Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-02-24
Gen. BabcOck on Trial.
FIFTH DAY.

ldsS was completed IN lew unlnpOTtanL
questions. On the redirect examination he
testified that an Endorsement on an affidavit
made in 1873, purporting to be charges made
by Lindsay Murdoch, Collector of Internal
Revenue in Southeast Missouri, against joyce
and Mcdonald, showed that such charges
had been received and filed. The envelope
containing the affidavit was Endorsed by c.
G. Sniffin, the Presidents private secretary,
and the prosecution proposed to read the
document, showing that in 1878 the charges
had been sent to the Executive Mansion and
had gone through the. departments, but
witness was allowed to testify only as above.
Nearly the entire morning session was
taken up in trying to trace, through the tele-
graph clerks of st. Louis and Washington,
and also by the doorkeepers and messengers
of the Executive Mansion, certain kilograms
not yet admitted, to prove that they were
received and sent back and forth between
Messrs. Joyce and Mcdonald in st. Louis
and Gen Babcock in Washington. Finally,
the defense waived this proof as to one dis
patch, and allowed the following, admitted
to be in Gen. Babcocks handwriting, to be
read:
WASHINGTON, d. c., Dec 13, 1874
Gen. John Mcdonald, st. Louis: 1 succeeded
They will not go. will write you.
(Signed) SYLpH.
Before this was read, the defense announced
that they proposed to make a lengthy legal
argument against the admission of the other
kilograms, and perhaps they might wish to
include the "Sylph" dispatch in those OBJ
jected to. The defense wished to reserve
that point
Deputy -Com'r Rogers was recalled, and
testified that he had a conversation with
Gen. Babcock with regard to the transfer of
Revenue Agents, and that the latter had ex-
pressed his regret at the issuing of the order
for such transfer, as it would bring political
pressure on Douglass, and he would be
forced to revoke the order, and that would
work disastrously to him. On the cross-ex-
animation witness said Gen. Babcock ex-
pressed great friendship for Mr.. Douglass
The defense made strenuous opposition to
the admission Of the dispatches alleged to
have passed between Messrs. Joyce, McDon-
aid and Babcock, and insisted that they
should require not only proof of the author
ship and transmission by telegraph, but that
the dispatches We're actually placed in the
hands of the persons to whom they were ad-
dressed they also objected to the relevancy
of the dispatches. 1t was then agreed that
the dispatches should be grouped together,
and the question of their delivery, etc, and
their relevancy, should be argued at the same
time.
PRESIDENT GIANTS DEPOSITION.
A Washington Associated Press dispatch
of the 18th says the Presidents deposition
was taken on that day at the Executive Man
sion. There were present Chief-Justice
Waite, Sec'y Bristow, Atty-Gen. Pierrepont,
Col. William A. Cook Zone of Gen. Babcock's
counseD, and Mr. Eaton, who represented
the prosecution. The oath was administered
by the Chief-Justice, and the examination
developed the facts that Gen Babcock had
not Influenced or attempted to influence the
Executive In the selection of any official in
volved in the so-called Whisky Ring: that he
had not interfered in any manner to cause
the suspension of the celebrated order for
the transfer of Supervisors, but that the rev.
ocation was directed by the President him.
self, in order that, suspicion being removed
from the minds of those engaged in the
frauds, they might the more readily be de-
tected in their efforts to cheat the Govern
ment out of the revenue on distilled spirits
that the President still had implicit conf
dence in the integrity of Gen. Babcock and
was satisfied with his explanation of the dis
patches which have formed so important an
element III his prosecution. The cross exam
ination elected nothing of Importance, but
developed the fact that if there had been any
thing wrong on the part of Gen. Babcock,
which the President emphatically stated he
did not believe, it was entirely without the
knowledge of the Executive. The President
stated that during the twelve years that Gen
Bsbcock had been intimately associated with
him, he had not learned anything calculated
10 impair his confidence in his integrity.
SIXTH DAY.
After the conclusion Of the arguments as
to the admissibility of the dispatches, Judge
Dillon decided in favor of their admission,
and they We're subsequently read in court
and comprised various kilograms from Messrs
Joyce, Mcdonald and others to Messrs. Bah
cock, Douglass and Avery, in Washington,
and from the latter-named gentlemen to the
former.
Thomas j. Walsh, brother-in-law of Gen.
Mcdonald, and chief clerk in the office when
Supervisor, was called and identified several
letters and dispatches written by him at the
direction of Mr.. Mcdonald, and also identi-
fed the signature of himself and Mr.. Joyce
affixed to receipts for kilograms to Messrs
Mcdonald, Joyce and others.
Kennedy Duff, manager of the A & P.
Telegraph office at Washington, was called,
and explained the manner of handling dis
patches in that office. One of the dispatches
in question, and to which the defense made
strenuous objections dated Dec. 5, 1874, and
reading as follows: 81 cannot hear that any,
one has gone or is going'), and asserted TO have
been sent by Gen. BabcOck to Mr.. Joyce, could
not be found, the package Of kilograms of
that day having been lost, and only a copy
was produced. This dispatch is alleged to
have been an answer to one sent by Mr.
Joyce from st. Louis to Gen. Babcock, and
was traced into the hands of Geo. Joyce, a
door-keeper at the White House, but Mr.
.Joyce's signature had not been identified by
the prosecution, and therefore its delivery
was only inferential.
SEVENTH DAY.
Alfred Bevis, distiller, testified that Joyce
showed him the "Sylph" dispatch from
Babcock in December, 1874, and that his UNI