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

moi be pressed TO the bitter end, because II they
were they would reach the White House In The
famous letter written by W, D, W, Barnard Of st.
Louis to the President the following passage 90
ours; .N Ei..
Col. NormeilO, prosecuting circuit attorney, NC
Donald and JoyCes confidential irenn, aSkeu he
Saturday how far matters were going 70 pe push..
ed toward them said / thought until tne lasI
man made restitution TO his utmost ability 70 pay
aud were pushed to the extent OF the law II local
officers done their duty. He replied lhs1 pSth 'Sai
had told him that da!, when seeking Dali, iha'
you could not give them up or BabcocK WAS los''
This letter was written on July 10, aud Grants
famous endorsement thereon, "Let no guilty man
escape If it can be avoided" was made on July
20 Neither the President nor Babcock al that
date knew Of the discovery Of the "sylph" dis
patch. Babcock WAS nevertheless Ill at ease, and
his letter to Avery plainly indicates the state OF
his mind. He doubtless felt pretty secure OF the
fidelity OF Mcdonald and Joyce, out he trembled
lest Avery might weaken under the manipula-
tions of Brlstow and Wilson; hence his repeated
assurances that he would stand by him aud see
him through. But that he might have trusly
friend constantly near him To encourage and re-
port the state OF his mind, he recommended Avery
10 conAde In Luokey. He also recommended
Avery to write to Joyce and 10 find out II NC
Donald and Joyce were standing solid, and II
they could "be based as witnesses'-against
whom2 Babcock of course. And he was TO send
the letter enclosed in one to Mcdonald, and this
enclosed to Major E. b. Grimes, Assistant Quarter
master at ST Louis.
WHERE MAJOR GRIMES COMES IN.
This was before any suspicious had been d.
rected against Babcock and only few days after
McDonalds Indictment, and vet he had an ar
rangement made with Quarermaster Grimes,
through which he could safely communicate
with the Whisky Rlngconspirators 1t is also i'm
portant to notice here the testimony OF Grimes in
the Babcock trial. He was called by the prosecu-
lion to prove the fact of the secret correspond.
ence through him between Babcock and Melon
AID He did not tell the whole truth as will be
seen by his testimony, because he fixes the date
at which Babcock made this arrangement for the
clandestine communication late in the fall after
Grant had left Long Branch and was In st. Louis,
accompanied by Babcock, attending the State
fair. Grimes testified as follows.
I saw him in 1874 at the fair and the hotel saw
him last fall at the hotel and at my office and rode
out with him to shaw's garden. have always
considered him as my best friend. had con
versation with him during his visit here IN 1870
at the Llndell Hotel in reference 70 Els sending
me packages Of letters for other parties.
Q-What was the conversation as you reool-
lect had between Won and General Babcock at
that time? Al think as near as can recollect,
Gen. BabcOCk said TO me: ~ VIII PROBABLY want
to send you some packages or letters Tor some
other parties TO deliver to some other parties"
Q-What else did he say TO you in that conVer-
sation? A--Nothing iu regard to that,
Q-To whom did he,say ne desired 10 ssho
packages or letters? A.-He did not say, That
| was ali t ne conversation that | had with him in
reference to it. Afer that If recoect Alright,
he sent three letters to me that is supposed ne
| sent them. am not certain that he did Ihe
letter got was enclosed in another letter. have
| not got the letter that was addressed to me. de-
sroyed II as destroy numbers of private letters
that receive weekly and monthly got a letter
! from Gen. BabCOCk saying, Please deliver en-
| closed letter to Gen. NJ Donald" | am not GER
| tain when this was but think 1t was after he was
| here.
The letter to Avery of July %, above given,
shows that long before the date fixed by Grimes
| there was an understanding between himself and
Babcock In regard to correspondence with Nc
Donald This is important because 1t shows that
before the Syph dispatch was found, before sus'
pclon was directed toward him by the develop
ments made by the Grand Jury, BabcOck had
thought it prudent to arrange for secret cores
pondence with the head and front Of the Whisky
Ring thieves.
ENTER JUDGE KRUM,
Now return to Averys case Immediately sf-
ter the receipt Of Babcock's letter. which, as will
| be observed from Its text, was not forwarded by
mail, Luckey began to visit Avery constantly
and encourage him to stand firm. Through this
go.between Babcock held constant correspond
ence with Avery and inspired him with conf
dence in the final result In the meantime 1t was
arranged that Avery should employ Judge Krum
of st. Louis as his attorney. Krum had been
elected Circuit Judge OF ST. Louis county, an hon.
orable and lucrative position, but had resigned In
order to become the attorney Of the Whisky Ring
consplrators. He was retained by Mcdonald,
joyce, and all the principal dlstillerS and reve
nue. officials. All the storekeepers and gaugers
| who were indicted were told to retain Krum, and
| II they said they were without the money to pay
| the retainer S100, 1t was furnished them. Krum
| had long been the particular friend Of Grant, and
had attended to his business In St. Louis, even
driving out once every week or ten days to look
after his farm, which is distant about nine miles
| from the city. Avery wanted Ben Butler, and so
did his wife, but both Babcock and Luckey ad.
vised against 1t and said Krum was sufficient:
that there was no case against him that 1t would
only be an additional and useless expense to re-
tain another lawyer Still at the earnest solicita.
ton of his wife, Avery raised $500 and retained
Gen. Butler but when the trial came on Butler,
although furnished with ticket and sleeping
car pass to st. Louis, failed to putin an appearance,
very much to his unfortunate clients regret
Up to the very time of the trial, Lucky kept at
| Ayerys ear to encourage and hold out false hopes.
| A day or two before Avery's trial commenced,
| Luckey came to st. Louis and remained there till
after Avery was convicted, and all the time was
in constant communication by cipher kilograms
with Babcock. Avery trusted Krum entirely, and
placed all the letters he had received from Joyce
Mcdonald, and BabcOck, 10 be used in his de-
fence If 1t became necessary. They would, with
corroborating testimony, have proved perfect
defence, because they would have shown con-
cluslvely that he had steadily and persisenty
refused to give the information which the conspi'
rators wanted till he was instructed to do so by
the President of the United States.
JUDGE KRUMs MAIN OBJECT.
But Judge Krum was anxious above all to pro.
tect the President and Babcock After the tele
grams of joyce to Babcock and the sylph de-
snatch had been put in evidence in his case by
Henderson, Avery was urged by his wife to insist
on the use of the joyce aud BabcOek :letters, but
Judge Krum only placed three Of the unimpOr'
tant Joyce letters in evidence carefully withhold
ing along with the rest the oneendorsedb by Grant,
The request which Avery had made was commu
nicated by Krum 10 Luckey, and Of course he was
alarmed They retssured Avery by telling him
that he would get new trial, and then the ex-
element having died out, somewhat he would
certainly be acquitted, But from that hour Luck
ey and Babcock began to work on Avery to in
duce him to destroy all the letters In his posses
sion. The ,ollowing letter from Luekey is q spec
linen of the communications almost daily ad'
dressed to Avery after his conviction:
EXECUTIVE MANSION, Q A. NJ. Dec. 3, 1875.
DEAR BILLY: Ihave not yet met man who
says there is any earthly show Of case against
Won, saw Bradley Zone of Babcock's lawyers
last night. don't anticipate any unfavorable
results The ship should never be given up, no
matter what the storm may be; no one knows
what may come up to set the worst thing straight
Keep no letters or memorandums, or anything that
might fall in the hands of anybody. Keep moth
ing about YOU which In moment Of trepidation
had better been destroyed. / am very earnest
about this, and shall never lose my affections for
| -, LEVI.