, 1876-06-25
THE WHISKY SENTENCES,

! pohSiDiy HeFEE 0Aie 10 @cotAS 0n@A,--b G0u
| summation devoutly to be wished
| =----.-
THE WHISKY SENTENCES.
The beginning of the end is approaching
in the Chicago whisky cases, It will be pos
si5le in very few days for the public tt
make up its final judgment Us to whether tht
| work in behalf OF the Government has beer
done faithfully, fairly, and thoroughly.
Such judgment neither Judge nor Prosecut-
ing Attorneys can avoid. 1t would be pre-.
mature, however, to make it up on basis o1
the sentences that were pronounced yester-
day, since only part Of the cases were dis
posed Of, and it cannot be known how the
others will be treated till they are presented
to the Court All those sentencedso far be-
long to whnt is know rs the "second
batch"-that is, those indicted on the evi-
dence Of the 81 first BATCH before the Grand
Jury. Many of the cases in the
l" second batch" still remain. LAWRENCE
and BA11AxTrNE's ease was certified to Judge
DusntosD's court, and has not yet been
tried Kelly and KELVIN have Withdrawn
their plea Of " guilty" which YVES put in as
to one count on an understanding of their
counsel which the Government does not
agree to; there is host Of Gaugers and
Storekeepers who have pleaded guilty; and
JAKE REH1ds case stands out conspicuously
as not having yet been presented for SEN
tence, though the Indictment was found
against him at the same time as against HEs-
ING and j" Buffalo M1LEB, who have now
begun serving ont their terms in jail
Nearly all, if not I'll, the persons belonging
to the '' first batch have furnished valuable
testimony for the Government and most Of
those who we're indicted On their information
have either pleaded guilty or been convicted
on trial Not 50, however, with the so-called
"squealers Of the " second batch, Of whom
JAKE REIN was the chief, and who tried
to save themselves in the same way.
MUM, WAND, and WADswoB1H were indicted
on REHM's testimony; but the story he
told on the witness- stand bore SO many eyi-
dences Of distortion and inprobabi1ity that
the jury could not separate the lies from the
truth, and 60 brought in verdict Of acquit~
tai as to MUM. The cases against WARD and
WADswoRTH were then abandoned by the
Government because they also rested en-
trely on REHH's evidence, which nobody be-
Geved. It is also understood that AIr. WADs-
woRTHs counsel Was prepared to show up
JAKE REHM's full record in the Whisky Ring,
to demonstrate the means whereby he forced
the distil1ers into it who wanted to run
" straight" to trace to him some S400, 600 of
blackmail which he had levied, and to prove
that he had received about quarter Of q
million do1lnrs more than he had distributed
This would have made the WApswon1n trial
peculiarly interesting to the public, though
it was by no means necessary for the pur-
pose of convincing anybody that REHM lied
when he said be had paid out oil the money
which he had extorted from the distil1ers,
Of the sentences passed yesterday there
seems a judicious and proper estimate by
Judge B1opGE1r Of the relative guilt of the !
different distillers- Three months imprison-
ment and ST 1000 fine as punishment for
men who were in some sense unwilling mem
bess Of the Ring, and who joined it under
The whip of the Ringleader to save their |
property, Will not be regarded as too lenient; |
nor can it fairly be looked upon as excessive,
in view Of the enormity OF the offense. It ]
should be remembered that from many Of
hem large part of the plunder will be re-
covered By the cohfscaton Of their property.
i Buffalo M11Ents sentence was increased
o $4,000 and SIX months in the County
|ail. We think the distinction was a proper
me, because he Was, besides being distiller,
! public off1cial; and, though not in the
ervice OF the United States Government.
lis official character rs County Treasurer
dividing the profits Of that Office with
iEs1No) rendered his case the more scandal
'us. 1t is not SO easy to e1plain why
GEORGE 7. BURROUGHS sentence was stretched
ut to one year, though he was the active
'artner OF D1cKESsos, ABEL l. Co. Ha is
bout the only one OF the distillers who is
elseved to have told the truth relative to the
mount of money paid to JAEE REHx; he
astitied that he himself, being ona Of score
r so, had paid REHM $50, 600 or more, while
iEHM had sworn that he had received only
bout S115, 900 in all
The chief public interest centred in Mr..
[EsNa, who Was sentenced to q fine of |
5000 and to two years in the County Jail.
here was much sympathy felt and ex-
ressed for Hzs1so yesterday, and a good
'any people seemed to think his punish ,
lent too severe. This was partly senti-
rental, and Of the same character IS the | ,
7mpathy excited for MCKEE, of St. Louis, I
ho occupied position very similar to |
Es1so here, and who received the same SEN
ncc. Ihess is q mental and moral