The New York Herald

New

York, Sunday, November 10, 1850.

To the Public of New York.

Little did the undersigned imagine, when he

opposed the recent nomination of John Graham

as District Attorney, made at Tammany Hall, and,

also, when he opposed his election before the peo-

ple of this city, on the ground of his utter unfitness,

both in temper and capacity, for the office—little

did the undersigned suppose that what he said

would so soon be justified and verified by events

and acts of a character equally in keeping with the

candidate, his capacity, and his subsequent defeat.

Yesterday morning, about ten o'clock, the ninth

inst., as I was walking down Broadway in company

with my wife, on reaching the corner of Broadway

and White street, I was assailed by a gang of

rowdies and ruffians, headed by the same John

Graham, late candidate for District Attorney, and

his brother, DeWitt Graham—an employé in the

Custom House, under Hugh Maxwell—and also

Charles K. Graham, another brother, with a ferocity

and a violence that seemed to justify the belief that

murder or manslaughter had been premeditated by

the assailants. Two police officers of the Sixth

ward—whose names I do not know—witnessed the

assault, but made no effort to preserve the peace of

the city from such a gang of ruffians.

The avowed object of this gross violation of the

law was stated by De Witt Graham, on the spot, to

be the opposition which was recently made by the

New York Herald, to the nomination and election

of John Graham as District Attorney. I replied

to him, on the spot—“I have done nothing but my

duty in opposing the election of John Graham.

Neither you nor all the ruffians you can assemble,

shall intimidate me from pursuing a course which I

believe to be right. In opposing John Graham, I

was right; and so the people of New York have de-

cided.” The assault and the assailants will soon

occupy the attention of the criminal authorities:

and probably one of the first cases that will be

brought before the new District Attorney, will be

this gross violation of the law, perpetrated by his

late antagonist at the polls.

With respect to the cause of this attempt at

murder, by a band of ruffians headed by John

Graham and his two brothers—De Witt Graham

and Charles K. Graham—I have only to say, that.

in the course pursued by this journal in relation

to John Graham, from the time of his nomination

to the day of election, I was perfectly justified, in

every respect, for every statement I made, and,

moreover, had a perfect legal right to oppose his

election on the grounds as they were stated. No-

thing libellous, nothing personal, was published; but

his public and his professional character was urged

on the voters of this city as a reason for withholding

from that man their suffrages at the recent election.

The course pursued by me, in this journal, has

been justified by the result of the recent election,

and sanctioned by the votes of the people of

New York. That result has now received even

a double sanction; and additional evidence has

been given of the truth of the statements made

against the fitness of John Graham, by the perpe-

tration of the brutal event which took place yes-

terday morning.

As this matter will become the subject of crimi-

nal investigation before the judicial authorities of

the city. I shall forbear making any further state-

ments or remarks at this time. This, however, I

shall content myself with declaring:—I know my

rights and duties as a citizen of this republic and a

member of this community; and all the assassins

and ruffians that may skulk from the Battery to

the g-bridge, shall never intimidate me from the

daily performance of those duties, or the vindica-

tion of every legal right that belongs to me.

J. G. BENNETT.