ny
weapons in the borough of York, under Ihe
Special Act. Several daring burglarles had,
O short time before been committed In York anu
public sentiment high against any release Oh Je
prisoners. The court properly liked the Dall nigh;
and it was hoped that these desperate men nllShJ
be, at least for short time, placed out of the way
OF doing harm. 1t was then that Messrs Stallmah
and Rooms stepped in, and having fully secured
themselves by receiving the respective amounts
from the prisoners for which they entered into re-
cognizauce for them, in defiance Of public SenGl-
ment, turned these two travelling burglars loose
upon the community And now having had their
recognizance forfeited, they ask that the for
deposited in their hands to secure them in their
operations. am thus particular in stating matters
in detail because am satisfied that when these iacts
are understood, neither yourself nor the Governor
will permit the transfer OF the money involved from
the treasury of York county to the pockets OF
Messrs. Staman and Rooms, especially as at the
time of comforting the favor they most likely re-
ceived a consideration for their disinterested ~
friendship to these men, who did not even claim to
be citizens OF this Commonwealth.
may state, in addition, that one OF these men
attempted to escape from prison here by breaking
his cell, and that public sentiment is almost unanl-
nous in desire to have the recognizances sued out
In conclusion, 1 would respectfully suggest that
an amendment to the Penal code be passed, punish
ing as felony the having in possession Of burgla-
rOus tools, as also section making IL q felony TO
forge, utter or publish legal tender U. 5. Notes,
Fisher requests me to state that as soon as court
adjourns, IN afew days, he will answer your letter to
Hoping you will pardon the length at which have
addressed you,
1 am very respectfully, your ObedIent servant,
JOHN w. BITTEEGER,
District Attorney, York County.
We would remark in this connection that
Mr.. Bittenger, the District Attorney, is rabid
Democrat, and that, of course, he puts the
matter in as favorable light as possible for
his own side of the case. The facts, however,
appear to be we'll substantiated, and they
have never been denied by Governor Geary
or his advocates.
When suits were entered on the 10th of
December, 1867, upon the recognizances,
letters patent of Governor Geary were pro-
duced, andinterposed to prevent the recovery
of the amounts suedfor. Stallman and Koons
were both sworn, and it was developed in the
evidence that Stallman received in hand one
thousand dollars, but that Koons only re-
| ceived one hundred Stallman and Koons
| both stated that the amountsreceived by them
had been appropriated to their own uses.
The jury, on the strength of the letters
patent of the Governor, gave a verdict in
favor of the defendants, and the bail of the
criminals retained their money, while the
criminals themselves remained at large tc
carry on their nefarious operations with i'm
punity.
Governor Geary, at the commencement o.
his term of Office, proposed to take deter
mined stand against the abuse of the par
doning power, and he established a serie
of seemingly stringent rules for the expires
purpose of checking abuses. The first o
these rnles is:-
''No pardons will be granted until notice of the ar
pications therefor shall have been given by publca
| ton once week. for two consecutive weeks, in
newspaper printed in the county in which the con
| viction was had"
How often have any of our readers seel
any such notices in the daily papers3 If the
appear at all, it is in some obscure sheet
where it is certain that they will not be see
by any large number of persons; but the Pre-
liabilities are that, in the majority of cases
they are not published at all. 1t is useless
argue that Governor Geary has pardoned
less number of criminals than his predeceS
sors, for he is as much in fault if he pardon
five Cor insufficient or improper reasons as
he pardoned five hundred. This whole pa
doning system has grown to be a frightfl
abuse and a direct encouragement to Grim
nails, and there is now demanded a radios
and permanent reform. 1t has been show
that it is neither expedient nor safe to tru
the pardoning power longer in the hands
the Executive, and although pardon coul
might not prove to be immaculate, it woul
offer more assurances that the business woul
be done in a proper manner, and that I'll
rings of pardon-brokers would be broken u
and the professional politicians deprived
the influence they now WELD in behalf of IL
worst offenders.
THE LAND TENURE QUESTION l.
ENGLAND.
The disestablishment of the Irish Church,
| yUac evpaotad hoe ,,rovad ,ootbiDo, n,o,a tbe