The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1891-05-14

Just DCS lluihS W SCt wal iiiea up
WHATEVER the views President
Polk entertains on the subject we do
not believe the farmers of North Car
DINA in the Alliance as we'll as those |
outside of it, take kindly to the Third
party idea. We contend that they can
get all the relief from the Democratic
party that can be got from any party.
NEW ORLEANS POLITICAL
CRIMINALS.
The Baltimorean commenting on
the report of the New Orleans grand
jury on the result of its investigation
into the lynching Of the asssaisins of
Chief Of Police Hennessey, says:
The report of the New Orleans
grand jury on the lynching of the
eleven Italian prisoners in that city on
March 14th, is precisely what might
have been expected from all the cir
cumstances connected with that occur
renee. Il was evident from the first
that the attack on the parish prison
and the execution of the assaasslns of
Chief of Police Hennessey was not
simply the act of few reckless people
carried away by the fury of the mo-
ment. 1t was in all respects too unan-
imous, too deliberate, too orderly, too
restrained, too respectable, to be classed
with the work of an ordinary mob. 1t
was not an outbreak against law so
much as an uprising in its favor, a
movement to vindicate its majesty,
not to lessen or weaken it. The So
called mob was in fact composed of
the representatives of all the law
abiding and law supporting elements
in New Orleans. The only persons
who were absent from it were the pro-
fessional criminals and those who live
on the border-l land of crime, like the
ward politicians, who, according to
the report of the grand jury, were hand
in glove with Detective OMalley.
All this was evident from the first
the grand jury's report was not necessary
to assure the country that the respect
able people of New Orleans were a
unit in their approval of the justice
melted out to Hennessey's murderers.
But the light thrown by the grand
jurys report on the secret history of
the trial and on the corrupt relations
existing between politicians, detectives
and the murderous criminals of the
Malta, reveals in startling manner
the extraordinary character and extent
of the evils at which the people were
at length forced to strike without re-
gard to the regular processes of law.
What this report makes clear is that
the failure to convict the prisoners was
due to the corruption which had per-
meated and honey-combed the politics
of that city. O'Malley, the detective
who is credited with "fixing" the jury,
has had for years criminal record
that should have made all honorable
and reputable men ashamed to be seen
in his company. Yet he was in apart
nership'' with regular or irregular
member Of the bar, and went in and
out of the tribunal of justice with the
easy air of a man who had many
friends at court. That he had friends
there is shown by the fact that the
special lists of talesmen were in his
possession almost as soon as they were
issued, and in spite of the orders of the
judge, and by the promptness with
which he was made acquainted with
all the States movements in the case.
Ward politicians and city officials did
not blush to be seen in his Office, but
seemed honored by his acquaintance
and came to him like suitors begging
for favors and assistance.
How was it that man that should
have been in the penltentiary could
WELD such influence? The answer is
simple enough. He accomplished it
in the same way that he persuaded the
jury to acquit the eleven murderers-
by bribery in the same way in which
the Louisiana Lottery Company has
secured what it wants in that State
in the same way in which corporations
and combinations in other cities
Baltimare, for instance-seCure valu-
able privileges and franchises.
He did not, however, create the
conditions which made his methods
successful, though he was an apt
scholar in utilizing them. If local
politics in New Orleans had not been
debased and corrupt, such man
would never have been tolerated SC
long. He simply fourished like vile
weed in a congenial soil. He found
ward and city politics in the hands, to
some extent at least, of men who were
for sale on every occasion to the
highest bidder, and he made it worth
their while to become useful to him,
as he was to them when it served his
purposes.
Not the least important, if indeed,
not the most important lesson to be
drawn from the New Orleans tragedy is
the necessity of pure local government,
and if that lesson is needed, the eleven
Sicllians will have performed a most
valuable service to this country. Soci-
cites of murderers and assassins are
dangerous and execrable, but far more
dangerous, far more formidable is the
lnslduous political corruption now so
general in American cities, that de-
grades public office to subject of pri-
vate bargain and sale, and which uses
official position as means of filling
the pockets OF the incumbent. The ex-
perience of New Orleans shows that