New-York tribune., 1895-10-26
MORE TROUBLE WITH OUR LIBERTIES.

A good many thoughtless persons may have
supposed that the destruction Of our liberties
was entirely due to the enforcement OF the ex-
else law. and that they would be restored at once
II Tammanv were only enabled to resume the
practice Of blackmalling liquOrdealers. But
this illusion Is now dlspelled by powerful docu-
ment which the chairman Of Tammanys Law
Committee has just sent to the President OF the
Police Department. On this high authority it
appears that for long time past vast number
OF citizens have lost their liberties In another
manner on Election Day, and that they are
again threatened at the present moment with the
same odous deprivation. The trouble dates back
TO the first appearance in an official capacity
OF John l. Davenport and his mnions, and has
been prolonged TO the present moment by the
totally false conception OF law which his fiendish
activity engendered The fact that Davenport
was in the habit Of arrestng naturallzed citizens
by the thousand and dragging them away from
the polls to lOathsOme dungeons before they hau
q chance to vote was bad enough In ITSELF Dut
a far more hideous consequence OF MS lnterier
ence with the freedom Of elections Is now Tor the
first time brought to light. Ii has been ascer
tanned that the terror which he inspired among
the naturalized invariably communicated itseIl
10 multitudes OF native-bOrn citizens, some Oh
whom never left their Houses on Election Day,
or fed to the rural districts in the early morn
ing: while others. who had intended to vote ana
had even ventured to approach the polls, would
retreat from bcfJre his presence In a condition
OF alarm bordering on insanity
Naturally enough. this sort Of thing, being kept
ND year after year, eventually led to an official
Interpretation OF the law which was wholly for
egn to the letter and spirit OF the statute AS
the chairman Of the Tammany Law Committee
puts II: THAT these evil communications cor
'rrlpted the good manners OF the Police Depart
"ment Is proved by the general order promu-
gated TO the force by Inspector Byrnes just
"before election last year obviously this Is
highly important disclosure, and it explains
good many things which have been mysterious
We suspect it accounts for Byrnes's sudden de-
parture for Europe. Probably he saw an ad
vance COPY Of the document just sent to Pres-
dent Roosevelt. Then there Is Roswell p.
Flower who has been jeered at because he ap-
parently did not know enough to prepare his
ballot properly on one occasion, and was sent
back into the booth to try again. 1t now seems
altogether likely that it was not ignorance but
terror which incapac,.ated Roswell for perform
Cleveland too, who once expressed a warm de-
sire to vote for Colonel Fellows-why didn't he
do It? The theory has been that he was not
citizen Of NewYork at the time, or perhaps
couldn't lay his hands on Benedcts yacht and
so had no suitable means of getting from Wash
ington to the metropolis. In the light of this
revelation about Davenport and his pals it Is
now as clear as MONDAY that the President was
even worse scared than Governor Flower, who
actually went to the polls and finally succeeded
in voting without being arrested-though at a
different election, when possibly the panic was
not at its height
Some Democrats may say that the chairman Of
the Tnmmany Law Committee has made n
blunder by bringing new Issue into the cam
paign. and that our liberties are sufficiently de-
stroycd for all the practical purposes OF the cleo
ton by the honest enforcement OF law which
was formerly enforced for revenue only. But
this Is n low view to take OF the matter When
Freedom shrieks it is a good thing to know what
nils her. and TO know II all