New-York tribune., 1878-02-19

constantly tumbling into. 1t is thought that the
law should deal teEderly with thieves who disgorge
their booty We can understand why those VINO
have been defrauded should think so but the DIS
interested have reason enough for quite the oppo-
site opinion. Here is a case in point: Mr. Jacob X
Frcese late Treasurer of the State Savings Bank,
in Trenton n. j., with his sons indicted with him,
has virtually pleaded guilty 10 an indictment charg
ing him and them with approprating all the money
deposited in that institution; but sentence has not
vet been pronounced Last week, Mr. Freese male
a great show of cheap honesty. He conveyed all
his property to trustees for the benefit Of the swim
died dcpositors. AS usually happens. thero was
more show than substance in this magnanimous de
monstratIon The estates are already shingled
over aud over with mortgages. The best opin-
ion Is that the equity of redemption Is
worth little, if anything. There is nothing
singular about this. Those who take such
bad care of other peoples property are not likely to
take good care of their own Even when default
ing treasurer has given what appears to be good
bonds, they eften prove, through some legal quIb-
BILE, to be worth much less than their face The re-
ceiyer of taxes in Trenton n j.. who also has been
helping himself to the municipal money, and freely
spending the same, had given excellent bOnds and
yet the Common Council has just sbeen obliged to
release his bondsmen for q much less sum than it
tor. So it is that compromises and settlements in
yolye considerable loss of money, in nine cases
out Of ten. OF theft itself there can be no honest
settlement except that which is prescribed by the
statutes. The community has some rights which
even those who have been bilked of their property
are bound to respect
There was what we may call thrilling temperance
lecture delivered in the Court Of Oyer and Terminer
yesterday, when Judge Davis sent to prison for
fifteen years Joseph p Wall who kicked his wife to
death because he found her on the floor sleeping,
and supposed that she intoxicated. Wall
stated TO tho Court that on his way home lie drank
twelve glasses of lager beer and four glasses Of
whiskey He has several children, who Will be
dependent on charity while he is in prison. He
must have been partially intoxicated before he
called for tho latest of his poations, and the men
who sold him liquor under such circumstances
ought to bo made to support his children. so they
might be according to an existing statute. Unfor
tunately, il will be difficult TO find ont who they
were. This is the weak point of the law, and it is
not easy TO see how il be satisfactorily amended
in this respect. After ten glasses of lager and three
Of whskey man il hardly i'll condition to swear to
the bar-keepcr who sold HIM the eleventh glass of
the one and the fourth of the other.
Past catastrophes have rendered easily salts
fled IN tho way of compensations and il is actually
made matter of congratulati0n that no lives were
lost AT the great fire Sunday evening OF course
no property is for q moment, to be compared in
value with the life of human beng; and SO far
we aro justified in congratulating ourselves upOn
the absence of mortal fatality on this occasion.
Apart however, from this consideration the losses
sustained by the churches, the Sth Regiment,
and the tenants of the burned buildings perfectly
Al. e L.
specially regretted. The congregations which have
thus been left without places of worship will re-
ceive the sympathy and 10 doubt, the timely
courtesies of their sister organizations Meanwhile.
it is to bo hoped that the circumstance of great
fire without the death of anybody. will not make
builders aud tenants careless because there is q
great balance Gin the account-current against life,
which it will take great many such fires to
make up.
Thompson-theo one with P-and the genius who
as "a bail broker, succeeded in defrauding even Mad
ame Resell is not, 1t is officially notified to us,
nected in any way with the DlsrictAttorneys Office
We had lingering suspicion at the time of comment
ing on the rascally proceedings Of the aforesaid
broker, that Mr. Phelps had not long endured his
doubtful service, even If he had ever had him in his
employ, and tho only excuse for the blunder into
which we were led, is that our editorial comments
were based upon the reports of Sunday papers. The
fact that THE TRIBUNE does not publish q Sunday
edition has long been conceded to be unfortunate
for the cause of Truth.
General Toombs has let himself loose on the
silver question. He grasps the subject after the
manner of voorhees, and Bland. The whole sub.
ject can be comprehended in five minutes, he says,
and he would whip his "twelvo year-old gal
grand-child if she couldn't understand it," After
this declaration it is needless to add that Toombs
favors a.0Ocent dollar. He is very bitter on the
I'D doctrinaires in Congress-" and believes in
leaving the question to the people He is sure silver
was demonetized by fraud. that Ben Hill doesn't
nnderstsnd the question at all, that We ought to
have unlimited greenbacks as well as silver, that
good times will follow IL we do have both, and that
az far as the National honor is concerned, Oh,
National honor be d--dp That seems to be the
opinion Of Congress. too.
Blr. Hayes has been studlously non-commttal in
regard to the Bland BILL but he once expressed him
self without much ambiguity. In his message he
placed himself on record against silver dollar of
less intrinsic value than 100 cents, against the un-
limited uso of silver as legaltender, and against
its in payment of the principal interest OF the
National Loans. Unless the President has recon.