Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-11-08
zanrdstrr ftltcl(tQenrer.
TUESDAY EVENING. NOV. 8. 1881.
Our COLLAPSED Attorney General.

Our Collapsed Attorney General.
District Attorney Corkhill very sue
cessfully puts upon Attorney General
MacVeagh the responsibility for the
postponemcnt of the star route prosecu-
tions and the failure Of the grand jury
to consider the indictments, which has
been the cause of great censure falling
upon the district attorney. 1t seems
that this officer was specifically relieved
by the attorney general from all charge
of these cases, and was informed that
they had been placed in the hands of Mr..
Cook, lawyer of the district, with
whom Il. II. brewster, of Philadelphia,
and George Bliss, of New York, have
since been associated. The grand jury
was called to meet in September when
they met the district attorney advised
the attorney general that he had no bu-
siness for them for three weeks, and
they could give that time to the cOnsid-
Grafton of any indictments he might have
to offer. The attorney general replied
that he had not given any thought
to the star route cases since the
assault on the president, and told
the district attorney that he would
be dulyadvised when his services or that
of the grand jury would he required in
the matter. The grand jury consequent
ly was adjourned, subject to call at any
time. Of their adjournment, Mr.. Cook !,
who had gone to Long Branch, says he
was not advised: and when he got ready
to prefer his star route indictments it
happened that there was no longer time
to secure them before the statute of limi.
tations would bar the prosecutions and
consequently recourse was had to the
proceeding by G. information which is
objected to by the defense, but which is
declared to be 4 common method of pro-
cedure in the District.
AS the matter now stands Attorney
General MacVeagh is the responsible
man for anything that may have been
wrongly done. He is a nervous sort of
a creature and SC ems to have thrown up
the sponge generally and to have quite
bid farewell to earthly cares when Pres
ident Garfield was shot. He neglected
even 10 tell Mr.. Cook that the Washing
ton grand jury was at his service.
The attorney general was in state of
collapse. lie recognized the force of the
logic which inspired Guiteau to fire his
pistol The going up of Arthur meant
the going down of acVeagh and COM
pletc revolution in the controlling force
of the country. With this conviction
came another, that the men who had
worked the star routes were destined for
places Of power instead of cells in the
penitcmtiary. No doubt Mr.. MacEeagh
thought that it would be a waste of labor
to continue the effort to put these des-
tinguished citizens i'm Jail. But the
course of events has brought it about
that it is of prime Iecessity that Mr..
Arthur shall put Oh an appearance be-
fore the public Of all ardent desire to
prosecute. his friends. AS we have before
intimated, there is a striking similarity
in the situation now, when Dorsey and
Brady are in jeopardy, and that which
was presented at the time that BabcOck
and Mcdonald were on trial not only in
the.fact that the criminals are friends OF
the president, but in the further circum-
stances that the cabinet officer who pur-
sued them came to grief for his lack of
suEserviency. Mr.. Mac Veagh, taking a
lesson from the past, is wise enough to
let Mr.. Arthur pursue his make-believe
game with other instruments than him
self but still he should not have gone to
pieces so completely when Garfield was
shot ut as to haveneglectedt to hand over
that grand jury to Cook.