The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1890-07-12
Warden Weyler's Distinguished
Guest.

Maryland'S detaultlng treasurer is
treated with distinguished consideration
throughout the legal proceedings grow
ing out of his crime. In the first place,
when Archer was arrested, the aCcommo-
dating Judge of Hartford county held
court at the prisoners home and there
admitted him to bail under writ of
habeas corpus. In the next place,
Archer's trial was fixed for Tuesday.
The witnesses for the prosecution and
a number OF talesmen were summoned
but. as a matter of delicacy and to
avoid publicity, secret arrangement,
to which Judge Stewart, the counsel
for the state Of Maryland and Archcr's
attorneys were parties, was entered in
to, whereby the ex-Treasurer was SNUG
gled from his home to the Court Hail
in Baltimore, permitted to plead guilty
and lodged in the penitentiary without
encounterlng the vulgar gaze and curio-
sity to which ordinary criminals are
subjected. When the prisoner arrived
at the penitentiary he was placed in the
hospital, where, we SUPPOSE, he still
remains.
The right of a prisoner TO waive
trial and plead guilty is unquestloned /;
but there are objections to the methods
employed in the Archer case. The
people hoped that Archer's trial would
throw some light upon his application
Of the stolen money, which investiga-
ton by the Legislative committee failed
to do. But now there is no hope for
any explanation. And while the PEG
pie, or very many of them, believe that
the states money was used to perpet-
uate the power of the present corrupt
Democratic ring, that belief will be
materially strengthened when they
consider that an arrangement entered |
into b. tween Democratic lawyers for |
the state and for the defense prevented |
a judicial investigation which might
have settled this question.
1t locks very much as though sue.
cessfuI Effort has been made to shield the
Democratic managers. This opinion
Is not confined to Maryland. The
following extract from the leading
Democratic paper OF the country, the
New York Word, gives color to the
opinion that this belief obtains very
generally:
"rhe crime Of Archer, the default.
ing Maryland state treasurer, is not
made one whit better by the fact that
he pleaded guilty and made contrite
which, by the way, served
to prevent the very desirable exposure
of the facts that trial would have laid
bare. The method avoids the neces-
sty of showing who got the money that
Archer stole and what use was made of
it, and If the use was political the man
can be pardoned out presently on a
plea of i'll health and sufficient punish
ment."
Archer's confession IS unique. He,
Of course, can tell better than anybody
else what disposition was made of the
states money. But although it would
be much easier to say what he did do
with it than what he didn't do with it,
he refers only to the latter phase of the
problem. Archer's denial that he used
any of the funds in politics will have
little weight. First, no credence will
be attached to the statements of such
a criminal. Secondly, in this very con-
Iession, he Is practically untruthful
when he says: "Now that the highest
court in the state has decided that |
am guilty." as though he didn't know
he were guilty before the decision of
the Court of Appeals. Again, he says:
'Now that have, SO to speak, come
to myself, l realize its (the crime's)
enormity," as though, again, he would
nave the world believe he did not APP.
preciate the enormity OF the offence
until his guilt had been proven. Un-
fortunately, his conscience is awakened
at time when its quickening won't
refill the plundered Golfers of the state.
While the people want to see every
criminal punished, they attach far less
importance to the confinement of an
old man in the state penitentiary than
to the exposure of political system
that makes such men as Archer not
only possible but necessary.-HaeerS-
t050W Herald.
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