Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-01-17
The Bennett-May Trouble Stand
the Penalties, Bennett, and Un-
cover the Rascals.

Dtunsbt> vi Tic Nth IOIh fe'utu,
and Miss May, of New York City,
were to be married we do not know,
we do not care, and why they were
not married at the time stated for
them so TO be, but little while ago,
We do not know, We do not care, for
those are phases of their life that are
private and no ones business but
their own.
As to the matter between Miss
Mays big brother and Mr.. Bennett,
the case is far different Theirs is a
phase of life that comprehends the
interest of every individual man, for
if one man may be stricken down for
a real or imagined grievance, as was
Bennett, and the authority of town
or city look on and only smile, every
other man may fall among the ways
of bullies too.
1t is of interest, again, because the
Grand Jury of the Tweed-ridden city
has said that Bennett, who defended
himself against the bullying assault
of young May has offended the moral
sense of the city, and must be pun
ished for SO offending.
The moral sense of a Grand Jury
and the people of a city that will per-
NIT men to be knocked senseless on
the pavement of the town, and then
smile and say, the man who was
whipped has not the courage to re
sent the insult. has no moral sense
above fear, and no integrity that the
glitter or clink of gold cannot buy.
In all probability if Mr.. Bennett
had sought the Grand Jury to secure
a bill Of Indictment against his as
sailant, they would have heard him as
Nllut5Ss 81 ilS W IOu IL du do u
sweet scandalous morsel under the
root of their tongue, and then ignor-
ed the bill, and told their friends out
side of the Grand Jury room all
about the evidence, and called Ben
nett a poor thing of fellow. What
a miserably contemplate set of men
that Grand Jury must be. When
Bennett was assaulted on the pave
ment without q word of warning and
knocked senseless, and sat upon by
the bully, or the man who played the
bully, the Grand Jury had no word
to say against it, and it is just prob
able that they rejoiced, when the vic
tim of the assault was carried away,
in the belief that he had been humil-
lated and broken in spirit by the
whipping.
Days intervened or passed in which
the majesty of the law might have
been upheld, and a walk on the
streets of New York made secure
against the assault of the bully, car
rying whip, billy, or bludgeon.
1t signifies nothing that Bennett
was attacked with a whip and fist,
and knocked senseless. More could
scarcely have happened if he had
been knocked down by bludgeon.
The offence was a grave and ex-
ceedingly clear one against the law,
and if the Grand Jury had been any
thing but a pack of cowardly Tweed
ties they would have maintained the
dignity of the law and had the offend
er arrested, and that would have
saved the merited punishment of the
bully, May, at the hands of Bennett
himself.
IF 4 man attacks another on the
street, as Bennett was attacked, and
is shot for his offence, no court or
jury should for a moment think of
lodging penalties against the man
who resented such an outrage; but
Bennett was knocked senseless, and
if he would he could not then have so
defended himself and so punished his
asSailant.
But New York rather enjoyed the
pummeling of Bennett, and the
Grand Jury in its slime smiled over
the outrage. If Bennett had died,
perhaps it would have laughed out
right.
They enjoyed the work, the people
of New York city did, it was sensa-
ton for them They are not much
without sensation.
Said they, Bennett will not have
the spirit to resent the assault. When
they so declared themselves they were
certainly putting themselves ON the
record in an indirect confession that
the offence should be punished Why
resent if not punishable offence.
But when Bennett was able to go
about, he realized that no one stepped
in to arrest the offender. He real
lied that New York was so debauched
that it rather enjoyed the assault on
him, and that if he took the case into
the rotten places of so-called justice
he could not obtain redress, and so he
concluded to call the bully to a per
sonal account.
A challenge was sent and accepted,
and a settlement was effected at Mary
del Station, in Maryland, by Bennett