The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-06-30
Are We Living Under tho Law or In
a State OF Anarchy

Two OF the members OF the Ponce BOARD OF
this city, its President and its Secretary have
been tried on an indictment preferred by q
grand jury, and after o fair trial before one Of
our ablest and most reputable judges have
been found guilty of misdemeanor in having
wilfully violated q law which they were sworn
to obey. For this crime the Court has i'm
posed upon them fine of two hundred and
fifty dollars each, and the fine has been paid.
They might have been sentenced to imprson-
ment but the leniency of the Court-mis
placed, as some believe-has spared them the
more disgraceful punishment If some poor
wretch driven by poverty to crime had been
before the Court on a charge of larceny or for
the commission of some other offence, and his
sentence had been made light on account of
e1tenuating circumstances, nothing more
would have been heard of the case. But as
one of the convicted Police Commissioners hap
pens to be the President of the Republican
Central Committee, and as the other is a
shining light in reform" and "inde-
pendent democracy we find the
whole city stirred to its depths
in an attempt to prove that
the verdict Of the jury was unjust; that the
Court before which the offenders were tried
was corrupt or incompetent and that by some
peculiar quality of this case it is taken out
side the pale of the law, which imposes certain
penalties in addition to those embraced in
the sentence for the offence that has been
committed. The convicted men address a
letter in apparent seriousness to the Mayor OF
the city, resigning the Offices of which the law
has stripped them, and rearguing the case
that has already been passed upon by an
honest and intelligent jury. Mr.. Gardner,
one of the guilty officials, follows up this sim
gular epistle with attacks upon the character
of the complainant who has brought him to
justice; with gross abuse Of the whole body of
inspectors of election belonging to the politl-
cal party that is largely in the majority in
the city of New York, and with unwarranta-
BILE insinuations against the Court, the jury
and the prosecuting lawyers. He announces
his determination to attempt the retention OF
the office which the laws declare he has for
feited until his pretended resignation"
shall be accepted by the Mayor, and he
impudently announces that his fellow crimi-
nal is "a man of wealth and can make a
big fight if necessary to maintain princi-
ple;' which principle is to cheat the law and
maintain in the Police Commission two per-
sons who have been found guilty of INSIDE
meanor on one Indictment and against whom
three other indictments are still pending.
Outside the men who have subjected them
selves to the penalties OF the law we find
others prominent in the community attempt
ing to palliate these offences and striving by
special pleas to turn aside the course of JUS
tice. A United States Commissioner, who is
by common report standing candidate for a
high position in the New York Police Depart
ment, as reported in a republican organ is in
decent enough to attribute improper motives to
Judge Donohue, who referred to another JUS
tice of the Supreme Court the application Tor
request that the prosecution should be con-
Quoted by the Attorney General of the State.
and to charge Judge Wes.brook, who signed the
application, with an offence sufficiently grave
to demand his impeachment. Mr.. Davenport
is reported to have alleged that when the apph-
cation to place the prosecution in the hands
OF the Attorney General was made to Judge
Donohue that Judge declined to sign the
order, in the fear that his action would be
open to great criticism, but passed the
application ''to country justice unfa-
miliar with the case" and advised him
to sign it, and that the Justice in
question-Judge Westbrook-afixed his sigma
ture, although Ignorant of the facts" On
the authority Of the same organ we are in
formed that lit had been agreed upon before
the Commissioners of Police sent in their
designations that such designations would not
be accepted by the Mayor, or if he did accept
them, that he would reappoint Messrs. Char.
lick and Gardner"
We recite these facts in order that the
people of New York may understand in what
direction the government Of the city is drift
ing. Here is apparently very plain, straight
\ forward case affecting the public interests.
Two officials are indicted for wilful viola
ton of law they we're sworn to obey are
found guilty by jury, are fined by the Court
and, in accordance with the clear prov-
sions of the law, forfeit the offices they
held. As result of the nature of the corrupt
compact which fastened the present incompe-
tent and disgracetul administration on the
city one of the convicted men is prominent
republican politician and the other demo-
crat, although OF the stripe opposed to Tam
many Hall Although their offence is
of q grave character we End every
loud-tongued shrieker for reform and
for the purity Of the ballot box not
only exc,1sing their crime, but discussing
with patience, and with an evident desire to
see the outrage accomplished, the possibility
of an evasion of the penalty for the offence
imposed by the law, and the probability of
their retention in Office or their reappointment