Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1871-1872, 1872-01-10

Sensible people were Of the opinion that
Charles II. Reed, States Attorney OF Coos
county, made poor hsadwSy in establishing
. reputation for verAcily. Blu, Reed, no,
satisfied with his frs. attempt, has tried his
hand second time, with what success We
leave the public to decide after reading the
following spiSile, recently made public. We
commend this as Palmerian specimen in
its type;
STATS or ILLiSots, ExECurIyE DEPr,
SPEISgPtELD, Dec. %, 1871.
Charles n Reed Es7-Dear Sir: Your
letter Of Dec. 20 Is before me. You inform
me shat "the morning papers Of last Satur-
day contained some Of the correspondence
which has passed between you and me in
relation 20 the unfortunate killing Of the
late Col. Grosveuor." and add that las this
correspondence came from Springfield, l
suppose you furnished IT,
The papers TO which you refer we're fur
nished BY my direction to the reporter of the
Tribune and Times bat do not refer to
What you so gently call the unfortunate
killing Of Col. Grovesnor, but to q question
Of vsraoity TO which you and Judge Will
liams are the only parties. You say in the
letter before me tina, ION tbs next day after
received II tiny letter of Nov. 20l wrote
and mailed you a reply explaining the whole
matter | received 40 such letter, and
upon inquiry of Gen. Harlan and others
about my Office, he aud they inform me thai
nons such has been seen here. You inform
me now, that you stated in the last letter
that you did not hear that par, Of the charge
OF which complain, and that when you
read the charge IN the papers you saw that
the Judge must have misunderstood you, aud
that you spoke TO him about H. bat you
do not inform me whether you did or did
not in the last letter assert, az you do now,
chat there 10 no resi- or substantial differ
sncs between Judge Williams charge and
what (you) told him Your statement
that the Judge misunds rstood you, and Al
argument coming from you 70 prove that he
did not, II found in tho same letter would
read 40 oddly that any friend Of yours might
DO excused for expressing IT,
a. IL is quite clear TO me from your closing
paragraph that your purposes in writing the
letter before me was TO change or obscure
the real question, which is, whether 700 OF
Judge Williams made a false statement, and
the means you have chosen, aud by which
you hope to achieve this result, are insinua-
tions directed against me and eulogies upon
Judge Williams and the grand jury. ! viii
not press the issue OF vsracity, a. II ia entire
ly between you and Judge Williams, but
will not allow you, a States Attorney whose
duty IL is to know and enforce the law, &c
praise to me Judge who did not do his
duty, or grand jury, who, If they had al
the facts before .hem, disreRarded the law
without challenge You know that the law,
whose sworn minister Judge Williams, your
self, and the grand jury, are, or were, de-
nounces and Furnishes the killing of human
being under such circumstances as attended
the death Of Col. Grosvenor, as either muir
der or mAnslaughter. He had been a soldier
bore honorable wounds received in the ser
vice Of his country. He was guilty Of nc
crime or fault; yet no man who has read
Judge Williams charge can doubt but thai
ita effect was 10 mislead the grand jury as &c
their duty, and to pAnder to tho popular
demand that the persons guilty Of ColOne
GrosVsnor's death should not be put upon
trial. I remember now the name Of but one
member Of the grand jury, and they are nc
doubi, - you say, respectable men. They
had suoh evidence touching the death o.
Col. Grosvenor as was laid before them
What that evidence proved do not know
and am not prepared, for that reason, to
express an opinion upou the correctness Of
their final conclusions; bat | think | pay
them . compliment whsn / express my
belief that they will hereafter be ashamed
thai they so far forgo. their duty as to thank
persons for disregGrding aud subverting the
laws the Jury we're sworn to enforce.
do not oensure those who believe thA
the military forces redered valuable ser
vice in Chicago for being grateful to Gen
Sheridan, bus feelings Of gratitude do no
dispense with the obligations imposed b.
the oashs Of public officers and grand urieI
to enforce the laws, and public justice viii
long suffer from the sad mistake of Judg,
Williams.
There are other points we'll made in you
letter.
Among them is your argument and au
thorities cited TO prove that you have M
right TO obtrude your legal opinions upon |
grand jury. AS 1 never advised you to d,
so, there is no need Of proof that such
course would be improper and Judge Will
Jams advice to the grand jury upon thu
point, like much else in his charge, was a
useless rs unbecoming.
As you will see, l have said much in Til
letter that ought not to be published unit
after you have had an opportunity OF seein
II. therefore suggest that, If you thin
proper, you furnish both your letter an
mine to the newspapers
Respectfully, JoHS NJ PALMER.