The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1876-11-30

a N
Commissioner of Customs on l'ne w.ie'Vn ,ota ~
Assistant Secretary Sawyer as acuns 90 10
,ho, Roddy I'm his efforts TO pnt the
r"' ,S,awah had used letter fro,n the Pre,l'
S"nt Tho result Of the inquiry ordered ny BrlS'
tow was the ludctmento ol brooNs "'uN', .,,d
YER, Haynes, the Commissioners oI ouS'oua' %"H ,,,.
one or two subordinntesi yet from 'ha' way 'os.,
NO effort has been made 10 bring mem !" NV, w.
olerk who had told OF the use Roddy maue W ,n'
Presidents letters was discharged Soon a''e' DTS
tow resigned.
ppIsrow MOVES ON THE WHISKY RING
Tha dIf1cultIes he had encountered had now
sot,s6od secretary BrIstow that he could ony ue'
nend unon the negative support OF the PreSlneh'
IN his contests with official punderers, aNd ne
was onlv sure of II when he was fortified conciu'
s,va nroofs. Therefore he determined that the tres
,dant shou,d know nothing Of his operau ms
SosIn,t the whisky Ring until he had obtaiheu
No evidence to prove the conspiracy ana
,Tos roadv IN strike He did not suspect uhul '"'g
oOor tho commencement Of the Investigation thaI
~ r,ember Of the Presidents official hou'ehod
,yorld be in plicated He was aware OF the lhI''
MACY between Supervisor Mcdonald ana We
President but attributed II to old.tme acquah''
ance He doubtless knew that Babco also was
intmste with Mcdonald, but very naturally
thought this was the result Of the latters cr1ial
rolstions with the President, 0fthe intimacy be-
,voon Tovca and Babcork he had no wledge
ybo,ever His determination, therefore to with
ho,d all informatlons ofhiS operations against the
WHISKY Ring from the President until the culmma'
tion was reached, was not prompted by either sus
y,icIon or ambition. He had experienced trouble
boratoCore In regard 70 internal revenue matters,
for when he had got the President to consent to a
change of supervisors, Mcdonald came forthwith
n washington and rallied sufficient political in
anorca N have the order revoked. I'll ID in his
arst move on the enemys works the neretVry was
datermined to take no one into his confidence In
tbe second campaign whom he could not person
aI,v ,rust and then If any secrets were betrayed
he would have none but his own subordinates to
blame
Al the details of the investigation were left to
Solicitor Wilson, and by the st week In Aarcn
last the work of ferreng ont the frauds was fair
commenced. For six weeks but nttle progress
was made and the final result was often problem
attic. but about the middle OF April the idea OF
comparing the returns ofthe guagers with the rec
ords of the wholesale dealer, receipts ana sales
were suggested, and then the difficult problem was
sneedily solved The serial numbers on the stamps
enabled each barrel to be traced through all lts
various manipuatons and by the hrSt OF May
suAscient evidence had been obtained 10 warrant
the raid. which took place on Monday, May ~.
I'm m the 18th or 10th OF April the Secratary had
mot informed the President OF the Investigations
be was prosecuting At or about this time now
over the evidence obtained by the comparison
shove alluded to of the gaugerS returns with the
,vbo,oos,s dealers books in the various eastern
cities was amply sufficient toconvtet the di3ilers
and minor revenue officers in st. Louis ot con-
snirary. and then for the first time the PRESIDENT
,vss made acquainted with some of the iacts Ac-
cording TO the testimony Of Solicitor wilson TINS
oocurred about the time the President leit "ash'
irgton 10 attend the Centennial anniversary cere-
monies at Lexington, Massachusetts,
M'DoNALD >ND GRANT.
Rut A short time had elapsed, and before the
President returned, when Supervisor Mcdonald
t,rned I'm in washington, He had interviews
With the Secretary and Solicitor, and admitted
that he knew the frauds had been detected, al
though he was not in possession OF any OF the de-
tous The information which the Secretary had
,,,yon IN the President few days previous was
e,nroraI save as to one particular case, that OF
shtrments Of illsct spirits by Beyis Fraser dls-
~ ~ G, ropis to Wilmington NJ G., although
without entering into any particulars, Mr. Brsto"
nod said that sufficient evidence had been accum'
Mated tn convict the revenue officers ana dlSuI-
lars Of conspiracy. There was no other source
from which Mcdonald could have received MS
information than through the White House. anu
,roraover what he knew tailed so exactly WIN
what the Secretary had told the President that tue
,rsric,ops oF the former were exciten thereby ne
questioned Mcdonald closely as to the source OF
Ria in inrorratiou. but could not draw him out NC
Dorsld was satisfied that he had been caught, and
Dronospd to make the diStillers pay the tax on
all the Illicit spirits disposed Of and moreover TO
nav any reaS,nable penalties He begged for
mercy and promised fidelity hereafter if left un-
disturbed in his office, and spoke of his ability to
render great service to the party and Adminstra-
ton But these appeals and representations fell
on deaf ears.
On NAV 7, being the Friday before May H. when
the seizures were to be made according 10 pre-
concert In Al. Louis, Chicago. and Milwaukee, the
Secretary and Solicitor called upon the President,
and for the first time placed him in posson of all
the details of the work accomplished.
CONNECTING BABCoCK WITH THE FRUDs,
After the seizures, there yet remained the more
difficult task Of tracing the conspiracy to its
fountain head and bringing the guilty parties to
iustice. The cOnspiraOrs, certain of powerful po.
IitIcal influence to support them. were confident,
for season. of Their ability to defeat the secreta-
~ of the Treasury. but they soon discovered that
they had reckOned without their host, Bristow
had succeeded in accomplishing the retirement of
nd bfo
Plerrepont. in his ambition to win share of the
popular praise then bestowed on the Secretary OF
the Treasury was willing nay anxious, to back
ND Bristow. This enabled Bristow to manage the
legal as well MS the detective machinery employed
against the Ring and all went swimmingly until
il was determined to overhaul the records of the
telegraph Office at st. Louis.
When the Grand Jury was convened in July,
1879 subpoena duces tecum was served on the
manager of the telegraph Office in st. Louis to
produce all messages to Joyce and Mcdonald or
sent by them. Now, quote from the testimony
of District Attorney Dyer before the Select Com
,ttae of the House of Representatives to investi'
gate the whiskey frauds. Mr. Dyer testified as
follows:
In Tulv. during the investigation oy me Gfand
1rrv had snbpgpd duCe' tecttn issued for the
Droduction of certain kilograms That was toward
tbe latter part Of The session, of The Grand Jury
In answer IN that we not only gathered ue COT
rnsnonSence of Mcdonald and Joyce, which pass
ed them they were W r. Sn oHe We
o,horod also the dispatches of William Avery.
Negrue had testified about AVery being in me an
5,-Jno I,iv Icame across batch of these de-
pacb that M It my duty to send EdiHg to the tbeH ecFg n
t%o donsrtment as Chief Clerk of the Treasury, OF
course those that they sent from here G01d bSnyy Shy
Eo ~ tbo washington office: and had no means
Of determining who dSSpsGh was ssnt g5fa t6e Sy 9y
.obas eSem including one signed Sylph," suDposing
the that sent it to the So2Ss secretary S Iee
I iIs"I' ,or Inaw env better until received
letter from the Secretary ofthe Treasury in TRiSh ,hea
he said that he had examined them, 81 hsp 5nei rem
examined including this one signed "Sylph,' and
he was satisfied that that "sylph" despatch was
not in the handwriting of Avery. / came mere mere
and II was at the time Of my witt here in August
after % the adjournment of the Grand Jury, that
frst discovered or learned that the despaIch slgl
~ ,-aa dacpatph sent nv Gen, BaDCOCk.