The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-12-14
THE srEpnEssox VERDICT.
Comment of the Police and pr. Psrkhurst
 -fears Among the Former.

Comment of the Police and pr. Psrkhurst
 -fesrs Among the Former.
 New York. Dec. i3.-The conviction of ex-Police Captain John T. Stephenson. which closed his short trial for bribery. was, 1t seems, a surprise to the police force. There was little inclination to talk about the first of the many reckon ings the police officials have to give. but the silence. made more significant by few words from several men. was sufficiently indicative of the feeling of gloom the verdict spread over the de- partment Strange to say. the police explanation Is about the same as that given by Dr. Parkhurst.
 One official said sadly that the ver- dict reflected the altered public opinion. The common belief that the police are corrupt and wish to see every man punished against whom there was a shadow of suspicion. had. 1t was thought, found disastrous expression in the conclusion of the jury. "The rec ognition of a popular demand for vic- tims." said another man bitterly, 'has influenced the district attorneys office as well as the twelve citizens"
 Dr. Parkhurst said: "This conviction of Stephenson is due, think. more than to anything else, to the change wrought by the committees disclosures in tbe atmospher of the courts, of the dis t,,ta nfN nd nf ha mind. The judge was probably not af- fected by this spirit, but the general feeling everywhere prevails also In the court room. The district attorneys ef- forts are evidently the most gratifying result of the prevalent feeling ana l cannot but think that if the same spirit had surrounded Devery's trial, his con-
 viction would have been as certain as Stephenson's. It Is very encouraging,
 for this is but the first case. It was not
 by any means the strongest, so we may
 hope now that other convictions will follow"
 Thought of the other cases occurred
 also to the police. That, indeed. was
 the real shadow which hung oyer the
 department. Its tough on the other fellow" said one officer, flor many Of them are in a closer box than stephen son. He got 1t for taking apples. What of those who-whew!" And he
 shook his head. Tte "cause" to which the police and Dr. Parkhurst attribute the conviction of Stephenson has operated evidently in other places. Tough the authority
 may not be named. the Evening Post
 is ably to state positively to-day that the senate committee will call lnspec- tors Mclaughlin and Williams, Wno
 will be severely cross-examined; Super intendent Byrnes also will have to take the stand, and he will have some ugy questions to answer.
 If is asserted at the district attor-
 news office that Captain Schmittper-
 gers case for taking bribe or *eoo from Austin Forget. the agent or the French steamship line, would pc the next to be put on trial before justice Ingraham in the court of oyer ana ter miner.
 Colonel Fellows would not confirm this. saying that he had not yet made up his mind which of the many cases against indicted police officers he would next move for trial. When asked
 whether he considered the case against the convicted ex-Police Captain
 Stephenson the lightest of all the cases and therefore very successful test case, he said: sti.
 q cannot tell until have fully ex- amined all the evidence in the various cases. They were tried before the po- lice commissioners during my absence 1 in Europe, so that am not thoroughly acquainted with all the evidence that was brought out at these trials. Until l I have looked into the evidence. and have also investigated what new evi- dence there may be at hand, should not like to have by opinion quoted as to the comparative difficulty of the various cases"
 At this juncture Assistant District At | torney Lewis, who was recently ap- pointed to fill MT. Wellman's place. came out of his office, where he had
 been consulting with William Travers Jerome, of counsel for the Committee of Seventy, concerning the coming cleo tion trials. and shook Colonel Fellows warmly by the hand, ,congratulating him upon his success with this important test case"
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