The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-12-11
Fagin.

EhStn.
The Worlds crusade against the Elmira
R~eformatory has ended, as it should, in dis
NAL disaster for the World. The Commits
sion appointed to try the case has honorably
acquitted Mr.. BRocKwAY, and Governor
FLOWER has righteously approved the YER
dict, while from Lake Erie to Montauk Point
an intelligent public opinion lifts a long and
loud Amen. Honor to the two upright. keen
eyed Commissioners whom no threats could
brighten, no brides seduce, and no knavish
trickery beguilel Honor to the brave Gov
ernor who has put his foot on the most in
famous personal exactions and ~blackmail,
which ever sssailed a Chief Executive Of
New York
One OF the Commissioners, ex-Judge
LEARNED, dissents in some measure from
the report of the others. He agrees with
his colleagues in the vital point that no in
juries were caused to the prisoners by n
punishment inflicted, that no mans life
was shortened, no man made insane, no
mans kidneys bruised, and that there was
" never even an instance of what might be
called bleeding or running Of blood"
He thinks, however, that there were too
many cases Of punishment, and enters
upon a long lawyers argument to show
that corporal punishment at the Reforma-
tory is illegal. Judge LEARNED has to rec
oncile as best he can to the people this
opinion with the decision concurred in by
him as a Justice Of the General Term some
years since, affirming a decision of a lower
court, which held that punishment at the
Reformatory was entirely within the stat
ute. Substantially, his whole report is taken
up with this, and with a criticism OF the gen.
eral charter Of the Reformatory as granted
by the Legislature twenty years ago. Mr..
LEARNED does not like the parole system
and the ndeterminate sentence system, and
he thinks that Mr.. BRocKwAY has " too
much" power. He closes his report, indeed,
by saying: ~ have no doubt that Mr..
BRoCKwAY Is sincere and acts as he think
Is for the good Of the inmates" We, for
our part, have no doubt that Judge LEARNED
Is sincere, but he can hardly expect the pub
lie or Governor FLOWER to highly regard his
mental powers when he contributes as his
share of the BRoCKwAY report, thus, an arti-
Gle dealing almost entirely with mat
ters that are not subjects of contro-
versy. And to those desiring to witness
the vagrom things of a purely lackadaisical
mind, we commend an attentive reading
of Mr.. LEARNED's production dealing with
his horror at Mr.. BRocKwAY's use of tho
word damn" which he declares is abomi-
nable profanity, "the Court of Appeals to
the contrary Notwithstanding" OF course
1t is for the Legislature alone to repeal or
amend, IL it wishes, the Reformatory char
ter, which has worked unadulterated good
for two decades. It Is for the courts
alone to settle the legality Of corporal pun
ishment, IL anybody wants to test IL.
Neither Of these propositions appears in the
charges made against the Reformatory man.
agement; and the one question the Commits
sioners were asked to answer was whether
Mr.. BRocKwAY had brutally treated con-
victs. We aver, after reading carefully the
$4,000 words which he took to say SO, that
Mr.. LEARNED has really answered No to the
question, as have his brother Commissioners.
From the time that Governor FLOWER
named the men to investigate the Reforma-
tory, lovers of justice might nave banished
their fears. When it was known tina two
members Of the Commission were AUSTIN
FLINT and ISRAEL T.. DEYo, it was known
that the majority, at least, were men of I'M
dehlable honor, common sense, and profess
sional umen DIR. FLINT will probably be
named by all who read these lines, as one of
the first twenty medical men of our coun-
try. Mr.. DEYo is one of the Ablest and
most respected lawyers OF the State. |
At the mere thought Of their fearless
scrutiny, the Worlds "case" OF bombast
and bungling fraud collapsed. To them is
due the unstinted praise Of their fellow citi-
Gems for having conducted, at enormous per-
sonal sacrifice aud with unexampled iorti-
tude, this long unbuFied corpse OF perjury
TO its grave. There let it rest with the I'M
just imprisonment Of Sergeant CROWLEY, |
the bogus Chinese smuggling cases, the
forged BISMARCK and ScHIAPARELLI and
IRELAND interviews. the dishonest bread
fund, the prepostsrous circulation ahidayits, |
the capsized fakes and brags, and all thu
Worlds tnnumerable s~wtndling and black
mailing schemes, upon which the public
executioner has dome ~justiee. To the
few who have taken brazsn asser-
tons as statements Of fact. and to the shall
low sentimentalists who do not believe In
corporal punishment in prisons" the dsci-
sion will doubtless be unwelOoms. But they |
ara, we believe, very lev in number. The
vast majority OF citizens know the truth and
are not fooled; and TO them the verdict Is
the downfall of an amazing conspiracy
against public order, and the one result
which since time began has ended ths stFug-
giles Of men against the moral Law.
1t is undoubtedly = cardinal principle Of
the World newspaper that any exposure Of
IL practicas or crimes 4 bound 10 h harm |