, 1877-05-06

| the county. He testified that, shortly afte
, lis entering upon his dutios, he was II
structed by PER1o1Ar to make out bills for
J. larger amount of supplies than had bee1
actually furnished, thus charging for thre
. barrels Of sugar or three boxes Of soap whel
only one barrel or: one box had been sent
CARPENTER swore that be had at first pro
tested against this sort of business, but tha
lowed instructions, but, thinking troubl
might come Of it, kept private book
in which he made true entries o
the amount Of stuff charged but moi
furnished the county. When callet
before the Grand Jury he brought that pri
yate book with him and turned it over to the
! custody Of the State. This, along with ths
subsequent confession of KIMBERLY, the
Warden of the Poor House, made very
complete case against PEn1o1Ar and the in.
dicted Commissioners. About month ago,
when the trial was called, the State had to
ask a continuance because CARPENTER had
disappeared, and now it turns out that his
|
circumstance, in its present shape, is a re-
| Election upon Mr.. REED, who was at the time
| States Attorney, and in whose charge the
book was intrusted. The County Board has
Instituted a suit for damages against For
s1THE: probably to punish him for his agency
i'll exposing the Ring. and FoEsYrHE's law
yer, A1r, ROBERT SMITH, "borrowed" this
book Of hIr. REED. What excuse A1r. REED
has, if any, for letting this essential evi-
dence for the State pass out Of his hands we
cannot imagine. At all events, AIr. Mills, the
present States Attorney, has never been able
to lay his hands on these private accounts,
and the State is cheated out Of its case.
There are all sorts Of explanations,
that young man presented himself at Mr.
SM1rH's office, saying he was Mr. M111s'
clerk, and had been sent for the account
book; another, that 11r. SMITH carried the
book to the Statos Attorneys Office when AIr.
Minis was not in, and so on. All this is of
very little consequence, as the book is gone,
and the blame attaches to the circumstance Of
It's being allowed to go out of the hands Of
the State in the first instance. Mr.. REED
will do we'll to explain this.
How long the people of Cook County will
submit to this plunder and betrayal on all
sides, is an interesting problem in tho study
of popular forbea-ance under great injury.
The law is defective, so that public thieves
cannot be directly reached and punished,
and the Legislature refuses to change
it. The people are powerless to purify
the Board by election, because they
are permitted to choose only FIVE Commits
sioners each year on the district plan, and
the Legislature refuses to furnish an oppor-
tunity for voting the scoundrels out of Office.
The Ring has the selection of Grand Juries,
and it is not likely that, by another over
sight, they will again permit the Sheriff to
impanel jury at all disposed to indict nuy |
county thieves. Once indicted, the law
enables tho rnscals to take u change Of venue,
which unreasonably delays their trial, em-
barrasses the States prosecutions, and gives
time for the evidence against them to be got |
out of the way. And, finally, when there is
a probability that they will be convicted in
spite Of I'LL obstacles, it is found that tho |
Witnesses have been spirited of and the
accountbooks stolen. If all this does not
make q showing which entities the ta1pay-
ers of Cook County to relief ut the hands of
The Legislature, then nothing short of bribe-
r will reach that body.