Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-01-08
WASHINGTON.
Several Arrests for Conspiracy in
the Star Route Gases.

WASHINGTON, January 6.-The
President sent the following nomi-
nations to the Senate to-day: Sam
uel G. Parks, of New Mexico, to be
Associate Justice Of the Supreme
Court of Wyoming; Joseph Bell, Of
New York, to be Associate Justice of
lde Supreme Court of New Mexico.
WASHINGTON, January 6.-The
President sent to the Senate to-day,
the following letter from the late
Postnaster-General, with regard to
the responsibility of sureties
upon boads, accompanying the bids
and contncts for the mail service,
during the}ast four years:
Posi- oFFIoy DEPARTMENT AT WASH
INeToN, d, C.,1anuary 3, 1882. Sir:
/ have the honNr to transmit here,
with, letter frdn Hon. Geo. Bliss,
special counsel oKthe United States
for the prosecutionQf the Star Route
cases, and 1epoN OF Inspectors
Tydeball. .and Snallooss, detailing
the result Of a mos, careful ex-
animation into the responsibility
of sureties upon bonds Accompany
ing bids and contracts folmaIl ser
vice during the last four yeas. This
report seemed to show conchsiyelv
that there have been imposed upon
the Post-office Department not(ess
than thirteen thousand bond she
ties, upon which, with perhaps yeR
few exceptions, are utterly worth
less, and were known to the parties
who presented them, to be worth
less. There is no reason to
believe that the same parties
will present a large number Of pro
posals at the letting of the mail ser~
vice west of the Mississippi River,
which is to take place on the seventh
of this month, and have been advised
that the Postmaster General would
have no authority to reject such bids
if regular in form, while it is impes
sible to properly investigate the res
possibility of sureties before the
time when the contracts must be
awarded. Under these circumstances
1t seems to me proper that the atten-
ton Of Congress should be called to
this condition Of law and change
tie made by which some power
may be vested in the department to
debar from bidding persons who
have hitherto been engaged in such
practices. As, in order to make the
remedy effective at the next bidding,
Immediate action upon the part OF
Congress will be required, [ call
your attention to the matter, instead
Of leaving it to my successor.
Very respectfully,
THOMAS l.. JAMES,
Postmaste er- General.
To the President.
WASHINGTON, January Tn the
police court, before Judge Smell, the
cases of James W. Donahue, John
V. Mink, Edwin Sweet, Samuel
n. Hoyt, VIM. S. Barrlnger, G. Z.
Boone, c. FL. byron, Mrs. K. n.
Armstrong, Capt. L. g. Cabell and
W. ". jackson, arrested for conspir-
acy to Gefraud the United States
Government by appearing as sureties
and actng aa principals in connection
with the Star Route contracts. were
called at noon to-day. Mr.. Blunt,
at the instance of Judge Smell, read
memorandum from Col. Bliss, set
ting forth the amount Of bail which
he would be willing to accept from
each of the defendants as follows
Boone, $4,000; Sweet, $4,000;
Hoyt, $4,000; Armstrong, $4,000;
Barringer, S15, 5,O00:Donahue S21, ,00e;
Mink, $4,000; Dickson, $4,000;
jackson, $4,000 and Cabell, $4,000
The counsel then Withdrew to con-
suit regarding the question of bonds
At three o'clock the court decided
the question and received bonds
from the prisoners, as follows: Mi
nix, 1000; released Dickson, $1,000
released Sweet, $4,000; released
Boone, $4,000; Barringer, Hoyt
and Donahue committed to jail in
default of bonds. Warrants were
issued last night for Mrs. K. n
Armstrong, Capt. L. G. Cabell and
w. w. jackson, but at last accounts
they had not been arrested.