New-York tribune., 1884-03-22
TIE SHERIEE INDICTED.

The Special Grand Jury Of the Court of Oyer
and Terminer has at last brought to public
view some important results from its long ana
costly labors. In presenting indictments
against Sheriff Davidson, the Order of Arrest
Clerk, the Warden of Ludlow Street Jail and
three of their associates, 1t has begun the
breaking up of a system of official extOrtion and
blackmail such as probably no other civilized
city can show. These indictments were certain
to he found. There could be no escape from
them after the exposures made by the Assembly
Committee And now the honest people OIL
New York will demand that the accused men
have speedy trial. The evidence is IN hand
DELAY will not serve the ends Of justice, while
promptness in pushing the prosecution Will not
be in any way unfair to the officials. Ever
since the incriminating testimony was given
before the committee and since the Grand Jury
began its search of the Sheriff's office, they
could have been expecting nothing else than
that the question of their guilt or innocence
must be passed on by q criminal court what
reasonable plea can they submit for putting of
the trial
Indictments of officials and their subordt-
mates have not accomplished much in New York
In recent years. Either prosecuting officers
have been wanting in zeal, or there have been
sinister influences at work which have shielded
the guilty. We have seen Police Conn SION
ers and Excise Commissioners, and heads OF
bureaus and divisions, clerks of high and low
degree formally held for trial on charges OF much
gravity. But the trials are rarely reached,
while convictions have been almost entirely
wanting How many persons have yet been
| ol..l 41,o fO1nn
the coupon frauds in the Controllers Office the
thefts in the Bureau of Arrears, the robbery in
the Water Registers Bureau, or the many other
crimes that have been brought to light In the
municipal departments If we were to Judge
| from past failures, the prospect OF sending the
| guilty men in the Sherif's Office to prison would
seem slight. But there are reasons for bellev-
ing that the indictments found yesterday Will
not be allowed to lie idle as so many others
have been. They were presented to the Court
of Oyer and Termner, and Chief Justice Noah
| Davis, whose name Is terror to evil-doers,
often sits in that branch Of the Supreme Court.
He is not likely to permit the work of the
Grand Jury to be nullihed Nor can the Dis
trict- Attorney afford to show any lack OF energy
and determination in these cases. Any remiss-
ness on his part would surely lead to injurious
suspicious that political sympathies influenced
his official course.
Some of Mr.. Davidson's friends think that the
indictments will really prove service to him.
They do not look for a conviction (although
with resolute prosecution, an impartial judge
and an honest jury an acquittal seems to the
unprejudiced mind out of the question on the
evidence already made public, and they expect
that the Governor will not remove an official
"under fire." We have too high an opinion of
the Judgment, sense and conscience of Cover
nor Cleveland to take any such view. The
charges against Sheriff Davidson are supported
by overwhelming evidence. The abuses and
outrages under his administration, for which he
is directly responsible, have been monstrous.
He cannot even plead lack of experience and
ignorance of the law-though any such plea
from public official is in itself the most dis
graceful of confessions. But he has not even
that wretched excuse He had ample expe-
rience under his predecessor. He was familiar
with all the workings of the place, with all the
dark ways aDd all the dirty corners. Under his
direct oversight the revolving machinery OF
fraud, oppression and cruelty, which has been
deliberately built up in the County Court House
and in Ludlow Street Jail, was worked at full
pressure, and to him went the greater part of
the gains forced out of public funds and
private pockets without warrant of law. VIII
the Governor who wrote the admirable message
approving the Roosevelt bill, In which 80 sound
and sensible view was taken of municipal ad-
ministraton, permit an indicted Sheriff whose
record is SO black to remain in office
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