The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1885-10-24
OUR LETTER FROM BRoADBRlM

Revelations of FrauG an:l Co:ru;,tio i'll
Ofice-War Among the Democratic Fac
! tions-Fiurry i'll the stocs ,ta:l1ct--Two
Rival Actresses-Obseluieso of Cardinal
I! AlcCloslry.
New YORK, Oct Ii, 1885.
! Enron CHIEF:
The revelations now being made before
the Commission which is looking into the
workings of our Excise Board are as dis
| in the history of this ill-governea city. 4
license is applied for by the keeper of IL
d;sreputabie dive, the known resort of pros
titutes and thieves. There was no doubt
about the character of the place, and when
the Excise Commissioners made applica-
! tion to the Police Captain Of Tx. precinct
for report, he promptly reported against
it. The proprietor of the place, notorious
thief, finding his nefarious business block
ed, applies for aid and advice to local
politician. This worthy, a gentleman of
influence in the ward, advises him to get
somebody else to apply for the license,
although the person obtaining it has to
swear that no one but himself is interested
ence promises to see the matter through for
$500. There certainly could never have
been better test Of the value of political
influence, for the three Excise commission
ers had voted unanimously against it. The
Police Captain of the precinct had reported
against it. The place was known to be q
thieves den, when the gentleman of inau-
ence steps into the ring. First and fore
most he procures a reputable man to COM
NIT open and deliberate perjury he swears
that he alone is interested; he pays $500 to
the go-between, and hey presto fly: the
license is granted without any further delay.
Bad as this city is, there never was Il more
fragrant case than this, and the man who
received the money acknowledged the fact
without blushing, and tie oAlg satisfaction
that he gave the com mission was, that ne
did not sell his political influence for moth
ing, and if he had known at the time of his
application that Captain Williams had re-
ported against the place, he would have
charged him double what he did. It seems
as if every public Office was honey-combed
with fraud. For many years the COMMON
ership of Jurors has been worth more than
the Presidency of the United States. The
salary, though very liberal, would scarcely
furnish whiskey and cigars for the incum-
bent, butts as much Of prize as Consoli-
dated Virginia was when they struck the
big bonanza. You may ask how this is !?
Well, simple enough, in its way. The bust
ness of making up jurors for the courts is
delegated to the Commissioner of Jurors.
In making up the poll, suppose he puts in
the box from which he draws the names of
a lot of rich men-Henry N. Smith, s. V.
White, G. P. huntingdon, Mr.. Jaffray, Mr..
Bates, Judge Hilton, Jay Gould, W. II. Van
derbilt and Russell Sage; now out of the
lot he draws ten or twenty such names as
these. The deputy serves them with notice.
Here is the case of a very rich man whose
business would suffer by his absence, being
compelled to sit in foul smelling court
for weeks to listen to cases of murder,
assault and robbery. All the surroundings
are degrading and disgusting. If the rich
man has a sick wife or child, or has impor-
tant business out of town, so much the bet
ter for the Commissioner of Jurors-the
rich man is willing to pay for his immu-
nifty; and the official is not unwilling to
receive, and the amount agreed on depends
on the victims financial ability to be squeez-
ed. Thousands upon thousands of dollars
are annually paid by our wealthy men to
secure exemption from jury duty, and that
is the reason that you seldom see any of
them serving on criminal trials.