The Portland daily press., 1893-03-18
The Marshal and Discharges.
1itor Of the Press

Your reply to my letter in your issue
of this morning introducing as a case OF
larceny in point, that of the young man
who stole type metal at your ONCE is
somewhat surprising to me it is SO man
ifestly unfair and disingenuous. The 6usl-
ness manager who made the complaint
after we had recovered the stolen prop
erty came to my Office and requested the
discharge of the prisoner saying, you dld
not want to punish him, thus practically
withdrawing the complaint. You must
know of this and / submit that you nave
not made out a case and done me an IN
justice and discredited yourself in With
holding these facts. :.
With regard to the assault case cited
the case of O'Donnell so often quoted no
witnesses ever testified or could be tound
to testify in the case. The two men
were having political discussion. NC
earthly struck O'Donnell, who thereupon
knocked him down. and in falling he
struck his head so that he was stunned
for while. He got up and got away
while Deputy Chase was in pursuit OF
O'Donnell who was arrested and held "a
hours. Mccarthy, refusing to appear
against him and no evidence being obtain
able he was discharged.
With regard to any exercise OF the
power of discharge youadmit the custom
but question any exercise of 1T. ma
by the reports of my three immediate
predecessors Hawkes., Green and
Hight. for 1888, 1890 and 1881, was ex-
ercised in 1859, $50 and 469 cases
respectively, mine showing AZ
The receipts from witness fees are not q
fair test as they apply mostly in contest
ed cases, where there is doubt OF convlc-
ton; whereas if cases are properly pre-
pared and worked up the plea is general
ly guilty" no witnesses being called.
So far as witness fees being an income to
the city, they rather represent an ex-
pense in the form of county tax, OF
which the city pays nearly three-fourths.
the fees being about one-seventh OF the
costs of court, SO that for 500 witness
fees the city pays about $500 county tax.
With regard to the state of affairs in
Ward 3 on election day, Witnessed some
acts and was informed of others not
creditable to either party. | was not
there to stop for any length of time till
after p. M, when / went behind the
rail and stayed until the count was COM
pleted, about 8 p. m. Three to five po-
lice officers and as many dupty sberiffs
were on duty there all day, the police
officers being stationed inside the ward
room.
So far as the conduct of this depart
ment is concerned, as I stated in a former
communication. officers have acted under
my orders and accept the responsibility.
I have made this communication some
what lengthy, but have tried to cover the
main points in your article and could not
well do so in less space. / am not am
bilious for further controversy, realizing
the application of the oft quoted smile
of suit against his Satanic Majesty in
his own court.
Very respectfully,
GEO. Il. SWEET,
City Marshal.
Marshal SWEET is evidently misin-
formed or mistaken in regard to the lar
ceny from the PRESS office. 1t was by
virtue of complaint from this Office
that the police officers searched for and
recovered the property. Instead of ask
ing the discharge of the culprit one Of
the deputy marshals was told that the
case was in the hands of the department.
to do whatever was proper. The boy
confessed his offence so that there was
no lack of proof. The first knowledge
az 'ie 7 hfss ONCE VI MS uisonaige oanie
~ ANSWER 70 q 'eiel'lone message " .ie
police department informing them that
more metal was missing than was at first
SUPPOSED ouuselueh.iy ene Ivy was
h.,nteu up anu ofougno in'o inns oince
where ne plociaiihea sii.'s ,le llao ieceiseo
full pardon from Marshal Swett-these
were MS "orels--aiiu was seis in''is ilai0
ac peins caiieu up "i'ei 1ne marshal >
Iuii paruon nau oeen pes0o"eu upon
hi lla, :,