The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-08-13

To the Editor Of the Press:
The PRESS recently published an article
under this heading, copied substantially from
the N. Y. Times. which is calculated to give
very erroneous impression as to the merits
of the case.
On the second Of December last Mr.. Body
was arrested and held to bail in 500, 900, at
the suit of the Rockford, Rock Island and
st. Louis Railroad Company, of Illinois,
upon the charge that while acting as Di-
rector and as the Treasurer of that company,
he lad embezzled and appropriated to his
own use two separate sums, amounting in
the aggregate to $277, 221.1 which of right
belonged to the company, and an attachment
against his property was. asked for and issued
at the same time. ,,... -r
simultaneously with these proceedings, an
attempt was made through the press to man
ufacture public opinion prejudicial to Mr..
Body. and through such opinion to infu-
ence adversely the courts and the juries who
should try the case. Several papers in New
York, Boston and elsewhere, and notably the
New York Times and Boston Advertiser con.
tanned articles evidently from the same hand,
describing Mr.. Body as second "Jim
Fisk" charging upon him all sorts of wrong
full acts against the company. whose officer
he was, and alleging that he had, in various
ways, plundered it of over 81 100000.
OF these fragrant attempts to mislead the
public, Mr.. Body and his friends took no
notice, confident that the result of the trial
if one should ever be had-would sufficiently
vindicate him from all these aspersions.
The article in the Times OF Saturday, tho
End inst, and partly copied into the PRESS,
no viewer, deserves some attention, as the
obvious design in this is to convey the i'm
preston that the Supreme Court of New
York has at length passed upon the case, and
decided that Mr.. Body did actually misap-
propriate these sums, as charged in the plain
tiff's complaint, and that they are the right
full property of the Railroad Company.
After reading the article referred to, the
public will be surprised to learn that the mer-
its of the case have not been before the court
in any form. Not particle of evidence was
taken or presented in the recent hearing be-
fore Judge Daniels, nor did the Judge decide
anything whatever as to the merits of the
case. He simply decided the point presented
to him in motion made by Mr. Boody's
counsel, and decided that in Mr.. Boody's ia
vor. This motion was based entirely upon
the plaintiffs own papers; aud was iD sub
stance this-that granting everything al
legged by the plaintiff to be true, it had never
theless no right to both the preliminary
remedial processes of attachment and arrest
In an elaborate opinion the court held that
the point was well taken; that the plaintiff
had used the processes of the court illegally
and oppressively; that it could not have both
these remedies, and must elect which it
would retain. The plaintiff elected to retain
the arrest, aud the attachment was set aside.
In the introduction TO his opinion, the
Judge does indeed remark that if Mr.. Body
had an interest in the contract for building
the road, OF charged a commission for nego-
tiating the companys bonds, ioithout the con-
sent Of the company, the money thus made
and retained is the property of the company.
On this point, however, the Judge knew
nothing, and decided nothing. But this is
the gist of the whole matter. Mr.. Body can
abundan:ly show that the company did thus
give its consent; and what is quite as per-
tinent to the case, the Board of Directors
did, with full knowledge that he had charged
and retained commission for negotiating
securities for the contractors and the COM
pany unanimously grant him release and
discharge under the seal of the corporation,
for all his acts and doings and receipts of
money as Treasurer of the company.
Mr.. Body and counsel regard his defense
to this suit as absolutely impregnable; and
he himself rests in the confident assurance
that when the trial is reached, it will as con-
clusvely show that he honestly paid over to
the company every dollar that rightfully be-
longed to it. He simply asks that the COM
munity, in which he has been long and ia
vorably known, will not by any prejudg-
ment of tn case, based upon newspaper artl-
cles written in the interest Of the plaintiff,
contribute to the success of one of the most
gigantic and INSCRIPTIONS attempts to levy
black-mail ever made in this country.
JUSTICE.