The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-02-03

Inc presumption OF the law, that accused
men are to be held innocent until their guilt
is proved, should apply with peculiar and
sacred force to the dead, who can no longer
defend themselves before any human tribu-
nal. And if we attach weight to the plea of
previous good character and irreproachable
behavior when advanced by the living &C.
cused, we should at least give the same
benefit to those who cannot urge their own
defense, and should let their good deeds
which live after them speak in trumpet
tones.
The detectives who are engaged in search
ing out the mystery which surrounds the
death of the late cashier Of the Dexter Ban K
have certainly not acted in the spirit of the
gentle maxim which bids us speak no i'll of
the dead. They have advanced wild sur
misses concerning the death of Mr.. Barron.
and put forth fantastic theory, unsupported
by evidence, to account for the circum-
stances of his death. They have not hesi-
tated to lightly prefer charges which, if sup
ported, will make his me mory unsavory so
long as the tragedyis remembered of men.
and which will,-so prone is the world to
keep evil report in mind and let good deeds
pass out of its recolection-even if wholly
disproved, cast shadow over his name that
the years can not lift.
Strangest of all, some of the townsmen of
Mr.. Barron-not many, for the townspeople
generally have not lost their faith in honesty
and their trust in him-those who knew him
well and should be the readiest to rush to bis
defense, have lent long and eager ears to the
idle tales set afoat by men whose aim it is to
set up title to wages by furnishing some
explanation, however absurd or uncbaritable,
OF the Dexter Bank robbery. The bank off
GERS have not permitted Mr.. Barron's charac-
ter, hitherto held in popular esteem as good
as their own, to weigh as a feather in the
balance against accusations by men whose
trade it is to accuse some one, and who per-
haps think it safer to accuse the dead than
the living. These citizens of Dexter do not
hesitate to suspect that the cashier, without
any reasonable motive, committed suicide to
cover up a defalcation that is not shown to
exist; that he planned the affair of bis death
with cunning that even the cunning de-
tectlves, were they to undertake bank rob-
berry. could not approach; that he had
schooled himself to play the juggler tricks
with which the Davenport Brothers and their
imitators have fooled the public. This they
oelleVe because they are told this by irrespon-
sible men who have nothing-not even pro-
fessonal reputaton-to lose by making these
charges, but who on the contrary have some
thing to gain by advancing theory, however
absurd, to account for the crime. Uncharit-
able themselves, these people of Dexter,
surely they caanot complain if an uncharita-
Bile world judges that so unworthy belief
can only find lodgment in bad hearts.
There are honorable detectives, men OF re-
pute in their business, who go about their
unpleasant occupation as honest men should.
One of these, well-known in this city where
he makes his home, condemns the suicide
theory as both flimsy and false. 1t has not
even the merit of brilliancy. There are 9TH
er detectives, or men who call themselves de-
tectives, who live on SANDER and thrive on
unworthy suspicious; who are never known
to discover anything except the deepest pock-
ct in case; and who amuse themselves by
inventing "theories" for which they are paid
by their credulous dupes.
The detectives at Dexter may be honorable
men, expert in their profession and belong
iog to the aforementioned class. But their
conduct certainly suggests the old sarcasm
that detectives are always suspicious where
there is no guilt, and blind as bats in day.
light where their suspicious would justly be
aroused. Unless they conclusively prove the
charges they make they will be classed with
those incapables who delight in advancing
startling but unsound theories, or with
those of their name who hesitate at no SLAM
der so long as SANDER will give them employ
ment. And those who have been so eager to
accept these charges and make them their
own will be remembered as the authors of
one of the most dastardly deeds ever COM
mitted by men.