The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-12-20
THE CRIME AND THE MEN.


The developments in the case against Coy,
Bernhamer, Span and Counselman are calcu-
lated to arrest public attention and shock the
moral sense of the community. Possibly there
may be some persons who have accepted the
Sentinels statement that the whole proceed
ing was mere persecution, justas there may
be some still ignorant of the fact that great
crime has been committed. In such cases
there are always some who remain Indifferent
or ignorant until a community is stirred to its
very depths. Even such must be startled by
the facts brought to light during the last few
days To those who were familiar with the
nature of the crime, who had seen the photo
graphed evidence Of it, and who had given
some thought to the manner in which and the
persons by whom it was probably perpetrated,
the recent revelations not SO much sur
prise as they are confirmation of previous
suspicious. Given the fact that crime had
been committed, that tally-sheets had been
altered and forged returns counted in the in
terest of certain candidates, suspicion would
naturally fix on certain persons as likely to be
connected with the planning or execution of
the crime. But suspicion is not certainty and
conjecture is not evidence. It remained for
the sworn testimony elected before United
States Commissioner Van Buren,. to change
suspicion into moral certainty, and TU>enable
the public to get clear view of the crime
itself and of some persons whom direct and
circumstantial evidence unite in designating
as at least having guilty knowledge of
it. To appreciate the enormity of the
crime we must bear in mind the sanctity Of
the ballot, the sacredness of the tally-sheets
and the extreme care taken by the law to in
sure fair count and prevent the official re-
turns from being handled by any person ex-
cept their legal custodian Yet what are the
facts in this case? The evidence shows that
certain tally-sheets passed out of the hands of
their legal custodians before they reached the
canvassing board, and were in the hands of
persons who had no right whatever to handle
them. The evidence further shows that when
the tally sheets passed into the hand of these
unauthorized persons the duplicates were
alike and showed certain result, and when
surrendered they had been changed and
showed different result-in other words, that
forgery was committed And who are the
persons who thus had illegal control of the
tally-sheets during the period and process of
their transniutation? They are Samuel E.
Perkins, Stephen j. Matter, Simeon Gov,
John E. Sullivan and others If these
are call honorable men," it is at least un-
fortunate that. when evidence is presented Of
a tally-sheet having undergone change while
in their actual custody, or while they were re-
sponsible for it to their legal custodians their
standing in the community is not such as to
Immediately refute the idea of their hav-
ing had any connection with the Grim
inal manipulation. 1t is possible that
Samuel E. Perkins may be too good
and pure for this world, that Stephen Matter
may possess scrupulous sense of honor, that
Simeon Coy may be pure-minded patriot of
the old school, and that John E. Sullivan
may be entirely free from partisan
bias. All this may possibly be, and
they may be ''all, all honorable men," but the
question still recurs, what were they doing
with the tally-sheets and how did it happen
that the returns showed one state of facts on
going into their hands and another on coming
out? These are the men and the facts brought
conspicuously to the front by the develop
ments of the past few days. They do not
make pleasant picture to contemplate. But
there they are.