Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-07-29
BOSS BILL.
The n sBces In Favor OF Hia soon nix
ing HIS undhy Punch 1 81 the Old
HAunts of His Political
FaVoriIss.
Failure of the Lawyers for she PrOsecu'
Giuu-Es tIhs Fsult OF the Law
II Ids Failure FOTtuns-Ete.

New York Times
We have watched with great interest,
and, we must add, with disheaTtened
feelings, the increasing success or the |
efforts to secure the liberation Of Tweed. !
1t was thought to be great triumph for
Justice when he was sent TO the peniten- !
tjsry. "See how we punish our dis !
honest officials when we find them out"
we said to the rest Of the world; and the !
world was somewhat impressed with the
spectacle. Not two years have passed |
away, and TIeed's sentence has been |
reversed, and he is manifestly on the |
road to become free man. He may be
harsssed by law suits, but what are they
to a man who has been sentenced to
twelve years in the penitentisry, and
who finds himself free in year and
half? Already ne has been obliged to
give I'D q great deal OF his money to the
LAWYERS, but the man who has escaped
from the laws of living death does not
care for ordinary troubles. And now
there is no cOncealing or denying the
fact that Tweed is gradually loOsening
all the bonds which the law threw
around him, and there seems no reason
why, in the course Of four or five years,
be should not become BOSS" again,
il he still has any taste or ambition IN
that direction. To look on all this is
weary and dispiritiDg work, and yeti
is a situation in which newspapers seem
to be able to DO little or no good. Amid
the hubbub of lawyers and the conflict
ing decisions of courts, the public jour
nails must stand aside helpless Was
Tweed's cumulative" evidence illegal?
II so, il must be reversed. We would
rather see even Tweed escape than have
the law broken or enormously admins
tered. II Tweed is escaping in conse-
quence of the imperfection of our laws,
or the inefficiency of those who in
terpret them, we must submit to the
CONSEQUENCES. Judge Donohue's decis-
ion declaring Tweed to be entitled to a
bill of particulars of the warrants which
form the basis of the civil action against
him is scarcely OF less importance to
Tweed than his release from the peni-
Tertiary. For the "particulars" in ques-
ton could only be obtained from the
fraudulent warrants, nearly all of which
were stolen one night just before Comp
troller Green entered into his office.
The abstraction of these warrants, ss we
pointed out st the time, was one OF the
most daring exploits of the ring, and 1t
did more to save them than any OF the
numerous devices which they put IN
force before or slice. The Keyser war.
rants alone were left, and how far they
can be used for the conviction of Tweed
in the civil suit pending against him we
are unable to decide. Thus, man who
has embezzled large sums Of money gets
another thief to ste al certain written re-
cords of his enlightenment, and then
Judge decides that without these very
records he cannot be brought to trial.
! This may be law; but it is not sense.
! Yet if it is law, we must be guided by it.
| or course an appeal has been taken to
! the general term, and thus the endless
! suits and complications which have
| grown up round these ring prosecutions
! constantly receive new additions. Ii
! things 20 on in this way much longer,
! the firing suitsu will still be multiplying
| when we who lived under the ring are
| all dead and in our graves, and another
| generation will give them up in disgust.
! 1t now only remains for TWeed's lawyers
! TO get his bail reduced-and we are in.
! cIined to think they will succeed in do
| ing that-and then the Boss may return
| to his hsunts, and even mix another
| Sunday bowl of punch in those famous
stables which once echoed with the jests
/ aud laughter Of his Tetainers. He has
| Slr6WQ anu hBlS COuu5Sl W NOIh AOI
him upd they seem to know quite as
much about the law, rUr all practical
purposes, as M. O'Conor. In fact, they
appear to have caught Mr. O'COnOr trip.
ing. 1t is a depiOrable fact that none OF
the workmen who have been concerned
in the prosecution of the ring suits have
driven the nails in home. 1t may be
the fault of the law, or it may be the
fault of the lawyers-but there is the
ugly truth staring US in the face. Jim
Fisk's old lawyer; Judge Barnard's
friend-We mean, of course, David Dud-
ley Field-appears in court almost daily
for Tweed Mr.. Field will be the richest
man in America if he goes on getting
fat clients like Fisk and Tweed a lew
years longer. How much was Erie
worth to him in the days OF the corrupt
judges? Shall we say half million?
Probably that figure would be far too
low. And now there are the ring suits,
likely to last our time. Meanwhile,
what has become of that GLORIOUS vim
dicationn Of justice and public morality
which was embodied in the conviction
and Imprisonment Of Tweed? Any
body who may happen to meet the
"B0ss" on his nightly walks and drives
had better stop him and inquire.