The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1874-05-21
Poneroy's Trial.

SrLa Last WatheDa reporter, taxing an lteu
-, ths Chief for text, breaches long sermon
-nor the necessity of trying, csnvicting and pun
r. pomeroy. A correspondent, in another
-, propounds a few hard conundrums II
a.. Rsnorter upon the subject; and we wish t'
say somsthing in addition
The Rsporser, ufter charging that Pomeroy wal
tbp founder of the corruption system in Kansas
po,tics, proceeds to preach as if everything sait
Of him were proven, and all that was wanting
,vas sentence to he pronounced upOn him. Thl
fact Is Jim. Lane had Kansas politics thorough,
.,,-runted before Pomeroy ever knew the cards
Pomeroy may be guilty of great many acts a
corruption; but as we have no personal knowl
edge of the fact we shall not speak 10 positively
the editor of the Reporter does. We know that
unon three several occasions, charges have beer
nr.f.rred, and he has been investigated by Kan
sas Legislatures, and ouce by the United State,
Senate: and in not one instance has the charg,
been sustained, unless it he said that the Yorl
case is proven. At the Senatorial election il
1867 tho charge of bribery was made at the lime
and a committee of investigation was appointed
After short effort, the committee reported that
they beIiered there had been bribery, but they
In 1872, joint committee of the Legislature was
appointed to investigate the Caldwell election,
and TO again ivestigate the Pomeroy election of
1867 They utterly failed to prove that Pomeroy
had bribed single member of the Legislature
and all that was proven was that he had prom
ised newspaper editor something for supporting
him, and had an unpleasantness with the editor
about it. At the election of 1873, York made his
charges. The Legislature investigated them,
rs also did the United States Senate. Neither
investigation established single charge of brib.
cry against him, with the exception of the York
affair.
The York matter, then, is his crime, and il is
the only one upon which he is TO be tried. The
testimony of York himself, and that of his assO-
ciates, prove that York made the advances to
Pomeroy, and offered himself to be bribed-held
out Inducements and temptations. In short,
their own testimony proves that it was deeply
planned conspiracy, for the sole purpose of lead
ing POmeroy into a trap. Pomery, then, is to be
tried for falling into the trap, aud for allowing
himself, in the excitement of a heated contest,
in which his fate was at stake, to become
the victim Of the conspiracy. We most heart
ily signed the petition for the dismissal of the
case-and the more heartily, in view of the
miserable showing, thus far, of the great
reign of honesty and intellect which was said to
have been inaugurated by the defeat of Pomeroy.
Why, it is even reported that York and Ben.
SimPsOn-two of the conspirators-hav signed
the petition. And it is a remarkable fact, that
the most earnest laborers for the defeat of Pom
erOy, are the men who now most deeply regret
that he was defeated.
The same number of the Reporter that contains
the article in question, contains another relative
to Maj. John NJ. CrOwell, in which the subject of
his proposed dismissal, and the regret of his
friends thereat, is fiippantly spoken of-as much
as to say, Crowell is no great shakes, and he may
as well slide as any other officer. 1t is unani-
mOusy acknowledged that Crowell is the most
efficient officer in his position in the West; and
there is not term of the United States District
Court, but that he brings in a regular herd of
post-ofice thieves, and conVicts them. But this
newspaper champion Of stern honesty and exact
JUSTICE who calls for POmerOy's conviction as a
public duty, and necessary for the good of the
State, thinks it light affair to dismiss an officer
who has become famous for bringing to Justice
depredators upon the property of the people of
the State, in its most private and sacred form
in the United States mails.
1t is very easy for young man full of zip" and
vinegar, to sit at his Office desk, and with all the
dignity and firmness of a Roman Senator demand
the sternest, blindest and most impartial justice
II reads WE'LL especially when he reads it over to
himself. But if the same stern and exact Justice
were carried down to all phases and acts of pub
lie and private life, and retribution meted out
for every transgression, proportioned according
to the magnitude of the crime, perhaps that same
mau would carry warm poultice inside the seat
of his breeches at least nine months in the year!