The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1879-01-23
Washington Letter.
WASHINGTON, d. c., Jan. Is, 1875

cradle perturbation among the Nor
mons, and Delegate Cannon who him
self possesses a plurality of wives, IS
about to urge upon Congress measures
of relief-a bill to relieve from prose-
cution those who have committed the
offense' subsequent to the act of Con-
gress, 1862, and previous to the decision
of the court. It is considered strange
that the Mormons should adhere so
strenuously to their doctrine of po1yga-
my, SO odious to the Christianized
world, and particularly unaccountable
that the women of Utah should defend
a practice deemed especially degrading
to their sex.j Yet a mass meeting of
Mormon women to the number of
twelve hundred assembled in Salt Lake
City recently, who spoke and resoluted
earnestly inlfavori of plural marriage.
Itis generally supposed that the Nor
mons do not advance anything in der
fense of polygamy, /, but those who have
visited Utah know. that they have for
titled themselves, with quite an array
of arguments. They have made them:
selves believe that. .polygamy is not
only a blessed thing morally and
physically, and claim that there is not
aprostitute, a vagrant, a drunkard, or
a homeless child in Mormondom that
plural marriage is a protection to wo-
men from the brutalities of sensual
husbands, and from numerous ills to
which iGentiles are subject. But the
Christian world does not see the force
of these arguments, and there is now a
reasonable prospect that this blot upon
fair Utah may be wiped out, and the
territory admitted to the ,sisterhood of
States. q. 1t, can never come in so long
as Mormonism remains, in control.
The Rev. Talmadge, that loose joint
ed son of theological thunder, lately
paid Washington a visit, with the
avowed purpose of working up sensa-
tionaI material for his red hot style of
gospel elucidatfon. But judging from
his early departure, and the develop
merits generally, he did not find the
National Capital as bad as he thought
it was. Washington is not Sodom, nor
is it Gomorrah, and the parsons finan-
cial agents went away unrewarded and
murmuring one to the other. This
theological Akhoond of Smut, as the
Boston Post wittily calls him, was dis
gusted to find that Washington proper
was good sort of place, and that
Washington, improper, was made up
of Government officials, who come
here to serve the public and remain to
drink whisky, play cards, and culti-
vate strange women. Leave the gov
ernment out of Washington and the
wickednes would disappear, for it has
pleased our law givers to not only give
US a bad name morally, but to sit
down with immense weight upon our
business enterprise. .,osv5 .fv.y
The administration of Justice in the
District of Columbia is becoming Sc
rious matter. It seems impossible to
punish capital crimes here. Two con-
yictions for cold-blooded murder have
been found within a few months, and
have resulted, not in the hanging of
the murderers, but in new trials, and
finally hung juries. The second case
occurred this week. A negro who had
been tampering with another mans
wife concludes to put the husband out
of the way, and, turning up his coat
collar to avoid recognition,a walks out
in broad day light. meets him una
wares and deliberately shoots HIM
dead in the s.street. There were, no
words, no quarrel and no proyocation.
He is tried and convicted. His coun-
sci obtain a "new trial." fixes up q ju-
ry partly coIored and they disagree,
ten for conviction, two for acquital.
The same record has been made in
other cases, notably a trial for one of
the most heniOus crimes on the ca1an-
der. @All this is the restilt of negro
juries, and an insuffer:sbIy weak or
corrupt administration of the laws. . 4
This week the Potter Committee has
been getting in some solid work again,
and besides unearthing a little more of
John Sherman's dirty work, have had
q witness who saw. the uames. forged
upon the Louisiana Electoral Certifi-
Gates. This witness kept out of the
way last spring when he was wanted,
but at last turned up. He. was an en-
ploye of Kellogg about the State House
and now charges the forgery to dead
man, d. p. Blanchard, a clerk in the
executive office. There has been, and
stilr is, al strong suspicion that this
witness, Kelley, himself performed the
job, though for all practical purposes
of the inquiry it is, ,immaterial which
one of the gang held the pen. The
deed is proven and confessed. And
not only is the man for whom the
crime was committed now occupying
the highest Office in the Republic, but
the man whom all the world will hold
sponsibfe-whom no fair mind can
acquit of the crime though his own
hands did not execute it-that man is
in the Senate of the United States.
Blanchard is dead, Kelley is mere
hanger on, and conquest Clark was
Kellogg's most trusted henchman and
knows more about all these crimes than
he can be got to tell, is one of John
confidential clerks. And
now the committee proposes to over
haul the cipher dispatches. Ever since
the cooked up and worthless Tribune
expose of last fall, the Radicals have
attempted to offset the proof of actual
fraud on their part, with the story OF
what some of the Democrats tried to
do. Six weeks ago they were notified
that the Democrats were ready to pro-
ceed with thorough investigation of
the whole cipher matter, but after con-
snlting with John Sherman and Hayes
they decided that they would not try
such hazardous business. The resolu-
ton which Hale was said to be so anX-
ious to offer on the first day of the ses