THE

JOHN H. COOK.

HE case of Mr. John H. Cook, although not a grievous one in comparison with others, because he was not subjected to the personal indignities which many others suffered, is an interesting one from the fact that it shows the malice, the lawlessness, and the vindictiveness with which he was persecuted.

Mr. Cook was born in the village of Seaford, Sussex County, Delaware, on the 22d day of July, 1817. He has been for thirty-three years a resident of the city of Philadel phia, and has always borne an unexceptionable character.

He was arrested on the 22d of September, 1862, on an order issued by the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, and directed to Benjamin Franklin, Chief of the Detective Police Force of the City of Philadelphia. The names of those who are supposed to have made the affidavit on which the warrant for Mr. Cook's arrest was issued, are George Wood, William Lowry, and Thomas Naylor. The order was placed in the hands of John Lemon and W. Bartholomew, who made the arrest. Mr. Cook knew not then, nor has he yet been informed of the cause of his arrest, but supposes it was because he had the moral courage to openly proclaim himself a Democrat.

At the time of his arrest, he was engaged at his daily business, he being the receiving teller in the Kensington National Bank, which position he has held with credit for fifteen years. He was taken from the bank to the Mayor's office, and incarcerated in the room of the detectives. Mr. Cook having, on his way thither, incidentally met with I. Newton Brown, Esq., a member of the Philadelphia bar, in an undertone stated his case, and requested Mr. Brown to

apply for a writ of habeas corpus, which he did immediately, while the prisoner was still in confinement. Mr. Lemon, one of the detectives who had made the arrest, called him out after an hour or so, and was about to take him away, to lock him up in a cell until the train left in the evening for the city of Washington. Mr. Cook asked where he was going, and the reply was as above stated. He solicited the favor of another half-hour, knowing that before its expiration Mr. Brown would return with the writ. The request was granted, and he was returned to the office, and shortly afterward ordered before the court.

The writ was granted, and the officers having him in custody not being able to name any charge against him, the United States District Judge, Cadwalader, proposed holding him in his own recognizance, but the detectives claimed him as a prisoner of the Government. Cook, feeling secure for the time being, said he was perfectly willing they should hold him as a prisoner of the Government. They then imprisoned him in a station-house during the night, "a lock-up" for thieves, burglars, and pickpockets. The next day he was brought before the United States Court, George A. Coffey, Esq., acting as counsel for the Government; but he not having received any instructions from the Department at Washington, requested the case might be continued until the following day. This was granted, and Mr. Cook was held in three thousand dollars bail for his appearance.

On the succeeding day, Mr. Cook made his appearance in court with his counsel, Messrs. George M. Wharton, Charles Ingersoll, and John A. Marshall, who had been retained for the prisoner, in addition to Mr. Brown. On his second appearance, the Judge Advocate, Mr. John C. Knox, surprised the Court, and the anxious spectators, by the announcement that the Government had ordered the prisoner's discharge.

Thus ended this unjust attempt to injure and disgrace a most worthy citizen of Philadelphia, whose son at that time, was in the army, fighting for and protecting these miscreants at home.

HON. GEORGE WILLIAM BROWN.

ON. GEORGE WILLIAM BROWN, a distinguished

HON.

lawyer of Baltimore, was elected Mayor of that city, in the autumn of 1860. For a number of years previously, the city had been entirely under the control of the KnowNothing party.

After that party came into power, it so mismanaged public affairs that it fell largely into the minority; but, having the appointment of all the officers, including the judges of election and police force, it succeeded in carrying every election by a system of organized fraud and violence at the polls, which, up to that time, was without a parallel in the history of the country.

This state of things led to the formation of the Reform party. After a strenuous and determined, but ineffectual resistance at the polls, the leaders of the Reform movement applied for and obtained from the Legislature of the State, a system of laws, very carefully prepared by them, which provided for the creation of a Board of Commissioners by the State, with power to appoint and control the police, and also appoint the judges of elections.

Under the operation of these laws, there was held, in the autumn of 1860, the first fair and peaceable election which 'had taken place in the city of Baltimore for many years, and Mr. Brown, as the nominee of the Reform party, (of which, from the beginning, he had been a prominent member,) was chosen Chief Magistrate of the city by a very large majority.

One of the cardinal principles of the party was to keep the affairs of the city carefully separated from national politics, and this principle Mr. Brown steadfastly adhered to throughout his administration, notwithstanding the difficulties interposed by the breaking out of the war.

Mr. Brown's opinions on national affairs were, however, very decided, and were freely expressed. He was opposed to slavery, and earnestly desired to see it abolished by constitutional and legal means, but by those only. He did not think that a State had a constitutional right to secede from the Union, but he believed that the constitutional rights of the Southern States had been persistently violated by the Northern States, on a point which the former had always regarded as fundamental the rendition of fugitive slaves; and that not only was the General Government both unable and unwilling to afford redress, but that the advent of the Republican party to power on the basis of the Chicago platform, and with its avowed hostility to slavery, clearly boded additional aggressions on the rights of the slaveholding States.

On these grounds, while he deprecated secession as an unwise step, he thought that the North should either guarantee to the South its constitutional rights, or let it depart in peace, .and he was therefore opposed to the war, which he believed. to be waged for the purpose of subjugation.

Maryland being a Border State, it was natural that the sympathies of her people should be divided, but it is undoubtedly true that the feelings of the large majority, both in the State and in the city of Baltimore, were strongly enlisted on the side of the South. When, therefore, the President, by his proclamation issued in April, 1861, called out a volunteer force of seventy-five thousand men, who were to assemble in Washington, a violent feeling of indignation was aroused. It was regarded as an attempt to overrun and subjugate the South.

The first detachment of troops came from Pennsylvania, and were without arms. They were escorted through the city by the police, who protected them from violence from the angry crowd who followed them.

The next day, the memorable 19th of April, a body of troops fully armed and equipped, arrived from Massachusetts. The police authorities had previously, but in vain, endeavored to ascertain the precise time of their arrival, in order

that proper arrangements might be made for their reception, and had kept the whole police force for many hours in readiness, so that they were almost worn out from fatigue. But the authorities of the United States kept back all information, until about an hour before the troops actually arrived, and then gave instructions which proved to be most injudicious.

The police authorities were directed to receive the troops at the Camden or Washington Station, although they were to arrive at the other end of the city, at the Philadelphia Station. They were not to march through the city, but were to be carried through on the cars. The first cars came safely through to the Camden Station, where the police were drawn up in force, but the last were not so fortunate. A mob tore up the rails near the Philadelphia Station, and a force, consisting of several companies, was compelled to leave the cars and march.

The mob was unarmed, except a few pistols, and attacked the soldiers with stones and such missiles as they could lay hands on. The Mayor had left the Camden Station, supposing that all the troops had safely arrived there, and that the danger was over, and was walking to his office in the direction of the advancing companies, when information was brought to him of the attack. He immediately hastened to the spot, and sent an order to the Marshal to follow with a body of the police. He met the troops rapidly marching, the crowd following. He placed himself at the head of the troops and marched with them, but his presence did not avail either to protect them from attack or the citizens from their indiscriminate fire.

Men were killed and wounded on both sides. Soon, however, the Marshal of Police, at the head of about fifty men, rushed forward from the direction of the Camden Station, passed to the rear of the troops, threw themselves across the street, and, with pistols presented, kept back the advancing mob.

The soldiers, thus protected, marched to Camden Station,