The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1880-04-02
PARD0NS REFUSED.

illtutial republicans, asking Tor ratdohs'
After the pleas for the defendants bad beer
made District Attorney lIoilipgcr took Il e
n1or.
"The Commonwealth, ~ he said, ,"does not
delight in the downfall of any Of its citizens
but when men violate the laws and are con-
vic,ed they must receive the sentence OF thu
law. That is all that is asked for. We simpl,
ask that the Board will not ayertth strons
arm of the law which will wipe out the stig-
ma of the State He then read the protest.
signed by the counsel for the Commonwealth
which is as follows:
To the the Honorable Board Of Pardons
The undersigned representing the Common
wealth in the prosecutions for corrupt solic-
it,tion of members of the Legislature in th'
Court Of Quarter Sessions Of Dauphir
c, unity, learning that applications have
been made Cor the pardon of the defendants,
beg leave to file the following protest against
the granting ofsuch pardons: The principa
reasons usually urged in favor Of tie
pardon Of one convicted OF an OF
fense are either that there is some
doubt as to his guilt or that at the date o
his application for pardon he has alread!
undergone so much of his term of imprison
ment as to be sufficiently punished for the
crime of which he has been convicted. II
the present instance neither of these ieason'
can be urged Four of the defendants have
admitted their guilt by pleading guilty and
the other has been convicted by the verdict
of a jury. After a trial conducted so iairl!
that a motion for a new trial was not even
made, there can be no doubt, therefore ,as to
their guilt, aud so far from its being true
that sufficient punish hmant has already been
undergone to atone tor the crime, the fact l.
that not only have none of the defendant,
yet been sentenced but theyare attempting by
the aid of your board and in defiance o! the
Court before which they were tried to relieve
themselves of the necessity of submit n
to sentence, and it seems to be but a mock
cry oljustice for defendant to plead guilty
ofa great crime and then attempt to procurea
pardon before the judgment of the Court
has been pronounced against him, As re-
ply to the special .easons alleged in the ap-
picati0n for pardon, it will be enough to
say that.so far from it being true either that
disinterested zeal on behalf of what were
supposed to be the honest claims of Alleghe
ny county led any of the defendants to vio-
late the law, in his eagerness 10 secure the
passage of the act of Assembly, or that hav-
ing violated it he frankly admitted his Of
feuse before the committee of the Legsla-
ture, and followed up the admission by
prompt plea of guilty before the Court, the
indsputable facts are that one of the de-
PENDANTS admitted on oath before the Com
mittee of the House of Representatives that
le was employed in the matter as the attor-
ney for railway corporation; that nearly
all of the parties denied, under oath, any
guilty knowledge or practices; that, based
upon this denial, bills of indictment have
been found against them for peiury and
that, for months, every technical defect was
taken advantage of and every possible ap-
plcation for delay made. In the Court an
order had been made that there should be
no further delay, and, when the defendants
where about to be confronted with conclu-
sve aud overwhelming evidence of their
guilt under such circumstances to grant
pardon would imply that in the opinion of
your honorable board, either the crime
charged upon the defendants is not
deserving of punishment, or that the de-
PENDANTS themselves are to be treated as if |
they possessed license to commit crime
with impunity 1t must, however, be ad- |
mitted that the oflense charged is one Of the
most serious and aggravated known to the
law. So heinous was it considered that it is
prohibited by the Constitution as well as by
the statute law. We cannot but believe that
your board will hesitate long and weigh well
The consequence Of your action before at
tempting to treat both Constitution and act
of Assembly as so much waste paper but
in the particular cases under consideration
aggravated by the attempt to restore to it for
the purpose of despoilng the Treasury of
the Commonwealth OF very large amount
of public money, and if immunity from pun
ishment should be granted to the self-confess-
ed agents the attempted wrongitwill be diff
fcult to escape the conclusion that those who
constitute your board and whOhave been eec
ted or appointed to exalted public positions
to represent and defend the interests Of the
people do not consider it to be crime worthy
of punishment for any one to debauch the
Legislature as a part of an attempt to rob the
public treasury. As the parties are clearly
guilty, as they have not even been sentenced,
and as their crime, serious in itself, is,i pos,
sible, aggravated by the purpose for which
il was resonod to, it follows that if par
don is granted it must be out of some person.
al regard for or Difference TO the defendants
themselves, which places them above end
beyond the constitution and the law and
practically invests them with license to
commit crime, The presence of criminal
class, even when amenable to the law, is, at
all times, dangerous to the public welfare; bu
if there is to be thrown upon the commun-
ity a class licensed to commit crime and pro-
tected in the enjoyment Of this license by the |
highest officers of the State it would indeed |
seem that seli-goyernment is failure, and |
that the boasted SAT guards of the Constitu-
tiOn, the laws and the Judiciary are alike
poweress for the protection of society. We
cannot believe it to be possible that the effort
TO secure a pardon will be successful. The
prosecutions originally directed to be insti-
tuted by an order Of the House of Represen-
tatiyes. .haye,so faras they depended upon the
action of those appointed to represent the
Commonwealth, been brought to a successful
issue. Able and fearless Judges, with homes