The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-11-13
The Whiskey Frauds.
Revived Interest in the Investigation-Hard Pan
Struck at st. Louis.
a Peep at "Dad-Under-the-Hay" and "The-
Man.FrOm-t e-Country."


large sums by cvading the tax on whisky
The case, it TRANSFERRED, had been worked NJ
for some time by U. S. detectives, and enough
had been unearthed to show that a vast whis
ky ring existed, and that the distillerie.
bounced upon were connected with 1t, bu
who were really the head, tail and body of the
monstrous coil the governmen. seemed &c
trust to further investigation to reveal
At the first onslaught there is no doubt but
the dealers IN CROOKED whisky" were terri
bly, alarmed. The government detectives had
got hold of somebody that was able to pu,
them upon the right track, and until the ring
knew exactly who it was and how far the
revelation was likely to extend, they were fill.
ed with the most alarming apprehcnsions
Gradually, however, as the U. S. grand jurieS
went to work, it was found that none of the
indicted or threatened distllcries were ready
to "peach," and as the government had no
proofs beyond the mere facts that certain dis.
tillerics had been doubling stamps and Ger.
tain rectfiers dealing in crooked whisky
had, in short, no proofs to enable it to ldenti.
fly and lay It's hands on the monster ring"
which it knew to eXist,-the thieves gradual.
ly threw off their fears and began to present
bold and impudeDt front. Instead of con.
Tossing their guilt and walking up to the cap.
tain's office and settling, the indicted dlstil.
lers began to hire the biggest lawyers in the
country and to prepare to fight the govern.
ment in the courts to the last extremity.
The matter was in this comfortable condi-
ton for the ring when Judge Krekel, of the
L. s. district court for western Missouri, open.
ed the September term of his court at Jefter,
son city. Here, also, the grand jury had
found a lot or crooked whisky indictments,
among others against the rectiiying estab-
lishmcnt of Sheehan and Son, of ST. Joseph.
To the amazement and utter dsmay of the
ring, John Sheehan, the Junior member ofthe
Arm, walked into the court and plead guilty
to all the charges This plea involved large
number of others. Sheehan & Son, as rect-
ficrs, dealt heavily with houses at st. Joseph,
Kansas city, st. Louis, &c, and if all their
whisky was crooked" of course the houses
they dealt with were in the same mire. In
deed Sheehan proceeded TO make clean
breast of it, and implicated in the frauds Of
his house that of Feneman e Co. and AID.
Ter & Co., of st. Joseph, Bollman & O'Hara,
Beyis, Frazer g. Co., and Quinlan Bros, of
st. Louis and many others. His confession
led others to confess, and 50 il has turned out
that half dozen of the heaviest distlleries
of ST. Louis, a dozen of big rectfying estab.
adjustments, and a long list of government
officers, such as gaugers, store.keepers reven-
ue agents, &c, have been indicted many of
them pleading guilty and others standing a
trial and being convicted, among whom the
most conspicuous, perhaps, on account of his
position and probable extensive connec-
ton with the ring, was revenue agent John
A. Joyce, who kept stubbornly mum during
his trial and is now in the penltentiary at
Jefferson city. But the, most notable indict
ments of all, growing ont of the confessions
before the grand jury of those who pu, in
guire, internal revenue collector, a promi.
nent st. Louis politician, and William Nc.
Kee, publisher of the st. Louis Gl0be-Demo.
crat. The Indictment of these men of course
means much more than that Of mere dealers,
rcc,iflerS, gaugers, or other petty officers.
These men are neither government officials
or manufacturers Of or dealers In whisky.
They are simply republican politicians and
one of them the owner of leading republi.
can newspaper of the Mississippi valley. If
these men are guilty 1t shows that the ramifi.
cations of the ring include a much higher
grade Of men than mere manufacturers and
dealers and petty officials. Mcguire and
Mckee are men in close and intimate con.
nec:isu with the Grants, Dents, Caseys, Bah.
cocks and all that pesulent brood Of treasury
robbers, office brokers snd job mongers who
have swarmed around the President and
grown fat from millions of stealings under
his very eyes and his persistent protection.
Indeed il was currently reported on Monday
that Babcock, Casey and Orville Grant were
also indicted, although this has not yet been
confirmed
The indictment Of Mckee seems TO throw
flood nf light on the mysterious transfer, a
few months ago, of the ST. Louis Democrat 10
the Globe. The Democrat was the older, ADLER
and weather paper OF the two, but ever since
the raid on the whisky thieves in May, had
furiously labored TO expose and denounce
them. The Globe, McKee's paper, on the
other hand, had defended the distillers Then
propositions were made TO merge the two pa
pers. The Democrat offered but moderate
SUM for the Globe, bur the Globe offered $780,
100 for the Democrat. This offer was secuted
and finally Mckee, who was supposed to be
comparatively impecunious, offered 100000
for the Democrat, and bought 1t. paying the
cash, and the two papers were ,henceforth
merged under the name of the Globe. Demo.
crdt.
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