Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-12-15
CITY AND DISTRICT.
MIR. BLISS OPENING ADDRESS.
what the Government Proposes q
Prove I'm the Star ROute Trial.

STAR closed last evening Mr.. Bliss continued
his address TO the jury. until the adjournment of
The court. when he suspended until to-day. They
would show, he said, in cases of expedition that
Brady paid large SUNS for expedition, when as
matter of fact. the same stock and carriers
performed the service. In some cases they
pad the subcGutractor onlythe original amount,
and the subcOntract0rs only discovered how
they were used when they were informed by
spec al agents sent out to investigate the service
In anticipation Of this Indictment. Then they
learned that the contractors were receiving
thousands of dollars year for service supposed
to be expedited. They would show in great
many cases subconsraets made at the start for
larger sums than the contract with the govern
meat called for the contractors, however tax
ing great care To obtain orders for increase and
expedition very early. Brady had on these 10
routes made
FIFTEEN ORDERS FOR EXPEDITION.
IL OF them going to the full limit of the law.
according to the statements he had before him.
In one ease the amount less than the limit was
only nominal In another case it amounted to
81 200 or = 800. in another case it was very
large, owing To the monumental swearing OF
Miner. Gauged by Miners swearin. il was be-
low the limit. Gaused 10y the facts it was far
In excess of pro rata. Much of these statements
on which Brady based his orders were absurt,ly
and transparently false. Would not faithful
officer ascertain how many men and horses were
actually employed in the service? Suppose a
Contract comes for carrying the mail three miles
an hour at 5000 year. suppose il is ordered
that the mail be carried at four miles an hour
II IL requires ten men and horses at three miles
an hour. and twenty men and horses at four
miles an hOur then the sum to be paid will be
Just double. or 900 Il wear Now suppose il
Is stated that but five men and horses are needed
ut three miles an hour and twenty men and
HORSES at four miles an hour. Then Brady orders
that $50 600 be paid, doubling the amount to be
taken from the Treasury
THE GOVERNMENT WAS DEFRAUDED
by thus undertaking the number of men and
horses required by the original service Then
another way 10y which the government was de-
frauded. by OyerstatiaG the amount required bv
the expedited service. Brady smost magnificent
exploits were made by both undertaking the
number of men and horses originally required
and overstatin% tine number required by the
expedited service. By little change in the
nsures. the government could easily be de-
frauded- Did Brady make any effort to find out
what those numbers were: Did he send To the
locality and find out what numbers were actually
used: No lie went To the man who was to be
benefited and received from him a brief affidavit
setting out the numbers. He took that state
ment as the sole evidence and upon such state
ments he made orders that took hundreds of
thousands of dollars from the treasury and put
il all into the pockets of these contractors eX-
cept
THE TOLLS WHICH HE ENACTED
FOR his part of the transaction II there was
nothing else in the case but the action of Mr.
Brady upon those papers they would feel justi-
ned in asking a verdict of guilty but there was
much more
called 70 ho
In the postal regulations requiring the con-
tractor. whose contract was to be expedited to
make affidavit as to the number of men and
horses The statute spoke of the number of
stock and carriers. Under the regulation, which
was broader than the statute the claim would
De made that men employed as hostlers or in
hauling oats. could be counted. 1t was prOper
TO get from the contractor his statement OF
what the number Of men and horses required by
expedited service woIld be. Under that regua-
fon Brady took the contractors affidavit and
nothing else as basis of his orders.
WHEN 1T SUITED BRADY's CONVENIENCE
and the contractor was not available to make
the affidavit he took the affidavit of some one
else who knew nothing about the route. On
route s.. 1874, from Pueblo to Rosita. Miner was
the contractor. and, so far as the Post Office
department knew, he was the only person con-
nected with that route. When however they
wanted to expedite the route John W Dorsey
made the affidavit On the route from Trinidad
TO Madison. lei to Miner John W. Dorsey also
made the affidavit On the Sioux Falls route
Harvey VI. Vale. the sub-cuntractOr who how
ever had never been ON the route made the
affidavit
Mr.. Bliss said he was going to put before the
jury the men who drove the horses instead of
depending on opinion or conjecture. He thought
from an inspection OF the papers they would saw
no honest man would make orders upon such
papers. They bore the evidence of fraud on
their faces. Mr.. Bliss referred to the two afi-
daFits made on the same day by J. W. Dorsey in
regard TO the Pueblo and ROsita route each
making widely different statements respectinp
the number of men and horses employed and TO
be employed. Notwithstanding this evidence
oil perjury. Brady accepted one of these afii-
dayits the only evidence upon which he
based his orders. Both OF the afiidayfts were
before Brady when he made the order taking
money by thousands from the Treasury of the
tE!ted states Or route 3S. Is John W Dorsey
was the contractor letter was written by
Rerdeil. clerk to Senator Dorsey TO Perkins
subcontractor on the route. directing him to
swear 10 afda7its with the blanks untitled
The affidavit so sworn to was sent TO Washing
ton. where the blanks filed and became
The basis Of an order by Brady They would
show that the ability to make
TWO INCONSISTENT AFFIDAvrTs
was not confined 10 John W. Dorsey On the
route from Bismarck to Fort keOgh John r.
Miner sNOrc that on schedule of 81 hours 10
men and Is animals were required and on q
schedule of % hours $50 men and $50 animals
would be needed. That is the one route on which
Brady allowed less than pro rata Mr. Bliss de-
scribed how Brady gave his orders in the first
Instance hy endorsing, do this: Brady" on the
jackets, the order being then formulated by
clerk At another time. Mr.. Miner had sworn
that but 81 men and % animals and this affi-
dayit was IN the jacket when Brady made the
order, Yet he accepted Miners affidavit as suffi-
eient evidence for the purpose OF making the
order This last-named affidavit had disap-
peared. but they would produce as a witness
the clerk who had endorsed 1t. OF the 10
routes mentioned in the Indictment orders of
expedition had been made ON all but one The
fraud On this one consisted in
PAYING TWICE
for the same service. There were IS afidayits
used as the basis of orders and 10 of these bore
such evidences OF erasures and alterations that
no man would accept them. They should ask
the jury on such evidence In connection. of
course with other testimony. TO say that the acts
of Brady were those of a corrupt official. For