Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1876-03-20
MORE FRAUD CHARGED.
The Government Cheated in
Mule Trade.
TILT AT SECRETARY BRIsTOw
The Secretary Denies the Charge.

New York, March IS. A Louisville letter to
the Herald states that before the close of the war
one T. T. Taylor delivered twenty-four mules out
of one hundred said to have been contracted for
with Henry Rowland. Quartermaster at Nashville
in 1865. He was paid for the twenty-four
Nine years AFTER Jno A. Thompson and others,
of Kentucky, claimed to be the principals for
whom Taylor was the alleged agent, sued the gov
eminent for the loss of $40 mules which they al
legged were purchased under contract with How
land, and which they were obliged to sell at q loss
of SIPS per head.
Benz ii. Bristow, the present Secretary of the
Treasury, was attorney for the claimant, and the
government was represented by the assistant at
torney, Gen. Goforth. The court gave the whole
amount claimed, ordering the payment of Sl0S,-
$50 for $40 mules never delivered to United States
Justice Mott delivered the opinion, which was con-
Cured in by the Judges, Peck and Milligan, and
on the most vital point of the case the court said
"The question is not free from doubt" and they
recently stated their decision with hesitation and
timdty. Judge Loring was absent.
Chief Justice Drake delivered an exhaustive
dissenting opinion, exposing the decision as not
entitled to status in court, and declared that the
judgment for the plaintiff would revise the uni.
form and unbroken decisions of the Court Of
Claims and OF the Supreme Court Of the United
States. An appeal to the Supreme Court was GER
tanly expected, but no appeal has as yet been
taken.
became Secretary of the Treasury.
The letter says there is no similar case on rec
ord where the government failed to appeal to the
Supreme Court. The statement is made that Bris-
tow received one-half of the Judgment, $54, 375
for his fee and $4,000 additional for preventing
an appeal to the Supreme Court and securing
prompt payment at the treasury.
The letter further says it is generally stated in
Kentucky that the whole case was a manufactured
one. that Thompson never had the so mules cor
rallied, and never sold them
Washington March IS. The charge printed in
New York this morning that Secretary Bristow
some years ago participated in collecting fraud
ulent mule claim, and took half the proceeds, is
pronounced by the Secretary wholly false. He
argued the case referred to by the Court of Claims,
in the regular practice of his profession, at q
time when he held no public Office and the court
adjudged it q just claim.
Judge Drake dissented ON legal grounds alone,
and not because fraud was anywhere charged,
and the claim was paid by the treasury upon an
order of the court. The Secretary did not take
half or anywhere near one-half of the claim, but
was paid very small fee in such q case. He had
nothing whatever to do with the case in any of its
stages before the department or in its preparation,
but after the proofs were taken he arranged the
case and argued it before the court 1t is reported
at length in volume seven of Opinions Of the
Court of Claims.