New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-08-11

publican nominee for Congress in the fiftl
district, and asks G.. w. xcCranie, Demo
crat, to run against him. A very lucky
chance, this, for Leonard. Jasper can hi'
the losing card oftener than any politician
in the State. 50 .-F s
A suis that was Csnprenised.
Mr., J. n. Tomeny, especial sgent Of tht
Treasury Department, presented to Preel
dent Grant . letter inclosing six af6davits
/ in regard to the c0mpromise by Secretary
Brisfow AID Solieitpr Wilson Of the suit ol
the United States against the Mobile and
I0tio Railroad Compaay for d1ties On iron
| Imported int the port Ct Mobile and IN
bond in 1861, when the State OF Alabama
seeded. The tacts OF the case - set forth
| in Mr.. Toneny's letter are briefly these:
n l. In l859and 1850 the Mobile and Ohio
tRailroad C0RpAny imported large quaint.
ties Of Iron INTO the port Of Mobile, Ala
3. When the war begaa II 1861 the duties
% numoer Of these lmportations had NOT
bean paid as
g. This iron was in Bonded warehouses,
and The usual custonhouso bond, with good
States for the payment Of the dpties.
4. The soupany indemnifed the sureties
@ these bes0s ~ hypoteeeeting With one
| Of then lsrRe SModht of sterling bonds,
| and With a1oshef party 90, 900 in gold.
5. The iron was withdFswn BY the oen-
pany improperly, and without paying the
duties in 1851 and 1862.
6. The government made demand upon
the company In 1867 for . part Of these
transported in tond ftoms New Orleans to
Columbus, Kentucky. which. after CORE
spondenee, wss paid and the bonda can
ce2led. The company then withdrew from
the hands of Mr.. james Tinker, Of New
kHork, the $780, .0CO in gold deposited to in,
dennify the sureties. During al this time
the taet, we'll known TO tho president and
every director Of the com psny, that there
was due the government another and much
larger amount on other importatl0ns Of iron
was carefully concealed.
7. In July, 1873, Solicitor BanheM having
become apprised Of thib indebtedness, de-
manded payment from the company. After
waiting for nine months, he, on March l8
1874, instructed George n. Duskin, Uiiited
States district attorney ct Nozzle, to COM
mence suit against the company for its
recovery. The case was put npon the cal
endar and Continued" in the usual way.
Gams concluded there Vas . good case
against the company, and instructed the
district attorney 70 push the suit. The case
was set down, after many Adjournments,
for January 6, 1875, but wls postponed TO
the twelfth and eighteenth, and finally
continued to the ensuing tern.
Hearing that An attempt wag made to
compromise the suit for Lees than twenty
per cent of what could be recovered in
tow early in January, 1875, giving the
amount in currency that he believed could
be recovered in open court from the CON-
pany. From To1enyA letter it appears
that the case was most carefully worked
NJ, and that certain defenseo of tho CON.
pany, such - that eome part of the duty
lad been paid to the Confederate collector
Of customs, were negatived beforehand by
tho examinatioe OF tho books of the bank
in which he kept his account. A. soon ~
Mr.. Tomeny heard that the Secretary of the
Treasury proposed TO settle the case him.
self, he he'd the evidence in tho case cent to
WashingtenS and presented to Mr.. Bristow
and Solicitor Wilson. He has also heard
from Colonel 8. d. Mills, . special agent of
the Treasury Department st Mobile, that
he was called upon for . report In tho case,
and that b strongly advised against any
os tss ,Sl Snts s1nn
while this was the situation Of Affairs
William Butler Duncan (of. Duncan, Sher-
man & Co., of New York president Of the
road, came to Washington, wined and dined
With the Secretary (as am informed), and
from that date the United States Court ct
Mobile lost jurisdiction Of tho Mobile and
Ohio railroad case and Mr.. Bristow took it
under his special charge. Before the next
term of the court Mr.. Duncan had persuad-
:Ss:as 70 ,cssSs tas ss'Isssy instead 1s S
$ll4,674 81 in gold, which latter sum would
beyond question have been the amount of
the Judgment of the court in favor of tho
United States. The loss to the
government was lust $e2,1lO IL in gold
coin, and this by one single Official act of
the late reform Secretary of the Treasury.
If this wrong can be made to appear right
by any of the arts Of sophistry, Hessrs.
Wilson and Bristow will doubtless be found
equal to the emergency, but yen, Mr..
President, in my humble Judgment, should
cause the whole case to be re-examined.
Mr.. Brietow's compromise to be set aside,
if that can legally be done, and the pay.
ment of this 81, 900 into the treasury Of the
United States to b enforced"
The afidavits presented along with Mr..
Toneny's letter seem to bear out his view
Of tho case, but of course - would be mani
favorable to the integrity of Secretary Bris-
TOW until We are in possession of Ill the
facts. Mr.. Tomeny thus deals with this as
pect of the case:
II have intimated thst the compromise
was corruptly obtained. The justi6cation
for this opinion 10 found not only in tho ex-
circumstances uAdef which tho
decision was made, bat also upon the fact
to me by Mr.. District Attof-
ney Duskiu on Januafy 20, 1876, that 4 d.
rect proposition was made to him to pay
him several thousand dollars if he woald
merely recommend . compromise, Thb
hrih0 hA in6iUnanflv mur0A6 and fr0{n
frstto last opposed . compromise, which 4
we finally made BY Secretary Bristow with
out consultation with or accommodation
from the attorneys prosecuting the case, or
from agent Of his own department, % far
~ am able to ascertain. t.t.
"The question naturally ARISES: If this
company, or some ono Of them, were will
ing to pay 70 large . bribe = the United
states 5district attorney ct Mobile to OBJ
tain the Recommendation Of compromise,
which they failed to got, how much would
ter = dated August p, for the conpfomise
We have bsea made familiar yith this
mode of reasoning BY our inyiktia5tine
but as I said befefS while
af6davits appear tos sbtt tdantly
support the proportions Of his litter, and
while both together coll for inquiry into the !,
a n:tars The sas s.traorddin,ssy asd y eonprcniss
should. Ia drawing hasty conciuSions,
and @ Id suspend judgment until such
time s1JAe public 10 put in posses1aon Of
al tho facts. The present publication win
doubtless lead to their early disclosure.-
Washington Correspondence Ness York
Graphic.