Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-11-14
RICH DEVELOPMENTS PROMISED
In THE STAR ROUTE CASES.
THE STORY EX-SENATOR SPENCER IS EXPECTED
TO TELL.

Washington Correspondence New York Herald.
the star route case should again be tried II
Is hoped that ex-senator George Spencer. gov
eminent director Of the Union Pacific railway
Will voluntarily come here to testify for the gov
eminent. It is said that the defense at the last
trial suddenly closed their case, fearing Mr.
Spencer would be on hand at the last moment
1t was this, 1T is said, that stampeded the de-
PENDANTS and made them close so abruptly tt
avoid the direct testimony Mr.. Spencer would
give against Dorsey and Brady. In this CON
nection there is an interesting fact never before
published. When Mr. Spencer told friend. who
was republican ex-senator from New York
that he had seen Dorsey pay Brady money Mr.
Spencer was asked if he intended to make such
statement on the witness stand Mr.. Spencer
replied that he would have to do SO If he ap
peared as witness for the government. Then
you propose to confess having knowledge of a
transaction which. if dishonest, makes YOU q
party to this guilt" said Mr.. Spencer's friend
Mr.. Spencer said that he did not think that
construction could be put upon his testimony
His understanding was that Brady was assess
ing Dorsey very heavily, and if Brady learned
that Dorsey had witnesses of the payment OF
money 1t would stop further exactiOns. BRADY
Is thief" said Dorsey to Spencer Il want
you to be witness of the robbery he practses
on me-" Spencer could not explain to his friend
how Dorsey had put himself into Brady clutches.
and the more he thought of what he had seen
the more discreditable it appeared for him to
admit it on the witness stand.
EVIDENCE OF BRADY's EXACTIONS.
But ex-senator Spencer is not the only per-
son who witnessed the payment Of money by
Dorsey to Brady. There is on file at the Post
once department the report OF special agent,
dated Little Rock, June H. 1881, which contains
the following remarkable statement, obtained
at that place by the special agent from well
ram ,olif inion ir, Aclyo
f asf banded nS r ssss paper and sid unwrsp
IT, sd T ssa s
Dorsey then requested Sickles go with him. and they
and its eonents Brady orened ri BUY
put ths paper and all in drawer OF his desk and closed
Sehes left Upon ARRIVING in tine nan after leaving
want You to recollect this circumstance"
On the following day the special agent wrote
as fOlOws:-
have since had further conversations from which ii
Of Doasw was mace s IN lor the purpose
him. It is stated by my informant that Dorsey
on Lis heel and fined Dorsey ST. ooo and Continued to
fine him until it amounted to SO much that Dorsey drew
no mail pay for six months.
WHAT THE ALLEGED WITNESS SAID.
While the star route trial was progressing,
and when Mr. Spencer was in Washington In
obedience to the summons served on him, Mr..
William Sickles, the person referred to in the
Poio VI liic Ost OllCe Special agent, was also
mere and was privately interviewed about the
transaction spoken of in that report. He had
been an inspection clerk in the Post Office de-
partment, and visited Arkansas in the line of his
duty. He knew ex-senator Dorsey. He was
asked
made You witnes to his gi.ins second ia hssisst
Fosfmaser General Brady package which contained
ro+ never e heard such thing until Mr. Merck inter
no
GOT INTO the air some way No word passed between
k sensar oaev e snes Mr.
the raj! and beckoned me ont of the court room He
me faGH a Id fuao o WEE W1 to Be deSnst
AID DID not wish 70 converse with him, ANA left him.
have notling to say to him"
when did Mr.. MeIrick first ask you whether You
s sis 5S% Dorsey hand Brady package containing
1T was Monday morning of this week"
ask YOU about this Eloney?'
else upon this the between Ny
sd & me reared l.! A. c,ni(,nal and com
give an answer to Dorsey he locked offended. do not
lie Ny impression was that he thought had tod
A TREAcHERous MEMORY -2u72 "17"t
Mr. Sfcktes was further examined and when
his memory was refreshed he admitted that
there was once some transaction that Dorsey
wanted him to remember, but somehow his
memory could not grasp it, He was asked if
he had everhad any conversation with Governor
Powell Clayton or ex-Chef Justice Mcclure on
THIS subject in Little Rock, but he could not
recolect having CONVEX ed with any one on
this subject Mr.. Mcclure was in Washington
at the time Of this interview with Mr. Sickies.
and SO was Mr. Clayton 1t will appear some
what remarkable that Mr.. Merrick, of govern
ment counsel, and ex-senator Dorsey, one of
the star route defendants, should both have
asked Mr.. S!ckles on the same day the same
question, and 1t is the more remarkable as Mr..
Sickles said in the Interview
when conversinS with Mr.. H!errick fe,t very GER
concernsd ! WIS surrrsed that EX-SENATOR Dorsey.
seek an interview and in.r1c r tba si X &
ject to me which aIr. aierrick had done. 1t aroused
ard seemed tarb i,'e WIFI Misl Know Mt that
OF my interview VIII hr Merrick the suspicion would
maturity be excited in my mind that perhaps my
recollection was at fault"
After the interview was finished it was written
out AID Sickles was asked if on reading it over.
as man of Judgment, he did not think he had
answered i'll such way as to satisfy ANYBODY
who read his answers that he recOlected the
transaction. but, of course it was for his interest
TO still deny, and he said that he did So
sPENCER's THEORY SUSTAINED
Thus it appears that Senator Spencers theory
OF Dorsey asking him to witness the payment OF
money to Brady is sustained by the report to the
Post Office department from the special agent at
l4!ttt hoCh IHtIc are Ot1er Witnesses OF the fact
that Brady bled Dorsey at will. which made him
emphasize his opinion Of Brady and it is a.
matter OF public record by one of Mr. Dorsey's
nearest friends that his offense was in submit
ting to the demands of Brady. How the ex-Sen-
atOr from Arkansas got ught in Mr. Brady's
meshes no one has volunteered to explain. Mr.
Spencer can tell all about it ii he will only come
to Washington and since he has learned that he
is not the only custodian of the facts it may be
that he will not think, as his New York adviser
thought last July, that it would be disreputable
for him to admit that he saw Dorsey nav Brady
money. Meanwhile his pass over the Union
Pacific Railroad is good as presently his name
will appear in the annual report of the govern
ment directors of the Union Pacific Railroad.
THE PRESIDENTS NON-ACrION.
The letter to the President. signed by Messrs.
George Bliss,l Richard 7. Merrick and w. w.
ker of governments counsel in the star route
case, setting forth the conduct OF Mr.. Spencer
and calling attention to the fact that he was an
important witness and had rendered the de-
PENDANTS a great service by leaving here. was
Immediately forwarded to the President by the
Attorney General eanly last August. so It is not
the fault Of the head of the Department of
Justice or his assistants that the President
has not acted It Is understood that the
President has been too busy with personal
matters to give the letter serious considera-
ton. 1t is said that he sent word to the Attor-