Wilmington daily gazette., 1873-10-25
DAfLY IL THE STATE.
The Distinction Between enc Accused and
ono Convicted.

The Distinction BetWeeH enc Accused and /
OnO Convicted.
We desire to make a very sharp issue with the |
Gazette Ii IS this; That ]. is not Just ht for
any person, and least Of all for public journal 10
assume, in advance Of trial, and in the absence Of
the evidence, the guilt Of person charged with |
crime, and that it is further unjust and nnit 10
proceed, upon the assumption, to load the accused
person with condemnation aud utter long Phari- |
sacal homilies on his alleged act.
We raise this issue in reference TO the reported
default in the accounts OF Captain DOugherty.-I
The course OF the Gazette, on both yesterday and
Wednesday, is that which we have described above
rs mAnifestly unjust and improper.-ComRlerciGf.
In certain cases it is the custom with men who
are charged with certain derelichons OF duty
while in official positions to deny the charges and
ask the community TO await the production Of ev-
idence 10 prove their innocence. Such has not
been the course OF the accused in this instance
nor has the official head under whom he served,
or any Of his friends done this for hun. Indeed,
there seems to be no denial that the offence has
been committed; and hence we must "aSSuMe'
the guilt to rest where the detective has placed it,
upon. the sc called cashier in the post-ofce, or
somebody else about the building. Nov, If the
accused had been Democrat the Commercial
was either "unjusr or Improper" TO point to and
condemn the incorporation of money, or rAth
er steaiing thousands OF dollars, that are wrung
from the l,scs BY the hard and grinding system
of taxation imposed upon the people BY Grant
and his officers who require double the pay
which their predecessor received, yet only do half
The service Does the Commercial deny that this
money which has been stolen under the very eye
Of negligence aud inodPaeify, is the money Of the
people, that it comes from the very source from
which Grant grindS out his $4,000 q year, and
then demands S72,0OO more to keep his house,
grounds and horses in orderf Certainly it cannot
do this. These tAxes are weighing dOWn our
lands aud our houses, and are telt IN everything
We eat and everything we wear, and yet thousands
of Radical sscAls all over the country are stealing
the money thus obtained and spending it on their
own persons, and the Commercial jussIaes or cOn-
nserAtes with the criminal, simply because
the crime 1T is nothing less.) is denounced. We
are astonished that any honest man could be
tOnnd'tO justify the COmmeTciaFs attitude. We
are certain that no Democrat could do it.
That paper is absolutely incOunginR the praC
tiee Of stealing, for he who is entrusted with the
handling of money and is paid for this AZ . duty
" service and uses it for his sEn purpOses, com
mlts a double offence. He inst takes from the
government, and then from the friends he has de
ceived and whose confidence he has abused.
The only offence, says the cOpdOning Conner.
c,d! is "Ihs presumed discovery that public OFF
cal, has failed TO pay three thOHsaud dollars h,
ought 10 AaUe pald."
II decent regard for truth can justify sucl
language among Radicals, they are not Of th
cast from which Democrats could bo moulded
The Commercial may consider such q construction
of language Rt to apply to the present case bat n
honest Republican who desires 10 see his part
leaders kept from crime, can justify its course.
Dougherty did not owe the gOvernment-it di
not loan him money, lie, therefore, could nc
pay" the money back. When It Was found to I
missing, the detective had no power to do MOI
than demand that it be made good immedlatel
OF the abslrActoT or embezzleT suGsr the penalty
1t is simply IN Absurdity 10 place such a cOnstru,
tion upon. this offence. The crime Is more LID
the work OF Pck-pocket And no doubt thu
class OF gentry could as well turn upon the oiieC
when detected and offer 10 pay" and thus econ
promise his felony"
We have only to look farther down the column
OF the Commercial itself to prove by its ON
words that DOugherty does not stand in tue hgI
Of a debtor in which it by its apology for him, {
aires TO place him.
Forgetting the position it had taken in its Gr
article, in a subsequent one devoted to the defen
of one Of It's late favOrits party leaders hOW
trouble, it says:
when We said, the other day, that the indepc
dent press should point out ofiee-seeksFs who a
places sImply in order 70 grab, We had = meAniI
which the Gazette il probably unable 10 compr
hend, but which certainly Was NOT 10 urge IN
whenever person vas accused Of crime, he shou
forthwith ba condemned"
Here DOugherty's offence is distinctly pOint
10 a. . "cTias." 1t n not eOnsldersd . crime
be unable TO pay. Bat it is stealing 10 take /,
cretly and not return what does not belong TO 70