164 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



infamous proceedings were at last undisputed masters 

 of the situation, and no man questioned the firmness 

 of their grasp on the Erie Railway. They walked 

 erect and proud of their infamy through the streets of 

 our great cities ; they voluntarily subjected themselves 

 to that to which other depredators are compelled to 

 submit, and, by exposing their portraits in public con- 

 veyances, converted noble steamers into branch galleries 

 of a police office ; nay, more, they bedizened their per- 

 sons with gold lace, and assumed honored titles, until 

 those who witnessed in silent contempt their strange 

 antics were disposed to exclaim, in the language of poor 

 Doll Tearsheet : ' An Admiral ! God's light, these vil- 

 lains will make the word as odious as the word " oc- 

 cupy," which was an excellent good word before it was 

 ill sorted ; therefore, Admirals had need look to 't '" * 



Such was the success of a desperate and reckless 



rporation in managing the courts of a great State. 

 So thoroughly had they performed their work that they 

 were popularly declared to "run the courts." Justice 

 was turned against the people and used as an instru- 

 ment of oppression. 



There are other corporations just as reckless and 

 other courts as complaisant. What has been done in 

 New York has been repeated on a smaller scale else- 

 where. 



The railroads, in their determined effort to fasten 

 their yoke upon the people, are seeking to poison the 

 very fountain of justice and equity. Let the people 

 look to it that they do not succeed. 



* For the complete account of these extraordinary transactions the 

 reader is referred to " A Chapter on Erie," published by J. E. Osgood 

 & Co., of Boston. The book will repay a careful perusal. 



