Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-08-18
Condition of the Civil Suits in the Star
Route Cases.


Condition of the Civil Suits in the Star
Route Cases.
WASHINGTON, August 17th.-Last spring,
while the Springer Committee was thrash
ing over the old star route straw, Attorney
General Brewster announced that he pro-
posed to begin a vigorous prosecution of
civil suits against the starr route contractors,
to recover, if possible, some portion of the
plumber which they had obtained in their
successful raids on the treasury. They had
been allowed to languish because the De-
partment of Justice was so busy
with other matters; but they were
now to be revived and rejuvenated.
The prosecution was to be vigorously
pressed, and millions of dollars were to be
recovered to the treasury. Following this
announcement came the appointment of
Colonel William o. Bradley, of Kentucky,
to carry on the work which Brewster had
promised Colonel Bradley is one of the
leaders of the Kentucky bar, and his elo
ouence has given him reputation through
out the Ohio valley. He has always been
prominent in politics, formerly as Demo-
crat and recently as Republican, al
though he has never held a politl-
cal office. He has been Kentuckys
member of the Republican National
Committee for years, and delegate to his
party's National Conventions. He seconded
Conkling's nomination of Grant in 1880,
and afterwards stumped New \ DIRK tor Gar
field When he accepted the place, Bradley
bucklcd down to his work with zeal. For
some time he worked i'll Washington pros
pecting preliminaries for the suits. When
he believed himself ready to begin he said
to the Attorney General that, warned by
~. oh haI att LODI
prosecution of the criminal suits against
members of the star route ring, largely be-
cause of antagonism among the Govern
ment counsel he desired to control the
selection of his assistants. He said that he
believed it all important that the proSecu-
ton of the civil suits should be harmo-
nized, in order to be successful. lie wanted
to know personally every man engaged in
the prosecution down to the humbleSt stem
Ographer, in order that he might not be con-
tinualIy harrassed by suspicious respecting
either their ability or their loyalty. The
Attorney General apparently didn't know
the man he was dealing with. He said,
with petulancy, that he proposed to run
the cases himself and that he would select
his own agents for that purpose. Colonel
course calmly but clearly, and then made
another suggestion to the Attorney-Gen
eral. This was that the first man TO be
prosecuted should be Dorsey. This excited
more opposition on the part of the Attor
ney-General than the first proposition. He
would not listen to it. Then Bradley
gave the Acknowledgement a piece of his
mind. and left the cases and the Depart
ment together Subsequently the Attorney
General sent him check for few hundred
dollars as compensation for the expenditure
of time and money which he had made in
preparing the cases for trial. This check
Bradleypromply returned to the Attorney
General Then he went back to Kentucky
a wiser if not a sadder man. SO far his
successor has not been appointed, and the
cases seem to be about as languid as ever.
Vanderbilt and His Famous Flyer.
New YORK, August 17th.-The Tibomc's
Saratoga special says: 1t is probable that
Vanderbilt will soon sell his famous mare
Maud s. He has owned her six years. He
paid $21 900 for her, with an additional
81 900 to the agent who made the purchase
The reasons which induce Vanderbilt to
part with the mare, in which he has taken
great pride, are the excessive annoyances
which her position, coupled with her re-
cent exploit at Cleveland, caused him. He
has been bothered by requests and
suggestions as to matches with
other horses, or to trot against
time, at different places. Some
of the requests have been strongly urged.
Vanderbilt has become thoroughly dis
gusted with the innumerable annoyances
of his position as owner of the fastest
trotter in the world He recently received
an offer Of 100000 for the mare, and while
he has given no decisive answer to this or
the other offers lately made, he has con-
Guided to accept one OF them. He will be
careful that the mare falls into good hands,
and has repeatedly refused offers because Of
his lack of knowledge as to the real prin-
cipal Two years ago he received
standing offer Of 100000, to hold
good for a year, but he paid no
attention to it, on the excuse that the
mare should not get into the possession OF
professional turfmen. He has not yet
made the sale but it is understood that he
would like David Bonner, President Of the
Gcntlemens Driving Club, to be the next
owner of Maud S. Speaking of this, Van
derbilt said: ~ am Disguised with the
whole business. bought the mare for my
own pleasure, but for the last year or two,
at least have had very little. Horse
Jockeys will not leave me alone as long as
| own her l am satisfied she could have
lowered the record below 2:09, but every
body has an ak to grind He sus-
pected that she was not honestly
driven at Cleveland, and that Blair
had purpose in not lowering the record
by only One-quarter or one-half seconds
time, when she could easily have gone
faster. He suspected jockeying, but he is
disguised with the notoriety brought him in
recent years. The day she arrived home
| from Cleveland over 1000 persons visited
| the stables. 1t was all well enough in its
way but not particularly pleasant To Van
derbilt. In addition TO these things he
only sees ;he mare about two months out
of the twelve.
The Fire Record.
GRENADA (Missl, August 17th.-A fire
last night destroyed the greater portion of
the business part of town. 1t burned three
hours, consuming seventy-eight buildings
and their contents. Loss, $500, 600; insur
| ance, $50, 900,
GREENvILLE (Tex), August 17th.-At .
o'clock this morning, under a strong south
wind, fire rapidly engulfed two entire
| squares of wooden buildings. Crossing the
west side of the square, every building was
swept away for two hundred yards. From
| this point the flames communicated to the
| Court house, reducing ii to ashes. The fire
then spread to the south side of the square,
destroying half the buildings on that side
Altogether about forty business houses,
half of them we'll built brick structures,
with all their contents-over half the bust
ness portion of Greenville-are in ruins
The total loss including the $4,000 Court
| house, is $36000
Henry watterson and the Blaine Calumny.
LOUISVILLE, August 17th.-Henry Wat
terson returned from Virginia Beach to-
day, and in answer to question as to the
Blaine scandal said that he had long ago
discredited it and dismissed it from his
serious consideration. He had occasion
some fifteen years ago to look into the mat
ter, and had found nothing which could