New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-06-22
TIE EAIACHLLU CASE.

THE FAIACHILD CASE.
II is no longer the Tweed case about which
people are talking; il Is the Fairclnld case.
Nobody cares much what becomes OF the old
man in Ludlow Street Jail the attempts OF
his counsel and others TO create sympathy Tor
him IN his forl III and miserable age have not
merely failed but they have provoked irI1ta-
ton and protest. Even the apparent deception
which has been practiccd upon HIM, who
swindIcd so many others, does not move the
public toward n kindly and foreiviHg dispo-
sition. If he should pass the rest OF bis days
in iail. the people would feel that his suffer
ings were not too severe for his crimes. But
nov the honor of the law department of the
state Administration Is assailed, not by the
charges of Nh Townsend, not by the opera
tions OF the burlcsque negotiat0r, Bryant, but
by the action Of the AtOrncy-Uenehl him.
self; and upon TINS point the people are sensi-
tive. Mr.. Farchild cannot be too quick III
relieving himself from the imputations uDon
his character which he has so rccklcssly pro-
vok,d. lie must speak He must speak mt
once.
More than two months ago we called Mr..
Fairchlld's attention to the suspicion then be-
coming rife, " that certain persons prominent
in public life believed they could make
I" more profitable use of Tweed's so-caed
Confession than putting it to the purpose for
which the distinguished criminal intended it,"
Can it he necessary to tell Mr.. FairchilI that
this suspicion ia fast ripening into assurance? ?
He held the Tweed statement under consider
alton for five months He discussed it with the
prisoner in private interviews at the jail. lie
received the checks and other documents by
which the testimony of the Ring chief was to
Inc snbstantatcd He submitted them not only
To the lawyers engaged as coun vel for the
city, but to Mr.. John Kelly, and we
know not how many other Democratic
politicians and then h. placed them in the
hands of Mr.. Tildcn. What an opportunity
for Mr.. Tilden was here! In that pile Of
checks and the accompanying statement, if
Tweed told the whole story, he had the means
of destroying probably a score or so OF political
enemies and rivals, or binding to his service
whatever remnant of the old Tammany Demo
Gratis still held power and reputation IN the
State. Just as people suspected, at the moment
of sort of crisis in Tammany politics, part
of the Confession was given to the public
through the agency of Mr.. John Kelly, for the
evident purpose of blasting tho career of
certain Republican politicians who were par
ticnlarly obnoxious to the Democratic man
agers-and Mr.. Tildcn, MIR. Kelly, and we
know not what other astute gentlemen, hold
the rest for use at their own time and III their
own way IL is vain for Mr. Fairchld to deny
that Tweed's statement will be or can be sur
lx- for IN
been so employed already, and it may be again,
and we have no hesitation i'll saying that the
use which he has made or allowed to be made
OF il has fixed upon hlm black stain of dis
grace. There has been nothing so bad in New
York politics since the Ring was driven out OF
the City Hall.
AS to the policy Of accepting Tweed as
witness, apart from the complications created
10y the use already made of his Confession,
we have no opinion to give. Ii is not known
exactly what equivalent he offers for his lib
erty, how much of the secret history OF the
great conspiracy he can lay bare how much
OF the booty he can surrender. Bat on the
supp0sitOn that he is sincere in Offering to
tell all that he knows and to give up all that
he has left, it is impossible for Mr.. FaIrchiId
10 plead tnat thc OiicfS are lnsuilclcDt Al
ter Swceny has been dismissed with testi-
monidl, on payment of trihing sum out
of his brothers estate, and Woodward has
gone home in triumph, and Ingersoll has
been pardoned IN order to give testimony
that nobody seems 90 want, and Connolly
has opened negotiations, and even the escaped
convict Genet is thinking of coming back, it
is the hight of absurdity to say that the pub
lie interest will not permit the release of
Tweed. If there is any reason to believe that
the surrender which the prisoner has proposed
is not complete, if he has kept back any part
of the truth or of the money, then of course
there was good cause for rejecting his over
tures-before making any use of them. On
this point it is proper to suspend judgment
until Mr. Farchild has been heard from. The
bad feature Of the case is the fact that the