New-York tribune., 1895-06-16

COTONrI TEJLOWS'S STRiNGE COT RISE.
The mismanagelncnt Of the Dstrict-AilorncN
office becomes daily more apparent Nh'h il
became known that two indictments were MISS
ing one of them being against man VINO i rc-
poried 10 have boasted that he would never Dc
tried. no one thought Of holding Colonel Fellows
or his assistants personally responsible Tor 'h'
loss but only blamed the Ds;rict-Al0rney Tor
carelcssness want Of vigor and laXity of dlsci-
plinc in the conduct Of his office. which chcour-
aged his subordinalcs charged with the custody
of PAPERS in slipshod habits ana prepared 'h'
way for the thief With any adequate system ana
nroner division Of labor and definition Of respon-
sihility no loss Of papers could take place, "X-
cont bv the deliberate wrongdoing OF some en-
Move whose theft could easily be traced ana pun
ished II WAS for exercising poor guardiAhship
If the interests that were injrusicd I" MN 'Hal
Colonel Fellows has hitherto been blamed III
connection with the stolen indictments
Rut thc proceedings in the District Attorney
office since the discovery Of the theft have been
so remarkable that suspicion Of something worse
than carelessncss among high officials is incvi-
table When Recorder Con- threatened that uh-
loss tho missing indictments were found he
would discharge the accused men, the District
".
the indictments, and was presumably convinced
that ne had grounds for conviction. went again
before the Grand Jury and had both defendants
reindicted Then immediately he sent MS as
sistonts simultaneously before two courts I"
move the dismissal Of the indictments whlch h''
;ust hecn nrocured When this was refused and
the trial begun, he assigned Tor me proso'u"""
Of the cases the same men who had asked th'
courts to dismiss the charges against the prs
oners Then all the supposed witnesses Tor inc
people subpoenacd by the dciehcc ana 'i'
trial ended. as was to be expected. in the acqult-
tai OF the men. Perhaps this verdict was just
At any rate, the outcome suggests s"vcrM q"es
tjons If the prisoners were 50 easily SHOWN I"
he innocent why did the strctAuOrncy III 'he
! first place indict them; what was tie OBJECT oi
| making way with the papers, and why did he
| take extraordinary pains to rendict ih"ii! II
| they were guilty, why did he seek to nave me
| indictments dismissed and why did he convert
| their trial into farce by making the prosccu-
| ,ion purely formal? Whatever they were, WHY
| did Colonel Fellows at one moment show cXc's-
| sive zeal and at another astounding weakness !
| Sane men do not thus change their course oI
| action without strong reason. 1t would be inter
es,ing 10 know the exact nature OF the DISTRICT
| Attorneys reasons.
No serious efforts on the part Of Colonel Eel
lows TO correct the evils discovered 10 exist III
| his Office have yet been made. lie takes the
loss Of important documents placed in his Gus
tody as calmly as he would the mislaying OF h'
morning newspaper by one Of his subordlnates.
A little thing like corruption or purlonins The
public records is something which he cannot un-
derstand the people getting stirred up about
That is not surprising Knowing full well his
record as a protector Of all the rascaliiicS by
which Tammany profited during his previous
term the people allowed him again 10 return IL
power Then when his failure to do his duty
brought out charges against him Governor Flow
| or came 10 his rescue Popular disapproval ana
| the frowns Of courts do not trouble Colonel Eel
lows in the least. lie has SO far dciicd them
and has the confidence Of his experience. Wha'
| Colonel FellOws's Office needs is investigation by
somebody more aIxious than himself TO see The
| criminal law uniformly enforced, and less
anxious than his previous investigators to kecl
In office a man who would not unnecessarily
probe into the old corruption of Tammany Hall