The herald., 1895-01-01

our efforts personalities are merely an
incident,
II the readers of this statement will
put themselves to the trouble of recall
ing what trsnspired last spring, they
will remember that at that time the
writer Of this statement. and few 1850
cfated with him. were the only ones who
believed in the honesty OF purpose OF the
senate committee.
LEXoW WAS WEAK.
The newspapers were almost unit in
their conviction that to rely on Mr..
Lexow and his colleagues for our mu-
nicipal delveIance was to lean upon a
br ken reed. [ remember very we'll
saying to Mr.. Lexow ut Albany in the
presence OF ell his associates that had
just come from New York, where the
entire atmosphere was pervaded with
utter disgust OF him and all the mem-
bers of his committee. became con.
vipced, however. by my personal asso.
citation with MIR. Lsxow, Mr.. Bradley
and two or three of their colleagues,
that the committee could be counted
upon to do honest and faithful and
thorough work clear up to the end. l
gave to them my entire confidence; l
used my best efforts to down the spirit
OF distrust which prevailed, and in con.
junction with the other members of the
executive committee of the Society for
the Prevention OF Crime, put at the SER
vice OF senators the entire resources OF our
office. And they availed themselves of
these resources up to Saturday night
last. We have watched the actions of
the committee with the keenest and un.
qualified assurance. They have bored
into the rotten tissue of the police de-
partment with utter indifference as to the
character. political or otherwise, of
what they struck. Knowing their re-
port.would have to be rendered the first
OF the new year, we became little
eolicitous lest they were not allowing
sufficient time for examining their
officials, but / supposed they knew
what they were about and that they
woul2 not do anything that would even
look like stopping their work without
finiehing it.
Matters had been for 80 long time
conducted in entire thoroughness that
we had even forgotten that we had even
been distrustiul, but late In November
! the indications were clear that the in
veatigation was not to be pushed to ite
close in the same energetic and unsparing
manner that had marked it up to that
date. A good many days went by in
cases that had been discussed which
wearied the public, which made no subs
stantial addition to the knowledge al
ready granted us, and which were al
ready frittering away the time that we
know ought to be speut upon the in
spectors and superintendent. We know
the character of its chief and his i'm.
MI nd tut m linn 70 nd hat
ever many captains might be smirched
and however many sergeants might> be
cashiered, the gist of the matter
would not be reached until we had ar
rived at the quality of the five men
who together constitute its executive
leadership.
FELL DOWN ON BYRNEs.
In view OF all this we are justified in
saying that while the committee stood
up to the rack magnifcently through
all the other parts OF the Investigations,
they f1inched at the crisis. As long ago,
as Mr.. Moss attempted TO adduce evi.
dence against Mr.. Byrnes in q direct
manner. the investigating com mittee
eprang to Byrnes' assistance. Now. Is
not that thing to be debated? Their
attitude was instantly recognized by
those in attendance, and distinctly
stated in the journals OF the next morn
ing. The pursuit OF lines that might
possibly have conduoed to the real in
wardness of Byrnes' conduct and char
acter was discouraged-discour as
it has been discouraged in the case OF
no other man.
Now there was a reason for that. We
are not saying just yet that there was
anything that could be proved against
Mr.. Byrnes. We are saying that the
committee withheld their support from
efforts made to show that there was
something that could be proved against
Mr.. Byrnea. We are not saying there
was anything in the Merritt case that
was discreditable to the superintendent,
but we are saying that the committee
was indisposed to have the matter
thoroughly ventilated in order to dis
cover whether there was anything in it
discreditable to the superintendent.
Their thoroughness broke down at that
point. They stumbled just at the COM
pletion OF their work. The chairman OF
the committee will not dare to deny
that it ia policy" Il have used that
word advisedly, he will recognize what
l refer to- that controlled him in his
handling of Mr.. Byrnes. and not a de-
sire to act in view OF all the possible or
ascertsinable facts in Mr.. Byrnes' case.
Now, the presumption is on the side
of the euperin tendent's being as criminal
as any other member of the force, 40
that the hesitancy to handle him as
Williams was handled could not proceed
from any prior conviction of his inno.
cenoe. Wherever they have stuck in
their fork they have found rot, and
whether Byrnes be rotten or not he has
been in rot for 81 years and has been
the executive head of rot for the last
two years. The presumption, therefore,
was against him, go the indisposition to
handle him thoroughly must have been
founded on other considerationa than
his presumable innocence.
THE DEFEAT OF TAMMANY.
There are two ways in which Mr.. |
Byrnes has put the committee under OBJ.
legations, end to that degree destroyed |
their Independence. He put them un-
der obligations by consenting to help |
defeat Tammany Hall. and it is to bs
remembered this committee is fret and |
foremost an enti-Tammany committee,
and came down here for anti-Tammany |
purposes. We are not saying that it |
WAS stipulated that if he would secure
an honest election it should be remem-
bored in his behalf. but in the very
nature OF the case. fsvors have to be