Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-29

The conviction Of former Chief of
Police Lengel of Canton, Ohio. as one
of the gang that plotted and executed
the murder of Don r. Mellett of the
Canton Daily News Is hailed by the
press Of the country as a significant
achievement, following the similar
conviction Of other members of the
gang. The triumph Of justice in this
particularly difficult case IS looked
upon as a national victory.
THE work of Don r. Mellett has
been indicated" declares the Canton
Daily News. His inspiration rules.
Neither his spirit nor those who loved
him have vengeance in their hearts.
But true to his ideals, true to his
memory, they must carry on his work
until the rule of criminals, and those
who guide them, in high or low place.
is ended; until all the SNUG manipu-
lators. who never soiled their hands,
regardless Of their smudgy hearts.
are driven from the market place of
vice. The States attorneys
have regained for Canton it's good
name, and have written their own
alongside our most illustrious-our
Days and our McKinleys; but what
they have done is challenge to what
they must do. Their work is not yet
ended, and it will not be ended until
all the guilty in the murder of Don
r. Mellett are punished, and until
those past mysterious murders and
other crimes he sought to expose are
solved"
''It was a question at first" says
the Utica Observer-Dispatch, whether
Canton would avenge his death.
Would county officials and officers of
the law stir themselves and hunt down
xxyL,O Gil 10 fa, 40
dastardly crime; or would they make
the bluff that is customary in some in
stances. with great show of activity,
and finally set the crime aside as un-
solvable, a mystery which could not
be penetrated? Probably this latter
course would have been followed had
not the pressure from outside been
so strong that it could not be resisted"
+ The fate of the police chief recalls
to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1.-The
remark of a Tammany Hall insider
about the Rev. DIR. Charles III. Park
hurst at the time of the clergyman's
attack on New York vice, If any
body but a minister had begun the
thing. he would have been put out
of the way quick. Any injury to
Parkhurst would have done more
harm than good to the SYSTEM If
Ohio has proved that it is as risky
to murder an editor as it would be
to murder a clergyman for trying to
reform things, the achievement is dis
tinctly worth while. In the Buckeye
State, at least there is to be no open
season for the truth-tellers of news
paperdom."
"Don Mellett finally attracted the
attention of the lazy citizens of Can
IF their
ment," remarks the Wichita Beacon,
while the Ithaca Journal-News states,
ut was known that the publishers
with whom Don Mellett had been as
ISOLATED would carry through an in
vestigation of their own. without fear
or favor, and that the whole rotten
system would be exposed. And so
the authorities to protect themselves
took up Don Mellett's crusade, and
justice has been brought home to at
least five of those who sent him to
his DEATH" The Buffalo Evening
News sees "a triumph for law and
justice against forces which evil
IDENTIFY considered themselves power
full enough to escape the consequences
of lawbreaking." and then continues.
1.-THE martyrdom of Mellett has &C.
complished what his crusade attempt
ed, but such price should not have
been necessary. Crime among the
very officials employed to protect So
ciety is peculiarly abhorrent, and the
vindication of Canton would have
been still better If the juries had
omitted the recommendations of
mercy which accompanied each
verdict"
Canton will be a better city be-
cause Of these arrests. convictions and
sentences. 1t will be cleaner city,
more self-respecting city," asserts !
the Hartford COurant, while the Pitts.
burgh Sun expresses the judgment:
1T will be long time before the un-
derworld of Canton will be so insolent |
again. 1t will be long time before |
officers sworn to protect the public |
safety will again be so recreant to
their duty. Justice in Canton has