Daily Republican., 1879-05-22
VINE KILLED Percy Dsmby9

Court has failed to convict tnem, anu
such failure clears them in the eyes Of
the law, and to the public they are as
innocent Of that eriAs as if they had
never been charged with it. We have
all along said that they would never be
convicted, and even said beforehand
that the trial would end In farce, and
we had two reasons which induced us to
make a prediction which has been YER
ifed. The first reason was that there
really was no evidence from the start
which would justify verdict OF guilty
of murder in the first degree. In the
second place We thought there would
be no conviction even if the evidence
did warrant one, simply from the fact
that race prejudice is SO strong in Del
aware, that a white man was never
known to have been convicted in the
State for the murder of negro. For
his reason we perhaps somewhat Sc
verely animadverted upon the approach
ng trial and called it an approaching
farce, and even when it was under wav
We were not sparing Of the use Of that
term. The term may have been a
severe one but nevertheless judging
from the expression Of public opinion,
uttered, not through partisan press,
that it was an appropriate term. There
are many whe no doubt will eonsure
the States Attorney for abandoning the
case but we do not. He plainly saw,
and, as was afterwards shown the Court
also plainly saw that there could be no
conviction, and consequently we rather
think that the Attorney General acted
wisely, though his actions may be con-
strued into lack of ability to conduct
the case. Though journalists must be
careful where they tread nova days.
with the "eyes ofDelaware upon them,
we hope we may be allowed the free
dom and privilege to say that in our
opinion had the characters in this
drama of crime been reversed the
chances for conviction would have been
materially enhanced. But as we have
already said there really was not suf-
fcient of either positive or circumstan-
tial evidence to warrant conviction and
the Attorney very wisely we think con-
cluded to save the expense to the State
of sitting few days longer on case,
the result of which would evidently
| have been the same
1t is unfortunate that more impress
sive moral lesson did not result from
! this trial, for it only shows how easy ii
is for number Of young roughs out on
a sky-lark to get drunk and maltreat
some poor old innocent colored man un-
til through the brutal treatment he
dies, and there is an end of it. Even
the chagrin and anxieties over few
weeks Of incarceration can easily be
borne, with the certainty of being set at
liberty in the end. There is no doubt
that somebody killed Perry DENLY, a
poor old inoffensive colored man, on his
way home to his famil Y after having
made few purchases in the city
Along that fatal causeway he is attack
ed at the midnight hour, and in the
roseate hue Of morning his lifeless body
is found where he had been left covered
with bruises and blows received from
feet and fists moved by the internal
spirit of drunkenness more than by the
spirit Of malice or i'll will. The law
says the young men who have just
been discharged by the Court did not
do the deed and consequently they are
as innocent in the eyes of the law Of
the crime with which they were charg-
ed. as if they had never tasted drop of
ardent spirits nor been within a mile
of those south side hell-holos of crime
on that fatal night when Demby was
murdered by somebody.
These young men as the Chief JUS
tice very truly remarked were in the
vicinity of the murder that night. That
they were carousing and drinking in
those plague spots of vice and pssti-
lence is not denied. They were where
they should not have been, and ifthis
terrible ordeal through which thoy
have passed will but turn ii ir
feet in the opposite direction and MAKE
better men Of them, some good may re-
suit from the trial though nothing can
bring Perry Demby back to life and to
his family. The causes which led to
this crime, the perpetrators Of which
the law says have not yet been discov-
cred, are easily traced. They are the
free and almost unrestricted sale of
liquor in the city, during the day time,
all through the night, sunday and
Monday alike, only on Sunday the
back alleys and back doors are more
patronized than the front entrances on
other days of the week. True, these
two particular dens of vice on the
South side since the murder of Demby
have been closed, but there are hun
dreds of others in the city in full blast
preparing young men for the commits
sion of crime.
Some of them are licensed and some
unlicensed, but they all have their
crowds of patrons, and often when
the fond indulgent parents think that
their boy is at the harmless club room
or enjoying little walk around the
city, he is in these dens of infamy tax
Ing his preparatory lessons for the
commission Of the gravest of crimes
The question "who killed Perry
DENNY - has been discussed from the
rostrum and every other place, and the
verdict should be against the people of
, Wilmington themselves. These unli-
censed saloons, which are daily corrupt
ing the youths of the city are allowed
to do so because the people Of vii
nlington acquiesce in it. Whenever
| they make up their minds to stop it,
it will be stopped and not before. 1t
NAV REQUIRE the sacrifice of Dartisan