The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-04-22
THURSDAY, APRIL %, 1859.
THE ALDERMEN AGAIN IN COURT.

THE ALDERMEN AGdIN IN COOhI'
IT Is scarcely possible to conceive ol more un-
lust and iniquitous system OF administering
iustice than that adopted by some OF inc
aldermen of this city They are haDituany
o,,iItv of practices quite as disgraceiul and OPP
nreasiye as those for which Dickens arragned
ib4 poIice magistrates of London in "Oliver
Twist" and their mandates are often
as unjust and arbitrary IS the dccrees
O. an Eastern ead or the judgments of NcXi-
can slcalde. AS they are dependent upon their
fees for livelihood, they aim ost invariably de-
eide for the plaintiff, or prosecutor, without
reference to the merits of the question
at issue, and il If no uncommon occur
renee for men to be deprived OF pro-
perty or liberty for no other reason
than that such deprivation swells the sum tota
of aldermanic fees. Is is hard for an unin-
Huential poor man to obtain justice before these
inferior tribunals as il il difficult to secure the
appropriate punishment of influential rich ras-
Gals. But short time ago Judge Brewster called
attention to the fact that various persons had
been committed to prison on frivolous charges.
and suffered to languish in confinement for
months without even an official announcement
of the fact being made to the proper authorities;
and yesterday the same Judge called the atten-
ton of the Grand Jury to communication he
had received from the officers of the County
Prison, complaining that that institution
unnecessarily crowded by persons committed for
an undue length of time for trivial offenses, and
that the cells designed for felons were thus
occupied by petty delinquents, and the city
treasury uselessly ourdened with great ex-
pense.
Few citizens who are not familiar with the
statistics bearing on this subject have any idea
of the magnitude of these evils. If foreign gov
ernments shamefully wronged or oppressed one
American citizen for every hundred who are un-
Justly committed to prison by the aldermen
of the good city of Philadelphia, the wrath of
the whole nation would be enkindled, and the
proyocation would be deemed sufficient for half
a-dozen gigantic wars. The number of commit
ments to the County Prison during last
year reached the enormous aggregate of
1860, or an average of nearly fifty per
day; and if the true history of all these
cases could be known, it would be found that
not only were many Of the charges excessively
frivolous, but that the portals closed on many
unfortunate beings whose innocence of the
offenses with which they were charged was so
clear that no rational being would have failed to
discover it except an avaricious alderman, whose
fees were contingent upon a harsh judgment.
The Prison Agent, in his report of last year,
gives CaDular llSt OF lOU0 cases OF persons dis
charged from prison through his efforts, either
because they were clearly innocent of their inn
puted offenses, or because brief confinement
previous to trial was amply sufficient to
atone for their venial crimes He also gives II
detailed statement of the facts connected with u
large number of cases, which abundanty prove
that the liberty of the poorer classes is at the
mercy of corrupt aldermen; and that it is by no
means an unusual occurrence for the really
guilty parties to a dispute to secure the incarce-
ration of their innocent antagonists.
few figures illustrate more forcibly than
figures of speech how justice is practically ad-
ministered. There were SO, 333 arrests by police
men in 1861 IT, $40 commitments to the County
Prison, and only 535S cases acted upon by the
different Grand Jures; of this number 1861 cases
Cnearly half were ignored, and of the 1892 true
bills found there were but $50 convictions. 1t is
evident that there should either be great many
more persons convicted and sentenced, or a
much smaller number temporarily confined in
the County Prison. Liberty and reputation are
now tampered and triied with to an alarming
degree, and it is vain to expect any substantial
reform until the duties imposed upon aldermen
are discharged by salaried officials who are capa
BILE of distinguishing between right and wrong,
and whose judgments will not be warped by
pecuniary considerations.