Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-09-20
The STAR ROute Thieves Free.

N
The farce of the trial of the Star
Route defendants is practically at an
end for the present, and most likely for
all time. The two Dorseys and Bra
DIV. the three most iliustrious public !
thieves since the golden days of
Tweed, have locked horas with justice |
in the national Capital, and proved |
themselves mightier than the law.
The case presented by the govern
ment was so clear, 50 complete in every
link. and so entirely conclusive as to
the guilt of the Dorseys and Brady,
and the fidelity of the Judge to the
honest administration of the law was
so emphatic, that the country had
! learned to hope for the majesty OF
| Justice even in Washington but the
earlier apprehensions of the omnlpo-
tence of powerful and banded thieves
have been fully realized by the con-
viction of TWO of the minor defendants,
the acquittal Of one against whom the
government did not press the prosecu-
ton, and the disagreement OF the jury
as to the guilt of the chief consplratofs
and criminals.
The day that dated the succession of
the Arthur to the Garfield administra-
tion, dated the safety of these mighty
criminals. They have never hesitated
to publicly defy both public sentiment
and the courts, since the nation wept
for the murdered Garfield; and from
that period until yesterday, the Star
Route thieves have had an open held
in Washington to compass their escape.
Every Stalwart journal lauded Arthur
and DETAINED every man who had
seconded Garfield in daring to attempt
the vindication of justice, and during
the trial, and every day since the jury
first retired, the Dors, Us tossed their
glass in ribald toast to those who had
offended them by demanding the pun
ishment of the most unblushing public
thieves of modern history. They
knew their jury They knew its sur
roundings; they knew the influence OF
power, and they were safe.
When it is remembered that Dorsey
was United States Senator, and used
his high position to organize and exc
cute crime of appalling magnitude,
and that Brady was the Assistant
Postmaster General, who had control
of Dorsev's line of theft, it is a fearful
humiliation for the country that they
could escape unwhipped of justice at
the fountain of the laws of great free
people And it is the more shameful
that such miscarriage ofjustice could
be perpetrated in the face of the honest
and fearless efforts of righteous
Judge, who made brave struggle to
save Justice from open shame in her
own sanctuary 1t is blow against
Justice AMI against tie majesty of the
law, that must be profoundly felt from
: centre to circumference of the Republic,
and it will do more to arouse the peo-
pie to the grave peril that threatens
their institutions than any one cause OF
the last decade.
When Wayne MacVeagh said to
President Arthur, soon after the death
Of Garfield, that "the prosecution of the
Star Route cases will be important or
uuimportant, as you shall make, or fail
to make, the cause of the government
your cause" he told the whole story IN
. single pregnant sentence. Garfield
: had made the cause of the government
his cause Arthur refused to make the
cause of the government his cause, and
the prosecutions languished into final
failure. The verdict, or the failure OF
a verdict, is simply reflection of the
sentiment of those who bask in the
power of the government 1t was safe
to refuse to convict; it would offend
none in authority; it would assure the
hearty concentrations of every admin
istration organ, and the Dorseys and
Brady are practically free, because the
government was ready to tolerate the
defeat of the law. The farce is now
over; Dorsey and Brady are safe from
punishment for the meanest prostltn-
tion of high power to the most reckless
theft, and the boasted Republic of the
world must confess the omnipotence OF
banded thieves over the law, in the
very fountain Of the nation's laws
PHILADELPHIA Press.