The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-25

"iuol hulVh tney were netd tnaJ tney were
enabled to make an immediate applica-
ton for release, under q writ Of
habeas corpus, before Judge McCuun. After
Mclaughlin had made his original statement
against them and had displayed a
strong apparent determination to be-
come an honest ally of the Com
monweaith, opportunities were afforded
to their friends of perverting his better in
stincts, and finally, during the trial, one
policeman who, in the discharge of his duty,
which is in part to observe any unusual or
suspicious circumstances in any part of the
city, had seen the prisoners get out of
McLaughlin's carriage shortly before one
o'clock on the day of the attempted assassina-
ton, can nowhere be found when he is called
to appear on the witness stand. These, and
other circumstances of scarcely less signif-
cance illustrate the difficulties with which the
Mayor and the faithful portion of his force
have been compelled to contend, and it is
matter of no small astonishment that a tri-
umph has been gained despite the reasonable
detection of those who should have been the
faithful ministers of Justice.
In the Court of Quarter Sessions. Judge
Ludlow, while acting in q strictly impartial
manner, displayed a rigid determination to
prevent the prisoners counsel from gaining
any undue advantage, and the new District
Attorney and his assistant, notwithstanding
their want OF time to prepare for such q pc
cullar and momentous trial, and the extraor-
dinary difficulties to which they were subjected
by the changed attitude of Mclaughlin and
the absence of Officer Kelly, did the best that
pnnI1 hn Inna fha .,,.
a strictly legal sense, the first affidavit of the
driver could not be considered testimony
Its sole use was to break the force of the
declaration which would otherwise have
tended to the acquittal of the defendants, but
the remaining testimony offered by Hughes
and the victim of the murderous assault was
in view of all the complications by which the
case was surrounded, very properly deemed
by the jury amply sufficient to Justify the
verdict of guilty despite the attempt to
establish an 0E5i. In regard to this
portion of the defense it is not neces-
sary to believe that the witnesses
who swore that they saw Marrow and Dough
erty at Devitts tavern between II and |
o'clock on the 9th of September committed
perjury. 1t is possible that the prisoners
could have been returned TO Devitt's, after the
commission of the crime. before o'clock, and
a little difference in timepieces OF a slight
mistake of recollection would easily explain
any apparent discrepancy arising from this
portion of the theory of the defense. But as
the Judge properly instructed the jury, San
0H6t is either overwhelming or destructive"
1t sis a defense easily made, and often
nf
and the testimony adduced to sustain it should
be subjected to the closest scrutiny. If it is
made out it is conclusive. but If il fails Il is
.fdtaL' We do not doubt that if an
aHJi could have saved Marrow and
Dougherty, cloud of witnesses
to establish it would have been produced by
the same agencies that changed McLaughlin's
statement and silenced Officer Kelly. But
the jury was as impervious to such efforts as
to the eloquence of the counsel for the pri-
soner, In vain did Mr.. Mann make his
iavorite exclamation, 81 would that this arm
would wither if | would say one word to the
jury that 1 did not believe to be true" His
skill as a prosecuting attorney is so we'll
attested, that, even i'll spite of himself, his
! Jealous efforts in behalf of the prisoners told
rather against them than in their favor. and
it is extremely doubtful whether the twelve
good men and true empanelled to give just
Judgment could forget his wanton in
suit to the victim of the assault despite
his apology. In vain did Mr.. Cas-
sidy seek to add new laures to his fame
as criminal lawyer by his comments upon
the sensational character of case which was
! necessarily made sensational by the machina-
tions of those he served, by his eulogy of
| the praiseworthy liberality of the Moyamen-
sing Hose Company in contributing to the
relief Of the AvOndale sufferers, and by his
asseverations that if the prisoners were not
set free the witnesses called to prove an abb
would be presumed guilty of perjury. All
these arts failed; and however much the
friends of justice may regret that last Satur-
day was marked by the escape of that noto-
rious defer of the law, Jimmy Haggerty, the
verdict in the Marrow and Dougherty case
! proves that the law still finds some faithful
| supporters in our midst, who can neither be
bullied bought, betrayed or deceived into
grant of indulgence to the desperadoes of the
/ whisky ring.