The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-04-29

never peeu prulouuuly tHpTGsbeu
by the high-toned morals of the
ssdetective" profession. And the more
we watch its workings and become &C
quainted with its true inwardness, the
system is conducted more in the inter-
ests of rogues and roguery than of the
public good and common honesty.
AS bearing upon this point there has.
Just now come to light certain transac-
tions in connections with officials of this
class at Chicago and Milwaukee. Some
ten years ago, a man named Piper was:
pursuing the base business of passing!
counterfeit money, in which he had be-!
come noted throughout the West. He was
finally detected and sent to the Vermont
Penitentiary, whence he has just been
discharged. He has now returned to-
Chicago, and is about to institute suits
against the ExfChiefs OF Police of that
city and of Milwaukee. He charges that
he placed large sums of money in the
hands of some OF these persons, and that
they appropriated it to their own use.
He also alleges that at the
height of his career as forger,
and when he was being sought
alter by the officials of Vermont, the
then Chiefs OF Police in Chicago and in
Milwaukee used all their power to shield
him from justice, at times secreting him
for days in their houses, in considera-
ton OF which service Piper paid them
handsomely. Now that he is once more
free, he proposes to get even with those
who had his money in trust and who
now refuse to turn it over to him, and
will, in a day or two, publish all the
faets in detail.
1t is true that these charges must be
taken with a wide. margin of allowance
for the confessedly bad repute of the
man Piper. And yet nothing is more
common than the statement of perso MS
who, whether by fault or misfortune
lall into the hands Of such officials, that
they have been plundered by the police
nficials into whose hands they had fall
IN; and as against whom, for want o1
proof, they are powerless for their own
Vindication.
Oppression in Office is one OF the mosi
disgraceful offenses known to the crimi
nal laws of any country, and one the
most difficult to guard against by any
Eommon degree Of watchfulness Oh the
part of the public. In hundreds OF in.
stances the rights Of the citizen are liable
10 be invaded by those whom the
law itself has placed to watch
Dyer those rights, and under circum.
stances where redress against these in.
vasions of private rights becomes i'm.
possible. All this is bad enough when
occurring among police officials who
openly wear the uniform and badge Of
their authority. But it becomes in.
fnitely worse when subjected to the Sc.
cret espionage OF those who call them.
selves detectives" and move
among the people as .spies
wholly unknown to the people
themselves, and who consequently are
entirely at their mercy, In case such
secret officials are moved to wrong.
doing as against individual rights. The
whole system is an incongruity as
among our modes OF administering jus.
tice and foreign to the genius of our
institutions. Its growth Of late years
has been rapid and its operations in
many instances simply outrageous. Ii
deserves the closest scrutiny, if not a
total abolition. 1t may in some cases do
much good, but is capable also of inf
mite mischief to public interests.