The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-11-22
rs rRE BROoKs oA8K NNDKDf

rs THE BROOKS CASE ENDEDP
The opinion delivered by Judge Ludlow on
Saturday disposing finally of tho Brooks case
was a worthy finale TO that cause cele5re. To
person of legal acquirements it is overwhelm-
ing in force aud clearness, while even to the
general reader its reasoning must appear un-
questionable. Most of the points which we're
presented for settlement were of a technical
character, in strict keeping with the desperate
nature of the defonse but they were all
decided 10y Judge Ludlow, from the purely
technical standpoint, against the defendanss,
and his line of argument throughout Is With
out flaw. Going back, in his consideration
of each point, to those ages when the great
system of the common law was moulded Dy
the practice of the English courts, he traces
it down through the centuries, notes tne
notifications which we're made by acts OF
Parliament and by express legislation In this
State, and finally brings the burden OF the
authorities to hear with crushing weight upon
the bubbles 10y which the counsel of Dough
erty and Marrow sought to rescue them from
a punishment commensurate, in some degree,
with the Nervousness of their offense.
The exhaustive and convincing character
of this opinion presents fitting subject for
congratulation. 1t was extremely desirable
that to these men should be meted out the
severest and most exemplary punishment
known to the law bearing upon the crime of
which they were universally believed to have
been guilty. If it had been necessary to
comfort either the law or the facts to secure
such result, the lesson impaired by the
verdict and sentence would have been robbed
of half its force. But, happily, after such an
elaborate review of the reasons assigned for a
new trial, the solemn declaration of the Court
''that the verdict was a most just and
righteous one, and that beyond reasonable
doubt, the prisoners were in deed and in fact
guilty" will inspire all evil-doers with
wholesome terror of the law. Such an exam
pie as the punishment awarded Dougherty
and Marrow presents has been sorely needed
IN this community and now that 1t has been
given, and the fact established that men who
are hired to commit the foulest of crimes, in
the interest of such reckless and unconscion-
able villains as make up the whisky ring, can
not 90 unwhipt of justice, we may anticipate
slight improvement in the demeanor of the
horde of evil-doers who have made this city
regular hunting ground.
One thing, however, remains to be done,
and not until it is accomplished will the les
son of the Brooks case be complete. The
men Dougherty and Marrow entertained no
particular malice against Detective Brooks,
they did not seek his life because of any real
or fancied wrong which they had sustained at
his hands. They were simply hired to assassi-
nate faithful officer of the revenue service,
Just as master butcher hires men to kill his
beeves They went about their bloody bust
ness coolly and deliberately, inspired solely by
the money which they had received or been
promised; they were simply hired assassins,
and the greater guilt is upon the shoulders of
those from whom they received their pay, or
the promise of it. AS far as we have learned,
the cowardly wretches who were at the bot
tom of the transaction are as yet unknown to
the authorities, but we trust that the Mayor
and the District Attorney are not content to
let them remain unmolested in the back
ground. Every effort should be put forth to
obtain clew to them, and when this clew is
once obtained, it should be worked up with
the same energy and perseverance that have
characterized the prosecution of Dougherty
and Marrow