Wilmington daily gazette., 1872-08-19
DAILY GAZETTE.
Murder and assassinations are alarmingiy on
Il. in PhilsdeIphia Gov. .Geary's pardt ns
,ssmsto operate badly. and in connection with tho
,o.eisney Of the police. bad spirits have compIee
..,sudsncy, and 20 unpunishef.
y,om tho New York Tribune.
The chospenninG Case.


- much has been aaid during the present politi-
c,I campaign, and We commend it to the careful
.,,eptiol OF our readers Daring fourteen years
Ir Usorgs Ch0rpcunhig rolled a constantly aug
,sntpg claim through the POstotiics Depart
usut and the 'otoies u Congress For succss-
Court Of Claims threw It out. The Attornsv
i,susral repeatedly pronounced it res adjud,ca,a
vAich could not b, reOps,,ied even Mt the com
msud of the President Of the United States II
vx fraudulent AMI outrageous On Its very ire.
In 1857 the amount asked tor (uftsr several large
claims had been paid) was FSl 900; in 1868 the
CLAIMS based upon precisely the ss,ne condition of
facts, had swollen u the respectable sum of
sa4AO0O.
By tins time tho Chorpeuin,ng Rims saen,. t.,
have bssn considerably enlarged. and To have
cured the services vi several highly important !
persons. An effort waa made to Remove the Sec
oud Assistant Postmaster 6cn ,ral, under whDs.
influence the last decision against the claims hal
been given. and asn Grant appears urging Pr,~-
dent Johnson to make ths required change. Mr.. |
Johnson refused; but rs as Grant became
Prssdsnt the scheme WAS carried into eiect, a,,,i
Mr. George Earle, the attorney OF the Chorpen.
ming Ring, and law partner OF Mr.. Creswell, WAS
moreover brought into the department as Fhs,
Assistant Poetm ,ster General. A change was
made in the contract Office Mr.. Crsswsl seems
also to have intsrfered in the appointment ot
&sth Auditor Of the Treasury, whose business it
w to pass the PostoiRcs accounts; and matters
bsr thus arranged. the Ring went to work upon
Congress- At the very close OF the ses ion in
July, 1870. bill wss hurried through IN the con-
fusion II the closing hours, without the report Of
suy COMMITTEES, authorizing and direct,ng the
POstmastsr u neral to "iuvestlgase and adjust"
the CLAIMS OF Georgs Chorpenning under the act
Of his relet passed u 1851 THIS act OF 1851
contained q clause proviainR that the claims
should be adjusted ''by thu ali iavK, and proof,
Oh dls IN ths House ot X Representatives, =" W.,
should not omit u lnsution that these aff laws
and proofs had bssn selected aud assorted by
Chorpsnning's attorney from the records Of The
Post0dics Department, and ut ieaa one paper
that would have been fatal to the CLAIMS was lett
out OF tho bundle, while other docu,,A,nts wnlch
happened to be IN the pocket OF member uf
Congress-, were accepted as constructirely on the
tiles Of the House 0f Representatives
Mr.. Croswsli now went " work. He took the
law to mean that he Was nnt to question the ius-
tlcs of the claims. but to be governed entirely 10y
the sslsc sd 'nih lsvts and proofs on the files of
tho House OF Representatives. He WAS not to
consult the records Of his own department. where
thses wAs indubitahle evidence OF fraud. He
wN not to receive amy new tes imony He VIA,
t0 accept everything that ChOrpennlny SAID us
true, aud to ply him tho full amount OF his de-
nands and the euly "invdstigation" required OF
hun was an inquiry how much Chorpennlng
wanted Mr.. ChOrpennings original contra
With the Government Vas for $lO6.OOO. He hal
already obtained tn this contract, at various
Tunes, S530,OOO; and now Mr.. Creswsil awarded
lin t443, 900 more The warrant, of course, vent
through the Postofics Department without any
didRculty; but in the Treasury, fortunately. It
stuek; Mr. Dawes heard Of 1t; the whole swindle
~ exposed IN Congress; payment was stopped,
and the law Of July, 1870, was repealed by unan-
inous vote Of both Houses. everybody who had
anytAmg to dO with 1t hxstening 70 disc!am the
rspoos,bility.
While the rspssling act was on its passage, Mr.
kamsey. from the senate Committee on POST
omCee aud fJAt- Roads, presented report sxcus-
ias Fostmaster-asnera Creswsll on the ground
taae tbs law OF 1870 was mandatory. and he
bad no choice but 70 decide according to the ~
ports documents already on file. 1t must have been
svdsut. however, to Mr.. Creswsi that Congress
asvet would have imposed such preposterou,
coalition II 1t had understood what it was doing
mat the clauso in question was inserted tor a
nsadulent purpose; that the whole clam indeel
~ maud Of the worst character. What wa,
N duty OF An honest officer under such circum
.taaoesf Clearly it WAS to cause the matter tc
D. brought to the notice of Congress again, and
elos that body to remedy its unfortunate mad
ssrtsnce Congrsss. say Mr.. vreswell's friends
synsd the Chorpsnning. Warrant it was the id o
oe1snosr 1870 and Congrsss had then been IL
s:.aoa AGAIN nearly three wesks.
- thst hae fortunately been prevented L
voah b Interesting to know how it came to l..
@sary successful, and ju.t how many high Off
Tsn oi the Government we're implicated III It
Aas ~ Chorpsnn,ng Ring did embraHk mem
o. tas present administrstion can hat(ily l.,
aossesd. Can the President tell US who fh.,,
~ss' Another question. Mr.. Henry L. Daw
nnow on the stump for President Grant, an.
"oasy Nndicsting the Ad,nnistr rat ion from al
eenasr Of charges.
We call upon Mr. Dawes to tell whether, in hi
!sssmsnt, the Chorpennlng does, Or does not
.s.ses dlscreGit upon the Post Office Department
0ay nsthinx Of requiring q change III its maj,
nsnt. Mr. Dawes has made pretty free ex
Raaons On this subject in private. Will HI
en watch tOr him wherever hs speaks, AN
qeaeli0sS
The Prszo Fighters.
- NEW York, August IL. The hackers {
1ace and OBaldwin meet to day to settle Il,