Wilmington journal., 1876-02-11
BABCOOK BADLY REsET-AT-
TIE M PFED sUPPREssf0N OF
Z TESTIMONY. 9Hs nE1QQ3HI

HkzSIamWNAs AA 1A&&11 10
There will be q strange spectacle
presented in the Federal Court room
at st. Louis rext week. The Presi-
dents private seer retary, g member OF
his ofiiciaI family. and his chosen per
sonal friend, . Colonel in the Federal
army, will stand at the bar of justice
arraigned a. q thief himself and as an
accomplice of other thieves already
convicted. The existence of the con-
spiracy to steal from the government,
or rather the people for il is the peo-
pies money and not the governments,
is no longer denied. The only ques
tien now is whether Babcock wa, a
member of that conspiracy. Thus far
every man who has been indicted and
tried as such has been convicted.
Babcock's danger hourly grows more
imminent and more apparent to the
world.
To himself and to his friends, doub.-
less, his danger has been apparent from
the first hour OF his exposure. Extra
ordinary efforts have been made to
the change current of publicsentiment.
The President himself has thrown the
whole weight of his influence into
the scale in behalf OF his
friend, endeavoring to forestall
public opinion by declaring his belief
in the innocence of his secretary. He
ordered q military tribunal to in
vestieate the matter while it was yet
under consideration by the proper
civil tribunal. lie dismissed from
Office the prosecuting alto. ney just as
soon as it was known that through his
jealous efforts an indictment had been
found against this member of his
official family. A convenient revenue
officer writes to him that it was his
elcqnenoe and his logic and not Bah
cocks g.. at induced the President to
1escind the Treasury order for the ex-
change OF revenue officers by which
the plans for surprising the conspira-
tors at st. Louis were defeated. But
when another revenue officer in
Missouri, not 80 convenient, pub
lished that he had long ago
sent to Babcock evidence of the
existence Of the conspiracy at St.
Louis, and that no notice had been taken
of his communication, straightway
musty records were searched over and
it was telegraphed all over the country
by authority of some sorter other that
tile Missouri revenue officers letter
was found fled away in the Treasury
department. When that letter was filed
was not. however, so distinctly stated.
And now it is given out that the Presi-
dent intends to testify in the strongest
terms in behalf of his confidential
friend and private secretary. ALI these
things are ominous. They have an
ugly look.
But the worst feature in the case
possibly has not yet been mentioned.
and that is the deliberate attempt to
suppress the testimony in the cause.
On Tuesday morning Last upon the
opening of the Federal Couit in st.
Louis, attorneys for the Western Union
Telegraph Company appeared and
moved to vacats the writ of subpoena
duces te- cum from the Government
upon VIM. Orton, President of the
Company, requiring him to produce
all the kilograms which passed betw' en-
General Orville e. Babcock at Long
Branch, and John Mcdonald, John
A. Joyce, and Mrs. Joyce, at Long
Branch or at Ripon, over various sig
natures, during several months of last
year.
This was q deliberate attempt to
suppress testimony. and forces the
conclusion tdat the conscious criminal
knew that the testimony would. If pro-
duced, ensure his conviction. The
real party in interest that made that
motion was Babcock, and not the Tele-
graph Company.
The pretence that the demand upon
the Telegraph Company was too gen.
eral and would require an immens
amount of labor is too thin to deceive
even the most unwary. Certainly it
is entirely too thin to deceive
those who remember the course taken
by that same Telegraph Company, this
same Mr.. Orton being its president,
in regard to the kilograms called
for on the trial of the impeachment of
w. w. Holden in the winter of 187O-'71
1t was known for some time previous
that Holden would be impeached, and
it was known. too, how valuable would
be the testimony of the kilograms tt at
passed between him in his office at
Raleigh and the cut>throats doing his
work in Orange and Alamance. In
anticipation of the trial. therefore, an
order was issued by the telegraph
authorities to have all the originals and
copies of kilograms in this State for
tho year 1870 boxed up and sent out of
the State, some to Richmond, Vs., and
some to New York city. The order
was only partially executed, however.
for the operator at Hillsboro was
caught by the subpoena with tel, grams
in his possession. He was then order
ed by his superior officers, his en-
pley ers, to answer no questions in re
gard to the messages, and he did SO
refuse, and for the reason stated, until
he was forced to produce the hetelegrams
or be punished for contempt of Court.
ALI the facts in regard to this matter
may be found on page 925 ct seq.
of the impeachment Trial of w. W.
Holden. OF courss, the fact that
the Court of Impeachment was State
Court without jurisdiction beyond its
own borders, prevented the kilograms
from being taken from the possession