The sun., 1898-12-20
Mr.. KeRney's Case Exactly.

Mr. keRney'S Case Exactly.
"A THIEF CANNOT SET UP RESTI
TUITION OF STOLEN GOODS AS A
DEFENCE TO A CHARGE OF
LARCENY"
By this plain wording of a time.
honored principle of the common law
does District Attorney Graham enforce
one of the salient points which he
makes in his answer to the petition of
Senator Quay and his son and ex-State
Treasurer Haywood to the Supreme
Court, whereby they sought and se-
cured postponement of the trial of
the charges brought against them of
wrongful use of the moneys of the
State and of the Peoples Bank. By
this one bold stroke does the District
Attorney brush aside the futile plea
that there was no harm in trafficking
in the moneys of the Commonwealth
because the moneys so used were re-
turned to the State Treasury intact.
This is an old excuse-as old as the
custom of illegal traffickng in public
moneys-and it is always brought for
ward and used for all it is worth, when
by chance the trafficker finds himself
brought face to face with possible con-
sequences.
But even more summariIy does Mr..
Graham dispose of numerous other
points raised by the accused in their
petition to the Supreme Court as a
basis for the indefinite delay which
they seek. These subterfuges he meets
by the incontestable averment that
they are irrelevant to the real issue in
volved in the case, and are raised for
the sole purpose of diverting the at-
tention of all concerned from that
issue-the simple question OF innocent
or guilty as charged. The District At
torney clearly establishes the fact that
all the proceedings in the cases we're
regular and orderly, and that especi-
ally they were not open to the objec-
tion of undue haste, because at every
step the day and hour had been fixed
by the defendants themselves through
their counsel. So, too, in the desper-
ate allegation that fair and impartial
trial could not be secured in this jurls-
diction, Mr.. Graham demonstrates the
absolute regularity of the preliminary
proceedings, and the complete absence
of any influence that could imperil the
defendants right to absolute and i'm
partial justice. This plea, too, is pitt
fully introduced for the PURPOSE of
changing the issue-of putting the
Commonwealth and its witnesses on
trial, instead of the actual alleged Of
tenders.
The whole animus and object of the
appeal to the Supreme Court is further
stripped Of Its thin disguise by Mr..
Graham in that part of his answer to
the petition in which he refers to the
very ordinary character and nature of
the charges brought against the accused
and their efforts to secure delays-suc-
cessful "by reason of their position and
liability to employ skilful counsel to
raise technical objections" And
for all these technical objections, as
the district attorney shows, there was
full and ample reAledy in the ordinary
course of procedure in the inferior
courts, to take advantage of which,
however, no pretence Of an attempt
was made. The whole proceeding, as
Mr. Graham demonstrates, is an at
tempt to block the wheels of justice by
making it impossible to successfully
prosecute persons of wealth and
power who are able to command all
that ingenuity, skill, and finesse can
bring to their aid in escaping the
Legal consequences of their acts, p
Philadelphia Erenina 7eleyaph.