Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-06-22
The St.r.nou,c ,us,n..s.

the respondents has been the leading topic of
discussion by the press of the country during
the past week. So important is this matter,
and so great is the interest of the people in
it, that it is well to recall the main facts on
which the case against the star.route ring is
founded. The men on trial were Thomas j.
Brady, formerly second assistant postmaster
general, ex-senator Stephen w. Dorsey and
his brother, John w. Dorsey, John Il. Mi
ner and Harvey NJ. Vale. The crime
alleged consisted in corrupt conspiracy on
the part of Brady and these men to increase
their pay as mail or "star. route" contractors
from some $40, 600 to over 5000, 600 or ten
times as much. Brady, by virtue of his Off
cial place. had it in his power to expedite"
the service on starroutes-ths expedition"
meaning usually an increased number of
mails a week, at an increased rate of speed,
and, of course, at increased pay to the con-
tractors. great mass of evidence has been
collected which shows corrupt collision be-
tween Brady and this little ring Of contract
ors-the expedition of mails being made at
enormously increased rates of payment and
the government funds thus stolen being divid-
ed between Brady and the contractors. What
the individual profits were from these opera
tons will never be known, but that they
amounted to hundreds of thousands of dol
lars for the principals there can be no doubt
Aside from the facts connected with the
case here especially referred to, it is also of
interest to recall some particulars in regard
to the star-route business as a whole, which
the Investigations of the past two years have
brought out. The period is for the term of
four years, beginning July l, 1873. In the
whole country there were almost 5000 star
routes, or routes over which mails were car
ried by wagons drawn by horses or by men
on horseback The main part of this service
was in nine western and southwestern states
and nine territories. The service in this sec
ton was let at the beginning of this term for
S2,0O9, $50 per annum, and in one year Brady
increased the pay of the contractors to So
zoe, 1897, mainly by extra allowances" The
contractors who profted by this enormous in
crease of pay were only some thirteen in num-
Der. The method adopted was for these men,
knowing what would happen, to make their
bids very low at the outset, in order to get
control of all the routes in out-of-the-way
places, where frauds would be comparatively
easy and safe then, as soon as might be after
their service began, they would get up petit
ton for expedition" their pay would be
enormously increased, and the ring, with
Brady and Dorsey at its head, would pocket
the swag. Orders for expedition were secur-
ed by getting petition from inhabitants on
any given route for more frequent mails at
greater speed. When honest petitions could
not be secured, fraudulent ones were manu-
featured.
Among the specimen instances cited of ex-
petition ordered under such methods is that
of useless route in the Indian territory,
where the annual pay was raised from So, $50
to $50, 600. The mail matter amounted to
two letters a month, which a solitary horse
man carried over the wild praires. Four
routes in Oregon were included in the indict-
ment recently tried, where the pay was in
creased from SIG, 1872 to SlGI, 1S0. The facts
and figures given show that the frauds were
limited to comparatively small number of
routes-probably less than 500 in all-and
the inquiry was narrowed until it related to
only 90 of these, in which it was shown that
NhS PoJ Ahu Dtth lhlbtu lEOul lOZ, 900 10
81, 1913, 4G4-indicating handsome profit"
of almost 81, ,OOO
Such is the star-route business, sketched in
brief and bare outline In the matter of in.
creased mail service for sparsely settled re-
gions, it should be said that Congress gives
the post-oflice department very wide discre-
ton, and it is question whether Brady did
not act for the most part under cover of a
strict, though at the same time wanton, con-
struction of the law; but this does not alter
the fact that all the evidence points to a cor
rupt understanding between him and the men
who were on trial with him. Why the trial
failed of conviction, it is not easy to say in
exact terms The country certainly does not
believe that it is because the respondents are
innocent. The great length of the trial and
the extreme voluminousness of the testimony
and arguments were points greatly against
the government. By many it is considered
radical mistake that an attempt was made to
prove a conspiracy. One thing is certain.
The case as presented in its enormous detail
of fact and evidence and long-drawn-out,
muddling argument, was entirely beyond the
comprehension of any average body of twelve
mer picked up at random in city like Wash
ington under the present method of drawing
/ jury panels. The result of this trial opens
anew discussion of our method of trial bv
/ jury. When, in case like this-and as was
really the fact with this star-route iury-a
/ jury numbers one or more who cannot read
or write and who are devoid of ordinary in
telligence in the affairs of the world, it is
more senseless to expect abstract and common
sense justice at their hands than TO look for
figs from thistles. We say this fully realizing
that the rule would equally apply had the re-
suit been conviction instead of an acquittal.
Even in our country communities, where in
telligenoe and integrity are the rule, one is
too often driven to feel that caprice and the
lugglery of counsel have carried the day in a
jurys verdict, rather than law, fact, and So
Der judgment. Judge Wyle's charge was
model of legal fairness and impartiality; but
in reading it one telt, nevertheless, that he
believed the prisoners guilty. So would any
one or three or twelve men of judicial mind
and training have believed and decided 1t
may seem like q broad statement but we ney-
ertheless believe that any obseryant and
thoughtful person, who has watched the gen.
eral course Of jury trials, and who had case
IN hand which he wanted sifted to the bottom
and decided on its merits, would rather trust
it to the decision of any one or three compe-
tent and upright court judges, than take his
chances in the lottery of an average jury trial.