New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-10-01
PHILADELPHIA PARDORS.

..' PHILADELPHIA PARDOHS
The story of "Pardons' in Pennsylvania, il
truthfully told. might be made interesting and
instructive, eliminating, as it were, in the re-
cent rescue of convict from the PenitentiaTy
in order to use him as s. campaign document
during a political canvass. This was the oase
Of pardon after Judgment, which is the only
one Though others are known to the law ac-
cepted in common parlance. But there ARC
other forms Of merciful interposition with
Pennsylvania parentage, and arc known az
previous pardOnsD Some thirty-four years
ago, Gov. POrer-anoestor direct of the Presi-
dents confidential military friend-intoduced
them, and they hare ever since, though rarely,
been resorted to. II looks very much now as
if the actual Executive of our sister Common
wealth might soon have occasion to revive this
form of merciful Interpolation. Yerkes and
Marcer, adjudicated felons, being disposed of.
Gov. Geary in his short remnant of tenure.
should look to two individuals just now awk-
wardly situated, whose release from the pen
alities of the law viii probably relieve somo
of his friends and Hartranfts friends too,
from embarrassment.
One is a woman, rejoicing in the name OF
Fury who is party to fraud and forgery,
by which an innocent person in Philadelphia
was the other day dcfrauded ont of $4,000
city stocks, and who stands in the same rela-
ton TO the chief financial agency Of the Com
monwealth as Yerkes, being at once deposi-
tor and borrower. The conviction of this
woman will probably lead to unpleasant reycla-
tons as to the Philadelphia Treasury in the time
of Marcer, and on that account she should be
.-;4b oil
prominent case is that of o man named Hugh
Mara, to which we referred several days ago.
He has on his hands the stains OF two rus
trated murders. For one, he has been par
doned for the other, he expects to be.
The Federal Administration takes an interest
in him as it did in Yerkes; the State District
Attorney has a kindly feeling for him, and
what is quite as material, he is the depository
of some ugly secrets. When We say the
Federal Administration takes an interest IN
him, We speak advisedly. The professional
representative of the Administration In Western
Pennsylvania rejOces in the name OF Swope,'
who lives in Pittsburgh, but is always, like
birds who leave an evil flavor behind them,
fitting TO Philadelphia. Mr.. Aubrey ii. Smith,
a gentleman in every sense, is not trusted
with dirty work. SwOpe, with the Presidents
sanction, engineers the Yerkes pardon, ard
Swope protects Mara. Now, Mara, as we have
said, knows perilous secrets, and he must
be either slenced by conviction or bnDed
by pardon. He knows who the parties were,
who in the interest of what is known as tho
whisky Ring" employed him TO murder tho
Revenue Agent, and if in danger will tell,
and that revelation, just now, may be peril
GUS. On the local ticket in Philadelphia with
Hartranft, is person named " walton" as 10
whom we find a committee of the Citizens
Reform Association reporting chat
ample evidence has been LAID before them 10 show
that Mr. Walton was actively connected with what was
known the whisky Ring" and that he took especial
interest in the operations of dstiery in Germantown.
which gave much trouble TO the officers Whisky
from this concern was seized. and the Itself
closed more than once and each occasion Mr. Walton
inerposed making no secret Ofhis connection with Tho
concern and threatening the officers OF the law Tor Tho
performance Of their duty. II also IN evidence be-
fore the Committee that Mr.. Walton occasion
ceved the sum Of $4,000 from a dstilery in Baltimore
for procuring settlement between It's owners and ths
Revenue Department"
This report is signed by five of the most re-
spectacle citizens of Philadelphia, ALL we believe,
Republicans, and all active members of that
great Municipal Association which, less than a
year ago, brought Yerkes to justice, and who
are now insulted by his release. If Yerkes be
pardOned in order to protect Hartranft, why
should not Mara be to save Walton9 The story
of Pennsylvania pardons will then be complete.