Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1878-12-11


"The body of tho oflense was clearly
There could be no doubt
that Langdon was murdered and the
evidence was amply sufficient to justify
the jury in finding that the prisoner
was one OF the guilty parties, aud that
the grade OF his oilcnse was murder ia
the trst degree. A careful review OF
the evidence satisfies us that all the
Ingredients necessary to constitute
murder in the first degree were proved
To exist.
Did thesevcn Judges of the Supreme /
Court not understand the lawY Did
they not comprehend the evidence
upon which they passed by "careiul
reviewY" Either they do not under
stand the technicalities OF the law and
the merits of the ease as presented by
the evidence, or HartraHit does not,
and which is il? The only other by-
pothcsis that can possibly explain the
dispute between the Executive and the
Supreme Court is that either the Court
or the Executive must be corrupt,
or that the Executive deliberately dis
cards the truth. II he believes what
he asserts be is not the first citizen of
the State who has differed from the
Judgments of the highest courts, but
Governors are not the class from
which the people expect expressions of
contempt Tor the DEGREES OF the law.
The insolent partisan dcclarat on of
Governor Hartranit about his cfusal
ITO erect the gallows ina political cam
paign,' and that whatever political ad.
vantage could be gotten from making
the pardon or execution of criminal
u political question, | desired the op-
position TO wholly enjoy might be
deemed not inappropriate ina rounder
ward meeting by II small-beer cam
paigner, but they will CRATE haIshly
upon the cars OF dispassionale citizens,
coming from the Executive of the
State IN an utterance relating 10 the
gravest duty the law can impose upon
a public officer. They are sadly tune.
less as declarations in behalf Of the
majesty of public authority, and they
elevate condemned crime, even when
the highest judgment of the law has
been pronounced against it, to a dc.
batable plane With justice and with
justice at the disadvantage. They in.
woke the searching criticism of the ad-
ministration that thus sullls at the
altar Of justice when murder by the
potential partisan is to be punished.
They recall how the prison doors
swung open for Mara and Dougherty
TO give Hartranft the support of cor
rupt adverse elements in 1872; how
del auchery ran riot in this city and
fraud held high carnival TO make him
Governor how Dougherty was killed
by his m lrderous associates within "a
few months thereafter; how Mara was
speedily returned to prison for muir.
derous attempt upon the life of one Of
his beneiactors who had contracted for
his deliverance and how liartranft
pardoned Mara for his second ilustra
tiun of his murderous purpose, which
met and vanquished justice by politi-
cal power. They remember how the
partisan organs Of the Governor in the
coal regions, have been compelled to
denounce his prostitution Of the par
doning power in fufilment Of political
contracts; how Beamish mocks the
law and defes justice because he Is
stronger than the law itself, and how
balot-stuffers and embezzlers have
found ready barter for clemency in ex-
change for political debauchery. They
remember how Delaney, yet IN Office
in the Executive Chamber, has been
an open political broker between
justice and crime, without ofiense to
Governor llartranit; and, with these
memories quickened by the Governors
incorporate dsrespeot for the courts,
the law, for his own high office and for
himself the letters of Hartranit and
Lear will be accepted as the wierd
echoes of the Kehoe contract at the
Sigired conference in 1875, and Of the
Kehoe trust IN Hartranft that he hissed
at the law through the prison bars in
1876. The Ancient Order of IIibernians
promptly acquitted itself OF the stain
of the Kchoe murderers by cutting off
from the order the organization in the
counties of Luzerne, Schuylkill and
Northumberland; the courts have
been faithful TO the law even in the
tempest of murder; public sentiment
has asserted its omnipotence aud made
u smirched Executive smltc as he
pleaded his sy mpathy with crime, and
to Governor Hartranft and Attorney
General Lear belong the exceptional
distinction Of confessing that, but for
their fears, the murderer would be
master OF the administrator OF justice
in our boastcd Commonwealth.-PhA
sieiphia Times
----e->~.e--
LAST or THE CARPETBAG-
GERS.
On the 4th OF March next William
Pitt Kellogg. from Louisiana. will be