The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1890-05-17
Justice Weeping In Her Temple.


Justice Weeping In Her Temple.
We doubt whether the people of any
state in the Union have ever had greater
reason to be mortified and Inundated
than the people of Maryland are to-day
over the disclosures and exposures of
the Archer embezzlement. A trusted
state officer has deliberately and coolly
yobbed them uf nearly one hundred
Did fifty thousand dollars, and yet with
the crime confessed and no attempt to
palliate it, they have just been told by
competent judicial tribunal, that
there is no statutory law in Maryland to
punlsh the guilty official. That the
very law which was supposed to cover
his case, and which he himself had
helped to make, is an abortion; that
bate treasurer cannot embezzle from
nself, and that at no period since the
Usage OF the present law, in 1854,
las there ever been a moment, that any
!; late treasurer could not have pocketed
every cent in the states treasury, and
defed a successful prosecution under
this impotent statute.
In other words, in addition TO the
5>,rime that Stevenson Archer has COM
cited, and which an imbecile state
! sernment has alone rendered posi-
IS he is to be put under the further
.sspiclon of having framed a law
ough whose meshes he himself could
afterwards escape, and which,
ayamed, was intended to catch
rother offender in the state except
State treasurer.
J. In word, that the law of Maryland
covers larceny in the case of every
pan except the state treasurer. That
Re strong arm of justice (?) in Mary
md, can reach down deep enough to
sssut in the penitentiary some poor, dis
.acted and God-forsaken thief, who
usts his arm through bakers win
-alsh,oaf of bread, but that ~
istocratic scion of long line of GO
g shed Marylanders, can rob with fic
Il, albeit If he steal enough and nc
State treasurer. It'll
IS the bumiliatlng position the I'll
,sof Maryland occupy under ring
..Aocratic rule, this the signal miscar- NJ
se of justice, against which the voice m
the people will ere long be heard in St
.ntorian protest. as
And while justice is pleading voice 10
S in Maryland courts, and an imbe- liz
e executive is lodging the response TO
ity of his ignorance of the law he is to-
orn to enforce, the Baltimore Amer Ike
M refreshlnglY informs US, that the wi
,ocent { p cause Of all this turmoil and a'
uble was very ta00ya6ly affected by ~
the decision of Judge Stewart. That Sc,
friends had expected this decision. mi
lat he had slight headache early in tn
. day, but when news of the decision tel
S received, it entirely disappeared. Ia
Rare good fortune indeed this for so 80
criminal at is ev
ought" says the Amer1ean's cores wi
ndent, "that Mr.. Archer will rapidly we
prove, noU, and if he is fortunate on
ough to be relieved of the indictment 81
malfeasance in office-that means ID
, only other legal hook on which he no
~ yet get caught-there is no reason sh
y he should not be as we'll and hearty tn
he was prior to the time when the tai
falcation was made public" 'f
Meanwhile his bondsmen preserve nh
, same serenity that has characterized me-
,ir action since the defalcation was wi
Il made known, and believe now, as in
N, that the failure of the states rep an
entatives to give them that protec- -
n to which they were entitled under o.,
Constitution and laws of the state, of
solves them from all moral and legal for
possibility. to
Most likely they will succeed. LIE
As the. case now stands, to quote the .o'
verzcaH again, Mr.. Archer "LookS as 70
ugh great load had been lifted leo
N his shoulders" His sureties look rel
,fdent of shifting that load upon the to
.e. 1t Looks as though the people, s"'
long suffering, ring-ridden people -
Maryland would finally shoulder that az
d and pocket the loss. the
But what if they do, so the Demo- ant
tic managers escape with whole skins, spo
the situation isn't made too un- par
asant for Mr.. Archer2 mo
Ierily, Justice weeps in her Mary Ian
] temple !!