The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1875-11-26
CROOKED WHISKY.
Operations of the st. Louis Ring-Startling
Exposures.


Exposures.
The developments in the trial, at st.
Louis, of Gen. John Mcdonald, ex-
| Supervisor of Internal Revenue, are of a
startling nature. The evidence of Con
duce Megrue, member of the ring,
who turned States evidence, reveals the
holiness with which the illicit distillers
carried ON their work, at the conniv-
ance of the Government officials. Me-
grue's story, as told on the witness
stand, is as follows:
Before coming here Joyce wrote me two let
| tiers, stating that he wanted to see me on bust
| ness of importance to me. This was in June,
| 1871. came in the latter part of 1871, and
| through 1872 had conversations with Melon
| aid, who was then acting as Supervisor, with
| Joyce as chief clerk portion Of that time and
| "a Special Agent part of the time. In these
conversations with Mcdonald, we spoke about
| making money through illicit distilling. The
| substance was that the distilleries should be
protected in running and making Illicit whisky,
on condition that they gave certain portion Of
| the taxes saved to certain parties. From about
| Sept. /, 1871 to November, 1872, collected the
| money from the distillers Bevis x Frazer,
Thompson, Curran. and Ulrici, to pay TO the
other parties. had talk with all the distil-
| lers mentioned. and assured them that they
could run in violation of law and they would
be protected in il by the Government officers
on the conditions mentioned. / did this on
authority of Joyce and Mcdonald. The money
was collected usually on Saturday in each week.
The amounts from Ulrici varied from $4,000 10
S3, 600: from Thompson, from $500 TO u. 300 :;
from Curran, from $500 TO Il, 500 from Bevis
d Frazer, from 90 500 to $4,000, the total av-
orage being about 70, 500 per week. The dis
tillers brought il to me at my room, part of the
time on Walnut street and part OF the time on
Fifth street. They generally brought 1t about
noon, and disbursed il. A certain sum
taken out to pay Gaugers. Assistant Collectors,
Assistant Assessors, and Storekeepers. The
balance was divided into five parcels.
The money Tor subordinates was given 10
John Leavenworth. for disbursement. OF the
other five packages / kept one Mcdonald got
the other Joyce got the other. and the other
two were given to Leavenworth with the I'M
derstanding that Mckee got one and Ford
the other. Ulrici did not come in until 1872
This work began in the first part of September
1871. Macklot Thompson came in in 1872
When / came here i got no further instruc-
tons from Mcdonald and Joyce than TO tell the
distillers they would be protected in running
crooked. l did not enter into details to tell
them how to escape discovery. Joyce was gen
orally ut the Supervisors Office when / took
the money in. Mcdonald was there but sell
dom. gave him the money only few times,
and had no doubt as TO his understanding what
II was for.
He complained once that Joyce ought not to
receive as much as the rest. and so. on one oc-
casion, ] gave him (McDohald) az 600 more
than the rest. without giving Joyce his full
one-fifth. He took it. The arrangement was
that the distillers we're to retain about one
half of the profits on crooked. We arrived
at this by the reports of the distillers, and by
reports which Leavenworth kept through the
CANCERS and Storekeepers. such reports being
required to tally. Leavenworth was an officer,
Gauger etc. There was no arrangement as to
what proportion of the amount distilled should
be crooked. The tax at that time was 80 cents
per gallon, and collected on an average some
30-odd cents per gallon.
II was the understanding at the Supervisors
Office, ] was informed by Joyce. that Gaugers |
and Storekeepers were to receive from 81 to
$3.50 per barrel. but Leavenworth generally I
paid them more az much sometimes as % per 4
barrel.
neglected TO state that always set aside r t
portion OF the money-part Of the time 500 \
per week and part of the time $500 per week
for William O. Avery, Chief Clerk OF the In
ternal Revenue Bureau at Washington. This
increase was made at the instance OF Joyce I
who came from Washington once and said that
Avery was complaining OF not receiving
enough money hence, we increased IL 70
$500 per week