Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-09-30

hers ofthe committee 1t details at length the
history of the star route frauds from Hayes adj.
miniStration down 70 the time of the commence
mcnt OF the suits. and declares that the frauds
upon the service could not have been com
+ mitted without the knowledge. cooperation
and assistance of 7. J. Brady and that not only
the contractors, but many uJncr persons in high
official position in the Government. were either
CrImIn2lly COguENut OF the frauds or guilty par
ticipantS therein. 10 declares the amount out
OF which the Governments was dciruudCd ia the
STIR route mail service during Hayes admins
tratlOn exceeds Sl0O0.0l0. At one time the Gov
Crnmcnt was paying $4,000 per year for carry
ing mails 10 an Office that yielded less than Sl2
W" revenue. The story OF the attempt 70 arbi-
tr1te the salisbury and Parker cases IS told nc
some length, and the report has the following
10 SLY concerning these combinations: Ii ap-
pears irum the evidence that two Of the most
powerful combinations OC the poSt-rOutc con-
tractors were known rs The Salisbury
ana Parker combinations Al Efforts at pro
curing indictments against these parties failed
material witness against Salisbury was one
Thomas y. Ncpyvitt. u nominal contractor for
the principals, who held q large amount OF eN-
ped!tcd service. !, seems thar Ngpevitt had
been indicted iu Philadelphia for fraudulent
bidding on certain routes iu Texas The matter
was Guuc distinct from those lp which his CVi-
deuce was chiefly sought Woodward was Gi-
rygtcd hH Attorney Gyucrji McNvj.;h and Post
ra>tcg-Gcueru James to procure am affidavit
from NrbeYlt as to ms knowledge OF fraud i'm
ltC Salisbury ease. NCNcyIU WU.lC 30 uUl STATE.
l2eUt oi ".t ihc facts Within bis knowledge. and
WAS given l.y Woodward uu implied promise of
Immunity .u consideration ui his making uil
di>..ysu,s The binding force of luv implied
premise was lyu1EuiNd by JaWy> and Mac
Nra-h NeN,Nj,t added tlNt tc would freely
communicate amy farther Information within
u's An'".tcsc whenever called upon hy ,Ge
',eNc'iMehl. NrtWNlrtaWHuE th,s tu dis
closure un the part gt NuNryltt. and the implied
promise OF immunity which uu had received
from Woodward ut Philadelphia. tHe v-tIrr de-
partmtnt WAS pressed % trial aui Ncpcyitt
WAS convicted and sentenced t1tla ucuuautiary
for one year. Woodward protested .1 the pr1Si-
urut aud Attorney -1cgCrut that iu the trial and
conviction OF NCpcyitt solemn pledges of She
Government had been broken and urged eyccti-
tive clcWcucy in his case. which was not
granted. Woodward tcStitvS, also, that as Me
Dewitt was u witness he should have been n
lied upon to break into the Salisbury CumbiuR-
tjou, and show their methods of doing business,
and that he was the only witness accessible 20
make proof against this powerful combination
but that the Government took that witness and
sent him 90 the peuiicntiary.
The report continues. The manner OF pro
curing expedition was reduced to a science.
AUdavltS ot contractors and Others were used
as a foundation upon which expedition aud in
creased service were allowed. The brazen
etfontery and perjury of these affidavit makcrs
is without parallel in the history Of criminal
prosecutions. Athdayits signed and sworn TO in
blank were kept on hand by the contractors.
Just rs they laid up supplies of grain for their
horses These aflidayitS were the sole measure
of cost of the expedition and ne other evidence
was required by the Department tor granting
increases of services and increases of speed.
which cost the Government hundreds of thou
sands of dollars. \ stock of these blank Atiida-
wits was always kept on hand, and blanks filed
when occasion was required 10 use them; and
the papers filed with the Department werO tho
basis of securing large additions to contracts.
This perjury was made the basis Of all the
frauds perpetT0tcd.'
NeouSiderablc portion or the report IS devoted
to the subject of employment and compensation
of attorneys The amount paid for this pur-
pose as far as aScertaincd, was SlIi Si6 of which
George Bliss received So. .732.
\ review of Merrick'S testimony in eXplana-
tiou of the failure of the Government to secure
conviction in the two star route trials is given.
but the report says the committee had not time
to pursue the investigation.
Tammany Hall Nominations-John KeIly'S
Remarks.
New YORK September 2gth.-Tammany Hall
made the following nominations to-day: Foe
Mayor Alderman Hugh J. Grant; Controller,
eN-CongreSsman T. Henry Dugro; District AttoI-
ney. ex-senator George H. Foster: President of
the Board of Alderman General John CCchrane:
Coroner, DR.. NJ, J. D. Messemer; Judges Of the
Court of Common Pleas, Richard l.. larimorc,
Jos. F. DAILY trenominatcd) and Hugh L. Cole.
All the candidates, especially Alderman Grant.
were heartily cheered. John Kelly, in a speech
at the opening of the Convention. said We
believed the nomination at Chicago was an un-
wise one, but Grover Cleveland is the nominee
of the Democratic party, and we will not sepa-
rate from the party we have ali known and
loved 50 long. We shall give Cleveland and
Hendricks a full, fair and honorable support"
4 communication from the Executive Committee
of the Peoples party, suggesting II certain can
didte, was ignored.
Cyclone in Pennsylvania.
REApFoRn, September 29th.-Thc village of
Alton, located III the mountains sixteen miles
south OF Bradford, was this afternoon visited by
q cyclone, which, If gaugcd according TO de-
strIctiVe power. equals anything of tho kind
thatsthe breezy West has furnished 4 funnel
shaped cloud was observed coming from tho
southwest, and rush was made for the CELLAR
and other safe retreats In less than two min
utes the cyclone struck .Ston, sweeping every
thing before Y, and the air on either side for
distance OF one-fuurth of mile was black with
fyIn" timber and treC-tOps. The cyclones path
was I'VE miles in width. At Alton il swept
through the southern part Of the town. demOl-
ishing six dwelling-houses and three foot
bridges There We're many exciting scenes and
incidents The new Methodist Episcopal Church,
Il wooden building 3llNd0 feet recently finished
was completely wrecked: not enough was LEFT
tp huildu bonfire. Some shattered timbcrs were
carried halfmilc through the woods. a one
story building, occupied by Phillips Bros as
iced store. was also scattered to the four winds.
\ large two-StOry frame house was liited bodily
into the air six feet and thrown on its edge two
rods away. Dan Sullivan's house was nearly
unrooed and the furniture and dishes broken.
The family were III the house. Mrs. Sullivan
WAS severely hurt 10y flying piece of jOist. and
her 7-yearold daughter had her scalp laid open
= Distressing Tragedy.
BINcHNFToN tN. ", September 29th.-Last
night distressing Tragedy occurred in Smith
borough small village - miles west of this
city. There lives in SInithborough Il very hand
some widow named Mrs G. Kingsbury who
occupies Il house in the central part Of the vii
lagc, with her daughter Frank. Young woman
Il years old. Mrs. kingSbury has not borne
Very good name. Charles II. Pickering is a man
of fine address quiet habits am gcntlcmanly
manners. His character was t.ouCht to be
good. He manifested Al weakness for the hand
some widow some time ago, and always visited
her when il tn" village. Last night Pickering
found Il man named McClOud in the widows
house, and, in Il fit of jealous passion, drew
revolver and shot Met loud in the stomach, the
bullet lodging in the back near the spine. Then
he shot the widow in the ilcShy part of the hip
and her daughter in the ankle Having ex-
hauSted all his cartridges he beat the woman
over the head with the but of the weapon until
the neghbOrhOod was aroused. when he fed
from the house and has not since been seen,
officers are on the trail Pickeriug's
all respectable people. Pickering was formerly
in the livery stable business at Saratoga. He
has dealt III horses extensively, and is well
known in this and other states among horse
mcn.s-
The Ross-Teemer scuIIing Match.
BGsToN, September 29th.-About 5000 persons
went To the Point of Pines this afternoon to wit
ness the sculling contest between Wallace Rosa
and John Tcemcr postponed from Saturday.
The stakes were purse of 5000, for which the
were compelled to traverse n course
one and quarter miles long four times, or
total distance of five miles. Ros9 was given .
start of five seconds. Teemer was the favoTite
3D. Forty seconds later the word was given to
Ross. and five seconds later the word was given
To Tc0mer. Ross was Il good three lengths to
the fore when his youthful competitor dropped
his blades, and was doing good thirty strokes TO
the minute, which was Just the stroke set
hy Teemer. The latter was getting the most
speed ont Of his shell, and n twenty
strokes leSsened Ross lead by half q
length. Ross stecred a beautiful course.
while Teemer went inside loOSlng half way to
the first stake nearly twenty lengths, being
swept toward Lynn HdrbOr by the incoming
tide. Ross suffered likewise from the samo
cause. but not rs much as TCemcr. Thence to
the turn TeemCr continued TO gain, and when
Ross rounded his stake he was not more than
three lengths ahead. Then 20 the starting
point both men alternately gained and lost
ground, although TCcmer, on the whole, had
the better of the spurts Twenty eight strokes
to the minute was about the power applied to
each boat most of the time. As the men re-
turned To the starting point Ross was still in tho
lead by a length, and on rounding the
stake added half a length more Both
men made good turns one hundred yards
from the finish both oarSmcn put in their last
and best work Ross had what advantage there
was, but while looking over his shoulder to
measure the distance TO the finish, Teemer had
pat the PROV of his shell on line with Ross,
perceiving which Ross made q last desperste
effort but il was of no avail. Te6mer put ON
terrific burst of speed that actually jumped MIA
boat over the line from three 70 SIX feet ahead
The time given by the official time-keeper Waa
s. minutes but other watches made 1t 1919 ana
Il. N FN..