Charges Against the Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police

Albany: Comstock & Cassidy, 1863. About very good.. 37pp. Original tan printed wrappers. Light chipping and small tears, spine partially perished. Text lightly toned. A report against the Metropolitan Police Force, describing unlawful arrests made by the police in New York City during the Civil War. Among these charges, incidents of which are herein enumerated, is the accusation that policemen were coercing detained persons to swear a loyalty oath to the Union in order to obtain release. They likewise appear to have held a woman on suspicion of being a spy, but did not properly report such to the War Department. Draft-dodging is also mentioned. The department and its superintendent were accordingly censured by the state government. Interesting for its Civil War content, as well as its criminal justice aspects. Fewer than ten copies in OCLC.