The Evening critic., 1881-09-19
BILLY AND GIBBY.

DILLI AMI UIDD1.
HOW THEY TRIED TO PLAY 1T ON
THE EATToRNEY.GENERAL,
And How They Slipped Up and Fell
| Down and Came Home From Long
Branch with Tail Feathers Droop-
Ing. ..l
special Correspondence ofTuF EvESfSo CRITIC.
! LONG BRANCH, Sept. II, 16S1.-This
morning gentleman who Is on intimate
terms with the Attorney General, and who
knows good deal about what goes on in that
officers Department, asked your corrc-
spondcnt the question, How does IL hap
pen that you newspaper correspondents
never got ut the real facts about the recent
their business with the Attorney General" ?"
Your correspondent replied that 1t was
probably because Billy and Gibby, either
from force of habit or from motives of pol
icy, lied to the newspaper correspondents
when interrogatcd about the object Of their
visit ..... ...t....r ..
"That may be-, said the gentleman, but
/ IL WuS Hob uilHCult W uo'tEthln tht lhCtS.
The Attorney General himself would
doubtless have given them to any CORE.
spondent who might have asked him for
Them al
| "Do you know what the facts were?"
"Yes, of course. There has been con-
siderable talk about the matter among tho
politicians here HsI
"Will you give me the facts for publca.
tion?"
az will on one conditions that is, that
you treat the Attorney. General fairly in
narrating them. Your paper is hostile to
Macvcagh, and I think frequently unjust
to him. He is my friend, and would not
give any information to be perverted to his
discredit." "
Your correspondent replied that THE
CRITIC would be delighted to find an op-
portunity to compliment the Attorncy-Gon-
eral, and that any statement of facts that
might be given to its representative for
publication would be written and printed
without the slightest distortion or bias.
"well, then,' said the gentleman, throw
ing away his cigar and fitting back his
chair as if for a protracted engagement, al
will tell you the whole story. 1t is a long
one, and embraces the inside history of the
whole Star-route investigation.
"Whcn Gibson and Cook first took hold
of the thing, they understood that at the
proper time they were to be given cntire
control of the judicial machinery Of the
District of Columbia. You will remember
that in the early days of tho investigation
they advertised that they were making
enormous progress. and would have sew
eral cases ready for the Grand Jury then
sitting--the Grand Jury of the June term.
"They did in fact prepare quite batch
of what they termed cases. and announced
to the Attorney General that they were
ready to proceed. Upon examination, how.
ever, these cases were found to consist oi
affidavits made by Kinds and two or three
others of like character, embodying state
mcnts improbable on their face and very
difficult to corroborate under the most
favorable circumstances. In fact they were
cases which no prosecuting officer, with
the slightest sense of responsibility, would
be willing to present to grand jury.
"Cook had expected that he would be al
lowed to handle these cases himself before
the grand jury, and that Col. COrkhill, the
District Attorney, would make way for him
But when that proposition was broached
Corkhill called attention to the law, which
makes it the duty of the District Attorney
to attend personally to all prosecutions be
fore the grand jury, and declined to abdi
f cato. He said he would take tho cases il
. hand and prosecute them himself the SAM
as any other cases. on their merits. Blu
upon ascertaining the nature Of the evi
dence,' and the character of the witnesse
l.. that were to be furnished him, Corkhill dc
0 clared that they were insufficient. He sal,
) the evidence offered consisted wholly of c
r parte aflidavits, made either by person
7 unknown, or by persons notoriously unre
0 liable; that if indictments could be pre-
( cured on the strength of these affidavit
the atlantis would be impcached by the de
S fense as soon as the cases came before
Q petit jury for trial, and the result would b
@ simply vexatious.
= "Corkhill said, however, that if they ha
: any responsible witnesses who would ~
j. pear in person before the Grand Jury an
l. stand the usual direct examination h
d would proceed. But not otherwise. o
l. this point Cook and Gibson took issue wit
o Corkhill, and the matter was appealed
the Attorney General, and finally to th
V President, both of whom sustained Corl
% hill; and Cook and Gibson were then tol
= to go to work and put their cases in pr
, sentable shape.
Whether they did this or not nobod
knows. But they went to work very a
" lively to get Corkhill removed. The ii
: dividual they selected for Corkhill's plac
after some dclibcration, was old Riddl
This selection was made partly because the
believed they could manipulate Riddle, an
- partly because they thought his person'
It aud family relations with the Presiden
I, I, would give him commanding influence. A.
g cordingly the entire Riddle family move
~ ~ On the enemy's works. Old Riddle himse
lg attacked the President, and the Riddle w
n men and children assailed Mrs, Carrie
Dr. and the Garfield children.