Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-03-25

The Sanborn moiety swindle Is a
crime winch is pouring out more cor
ruption than any thing that has been
stirred up lately. The NeaC York Times,
the Grant organ in the commercial me-
tropohs. is forced to this conclusion by
recent DEVELOPMENTS:
''The little breeze between Judge
Noah Davis and Dir. George Blssprom-
ises to become a lively one, and as inn
partial spectators, We are bound to say
that Mr.. Bliss appears to have the best
of it, thus far. There seems to be no
doubt that Judge Davis did propose to
divide the fees in the Phelps-Dodge
case with Mr. Bliss-and if Mr.. Davis
believed at that very time that the firm
had fallen into a mere technical viola
ton Of law, it is a very inexplicable
circumstance that he should have made
such an offer. Upon this material
point, Mr.. Bliss has caught Judge Da-
visor Judge Davis has placed him
self-in a very ugly fix. This is the
way In which Mr. Bliss puts the case,
and since it is founded on Judge Da-
Wis own statements, we do not see
how the Judge can get out of it:
&c In other words he knew that
neither In law nor In equity could or
should Phelps, Dodge g. Co. be obliged
to pay one cent unless they had, in the
language of the statute, knowingly
violated the law, and yet ne admits that
he was not only a party to making
them pay $3.50. 600 illegally and inequi-
tably, but that he sought TO put In his
own pocket two per cent. upon that
amount
"Mr. Bliss also quotes two very nasty
passages from letters of Davis to Jayne,
In which the Judge says:
81 was SO shabbily treated, but not
by you, in that Phelps, Dodge & Co.
matter, that I do not know but that
similar things may be in store for me
in other cases. Although / seem to
have dropped out Of existence in Fede-
raj matters, l hope you viii not drop
me out of your book of remembrance.
''The terrible botching of the Phelps,
Dodge & Co. case was, as well under
stood, produced by the efforts to cheat
me out CT the fee and add it to my
successors. If it had been closed, ac-
cording to the agreement, that night
we met at the Astor House, as it
would have been under other circum-
stances, all the subsequent trouble
would have been avoided
1.-The only conclusion We can come
to, after reading all this, is that Mr..
Davis was quite willing, nay eager, to
take his share of the fees; that when he
did not get so large an amount as he
deemed was due to him, he became very
much provoked, and went over to the
side of the firm which he had been will
ling to 'plunder'-and, finally, that he
would have exercised wise discretion
in not provoking this last explanation
from Mr.. George Bliss, jr."
This Judge Noah Davis was Grants
United States District Attorney IN
New York, and was acting In his Off
cial capacity when he was bargaining
in this corrupt manner and entering
into league to fleece firm which had
fallen into a ''mere technical violation
of law" and is now Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court of New York.
We hear of no movement to
GUST the corrupt official who has brought
discredit upon the public service. The
Times puts the matter as mildly as pos
sible, without a demand for his re-
moval. The Ne1U York World peril
nently asks: what has New York
gained by getting Davis in the place of
Barnard and Cardozo?" They were
removed for corruption and oppres-
sion.