Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-02-25
Gen. BabcOck in Court.
EIGHTH DAY.

VCHs OUuIts
EIGHTH DAY.
Ex-Att'y-Gen Williams opened the case
for the defense on the 10th, and after he had
finished, Gen. A. A. Humphreys, Chief of
Engineer Corps, United States Army; David
w. Mahon, first officer Of the Treasury; I;
james G. Berrett, ex-Mayor and x-Postmas-
ter of Washington, and Gen. n. P. Banks, all
testified as to Gen. Babcock's integrity and
good moral character.
Alex P. Tuition testified that he is Super
visor of Internal Revenue OF the States Of
Pennsylvania, New jersey Delaware Mary
land and the District of Columbia; remem-
bered the order transferring the Supervisors
in January, 1875; had a conversation on the
subject with Sec'y Bristow, who told him to
call on the President, which witness did told
the President it would he very inconvenient
for him to go to st. Louis, and impossible if
the transfer was to continue for any ylength Of
time. The President said he was sorry that
it would inconvenience the witness, and
stated that it was thought that a great deal
of fraud was being committed in st. Louis
and Chicago, and this order was made to de-
tect these frauds; that while he didn't think
the officers of those places were involved, he
did think the frauds were being committed,
and that q change of officers was necessary
I in order to suppress such frauds; that there
had been considerable political influence
brought to bear on him to revoke the order, but
he thought 1t necessary to carry it out to pre-
vent these frauds. Witness then gave 70 the
President his reasons VI by he thought the or
der was injudicious, and the President finally
said that the more information he received
| the better he was satisfied that this order
would not accomplish the purpose intended,
| and he would revoke it that,day (Feb. 81, and
did so On the cross-eXamination witness
said he saw Gen. Babcock while in Washing
| ton, but the latter never said anything about
pressure being brought to have the order
suspended; did not then have a talking ac-
quaintance with Gen. Babcock.
Eight letters were then submitted by the
defense, and admitted by the court, The con-
tents of which show that eX Revenue Agent
unUe. pnU in Canndal snnnlied r. Bing-
ham, of Indiana, steadily with information
from June, 1874, to the seizures in NAV, 1875,
the defense claiming that Hoge became
corrupted several months before the prose
cution's testimony showed it to have oc-
| Cured.
'. NINTH DAY.
Gen. W.T.. Sherman, Gen. James II. simp'
son (of the Corps of Engineers), Gen. w. s
Harney, Capt. L. s. Babbitt Commanding the
st. Louis Arsenal), Gen. S. B. Sturgis Qn com
mand of the st. Louis post), the Hon. E. A
Boric (eX- X-Secretary Of the Navyl and Gen
| j. L. Fullerton Ga lawyer Of st. Louis). testi
fed as To the, good character of the defend
ant
Ex-Gov Fletcher identified several letters
from Babcock to Joyce as those placed in hi:
| possession few weeks before By Mrs. Joyce
Letters were then introduced, dated re
spectively March and March %, 1875, Il
| show, as counsel said, that so late as the dat
Of such letters there was no suspicion OF Gen
Mcdonald either by Deputy-Com. Rogers o
the Department.
Several letters written by Col. Joyce Il
Gen. BabcoGk, and answers to the same
were introduced, ali Of which were of a socia
character, and indicated that the writers o
them were on friendly terms, but suehletter
contain no illusions whatever to ring mat
ers or anything connected with revenue al
fairs
The dispatch of Dec 5, 1874, and signed q
f. Bahcock, saying . Cannot hear that an.
one has gone or is going,p was ruled out b.
the Court, but the one of Dec. 8, 1874, t
Gen. o. E. Babcock, from st. Louis, askln
Has the Secretlry or Commissioner ordere
anybody here :" was admitted.
Jas. Magill, a letter-carrier in st. Louis
testified that in the latter part of February
1875, Col. Joyce had accosted him on tn
street and requested witness to assist hiI
in recovering two letters deposited in tn
letter-box on the corner of Pine and FIT
streets, which he (JOyce) described as bein
! addressed, one to w. y. Avery, Washington
d. c., and the other to o. E. Babcock, Wasl
ington, d. O., and marked personal. Witnes
did as requested, aud when he asked Joyc
c for a receipt for the letters, and told him
, he wanted to remail them he (witncss) wOu,
4 90 with him and see it done, Joyce replie
!, that it was all right, saying IT'S only
{ blind.n On the cross-eXamination, witne'
said 1t was a frequent thing to return letter
(. on business routes; recollected this eircun
u stance particularly because it was OF h
e beat; had opened boxes frequently on bus
5 ness streets, and returned letters, but coul
u not recollect the names of any oth'
J. persons for whom he had done so, but final
S said he had returned a letter to Gen. G.
; Fishbaek. Witness was repeatedly presst
g to recolect the name OF anybody else f
5 whom he had taken letters out of the hOXe
but he could not remember one; he carrie
= blank receipts and had receipts with hi
= when he gave the letters TO Joyce; but Joy
S refused to give him receipt saying that
s was only a blind.
+ The deposition of PresidentGran was RET
c and admitted by the court in nearly its ori
J. inal form.
II The defense announced their case close
q TENTH DAY.
!, George Gavin, the Secretary OF the
:, Louis Board of Police Commissioners, W
!, called for the purpose of showing the reco
Of Magill, the letter-carrier, who testified
n returning two letters to Joyce The witne
n cid not answer, and the District Attorney a
lOunccu lnaL luc 0oNtInultuL. .Moulu- pub
!. no rebuttal testimony. Judge Porter for I
q defense, after citing authorities and pre-,
n dents, then asked for the acquittal Of the
Il fendant at the hands Of the court
4 Col. Broadhead replied to Judge Port
Il after which the Court oyerruled the mott
q Of Judge Porter. The proposition being tn
h made that the prosecution should open
a arguments, Judge Dillon announced that,
e a matter Of justice 10 the defendant he wOu
e suspend the usual rule, and require the pr
n ecution to open, In Order that the defer
d might not waste time IN guessing on wi
h portion ofthe mass OF testimony the proseC
.e tion relied.
y Neither counsel being prepared to bel
h their arguments, the court adjourned.
At ELEVENTH DAY.
], Col. Broadhead began the closing arc
ii ment, reviewing the eyidence al great leng
IS aud insisting that the testimony and the lie
grams produced In the trial all tended 10 &C
c. meet the defendant with the conspiracy to
m fraud the revenue. He claimed thai the
r. tercarrier Magill was manufactured
ID trained witness, gotten up fOr-the purpose
In 0 otisetling the damaging testimony given
er Everest. The counsel closed with the
10 monition that the jury be not influenced
r, the consideration # position, but that u