The Portland daily press., 1875-11-17
THE WHISKEY FRAUDS.
How st. Louis Distillers Bribed
Government Officials.
Some Interesting Testimony.

ST LOUIS, Nov. 16 In the case of General
John Mcdonald, ex-Supervisor of Internal
Revenue of this district. charged with con-
splracy 10 defraud tie government with crook
ed whiskey, the principal witness was G. G
McGrue and the main part of his evidence was
as follows:
81 came here il June 1871 and remained till
Nov. 1872; had repeated conversations with
OF illicit distilling, the subject of which was
that the dstllers should be protected in MAX
ing crooked whiskey on condition that they
should give certain part of the taxes saved to
certain persons. About Sept. !, 1871, to Nov.
l, 1872, l collected the money from the distill-
eIs, Brois & Frazier, Thompson, Curran and
Ulrici, to pay to the other parties had a
talk with all the distillers mentioned and as
sured them they could run in violation of the
law, and they wou'd be protected by the gov
eminent officers. on conditions mentioned.
did this on the authority of Joyce and Nc
Donald The money was collected usually on
Saturday of each week. The money collected
from Ulrici varied from $4,000 to $4,000, from
Thompson from $500 to $500, from Curran
from $500 to $500, from Bros & Frazier -em
$3.50 to $4,000, the total average being
about $500 per week. The dstllers brought
it to me at my room about noon and disbursed
it. A certain sum was taken out to pay the
gaugers assistant collectors, assistant assessors
and StOrekeepers The balance was divided in
five parts. The money for subordinates was
given to Jno. Leavenworth Tor the drsburse-
ment of the other five packages | kept one,
Mcdonald got one, Joyce got one, and the
other two were given to LeavenworLh with the
understanding that Mckee got one and Ford
the other,
This work began in the first part of Septem
ber, 1871. Mcdonald complained once that
Joyce ought not 10 receive as much as the rest,
and so on one occasion gave him $4,000 more
than the rest without giving Joyce his full
one-fifth. He took it. The arrangement was
that the distilers We're to retain about one
half Of the Profits on the crooke whiskey
Leavenworth was gauger and part of the
time storekeeper. The tax on whlskey at the
time Was 80 cents per gallon, and l collected
about 30 cents per gallon
IL was understood at the supervisors office
that the guagers, storekeepers and other subor-
d'nates were to receive 81 to $3.50 per barrel,
but Leavepwortn generally paid them more. 1
took the money for the main members to The
supervisors 8 office and there was no particular
disguise about my delivering it there. 1 always
set aside portion of the money-part of the
time $100 per week and part of the time $500
per week-for VIM. q. Avery, chief clerk of
the internal rev enue bureau at Washington.
This increase was made at the instance of Mr.
Joyce, who came from Washington once and
said that Avery was complaining of not re
ceiving enough money. Hence we increased it
to $500 per week.
Witness was cross-examined at some length,
and stouty maintained all the positions taken
in his direct examination. His business before
be came here and since he left was inquired
into closely, and his social relations with wo-
man who kept an assignation house here, and
who was in New York while he lived there
were examined into. He admitted to having
been indicted here for the bribery of Phil War
ner and United States gauger, out denied the
charge and said the Indictment should be mol
pressed, and also denied that any arrange nent
exists by which the Indictment against him will
be dismissed He had heard that he is includ
ed in an omnibus Indictment here, but no capi
as has yet been served upon him. He could
not state positively the amount he realized out
of the ring here. but thought it $50, 900 or $780,
900, nearly all of which be lost in stock specu-
lation in New York. Chas Ford, John Leav-
enworth Finlay Robb, the parties mentioned
as having received money from him have since
died