Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-01-16

point, however, the Republican leaders,
reused to the danger of exposure. began
work. and from this time henceforward
reaction was noticed in Judge Woods
court For no apparent reason court
was adjourned for three weeks Mr..
Voorhees, thus explained the delays:
While the grand jury was Jet in recess Duds
ley told prominent men of both political parties
whom he met In New York that his pockets
were full Of dynamite, and il he was indicted
and prosecuted a very loud explosion would oc-
cur. He did not intend that his associates and
coworkers in the campaign, while enriched by
the spoils o. victory and glittering with official
honors and distinction, should look on his ar.
raignJnent, trial and inevitable conviction with
complacent sense Of security to themselves
His threats OF dynamite were well understood
In certain quarters which had rover to protect
him he had carried and disbu-sed the corrup-
lion fund Of his party for eight years in Indiana
and vas in possession OF political secrets of q
character to humble and bring low many .
proud head il he was abandoned to his fate
Dudley is a stanch and extreme party man,
nor do I think him wanting in personal fidelity
to those with whom he breaks bread and
not merely for his own sins but also as
scapegoat for the sins OF others,
who from high places were intending to
let him make the journey alone, was more than
CfCu LIS potIiOliC 0SNOtlOH 70 Inc htpUOnSIxa
party and his personal adhesion to Harrison
could sta nd He pointed to the well-known dyn-
amite in his pockets and the menacing gesture
and hint were needed with startling prompti-
tdde.
The grand jury reassembled December 4, and
within the next four days it was known from
the witnesses who had been called ana testified
that an overwhelming case had been made
against Dudley and that his Indictment was an
assured fact under the rulings of the court as
they then stood. Suddenly, on December 9,
Judge Woods adjourned court at Indianapolis
to hold a weeks term at Fort Wayne, which
lasted one hour and forty minutes and involved
the trial of one very unimportant and trivial case.
But time had been gained and the grand jury
did not reassemble until December IL.
In the meantime the district attorney in
charge Of the case resigned and Mr.. Bailey, an
able and very competent man, was appointed
in his place. ThereupOn q strange coincidence
| took place between the views of Republicans
| at Washington and Indianapolis. Republican
Senators with singular unanimity and prompt
ness declared for the ear of the public that they
| would under no circumstances allow Bailey to
be confirmed, while Judge Woods, with equal
promptness and publicity, declared that he
would under no circumstances receive an in
| dictment from the grand jury signed by Mr..
Bailey until he had been confirmed by the Sem
ate.
! Another adjournment Of the court and the
| grand jury followed the advent of the chairman
| of the National Republican committee, this
time suspending all action and going over from
December % to January IA, period Of full
! three weeks And then, when the court and
| the grand jury came together again, the object
| for which justice had been delayed and jock
eyed and juggled so long in the interest of par
stisan crime was speedily made manifest.
On the 18th day of January, 1882 day long
| to be remembered in the history of the judi
| ciary with shame, Judge Woods delivered the
| infamous second charge to the grand jury
whereby Dudley and his confederateS were en-
abled to escape, at least for the time being,
| from the laSheS of the law. In his first charge
Judge Woods, in the plain, simple words of
section 5,511, had told the jury that to counsel
or advise any one to attempt to bride q voter
was an indictable offense. In his second charge
he says that such counsel or advice, whether
in a letter or otherwise, setting forth scheme
| Of bribery, however bold or reprehenSible, Is
not indictable in his court. To make it so he
declares there must be shown in addition that
| the person receiving the letter, who may be un-
| known to the grand jury and legally described
as unknown in the Indictment, has himself
made an attempt to bride somebody or has in
| stigated some other rogue to make such at
tempt.
The impossibility Of making this kind OF ad-
ditional proof in the grand jury-room or before
traverse jury had been very carefully weighed
and considered in the close and high councils Of
the party before the second charge was given;
but as if fearing that the grand jury might adj
here to solid principles, although he himself
had betrayed and abandoned them, Judge
Woods went further and gave notice, in sub
stance If not in terms that If an Indictment
under his first charge should be returned he
would allow conviction a trial Of the
same.
Senator Voorhees, then paid his re-
spects to President Harrison and Dis
trict Attorney Chambers as follows:
Chambers, in ordering the warrant not to
issue, calls for his summary dismissal from
Office unless the Admin stration of which he is
| a member, is willing to have the law still
further violated in order to still further protect
Dudley. 1t is not worth while to have it put
| forth and heralded over the country at stated
intervals that the Admin stration did not shake
hands with Dudley at the Inauguration ball,
and that he now only enters the White House
at the back door or not at all. No fairer op-
pOrtunity can occur than the one now pre-
/ Sented to the President to define his position
as to Dudley and his crime and its indorsers. It
matters not whether District-Attorney Cham
bers has the legal right to prevent the arrest of
Dudley or not. He exercises that right and
not only refused to prosecute him, but declared
himself in earnest sympathy with the felonious
act with which Dudley is charged.
The fact that Dudley committed q sub
stantive ofrense against the laws when he adj
vised his correspondents to attempt the
bribery Of voters stands out the great central
| feature of this whole question, and can never
be escaped as long section 5,511 endures.
The attempt of Judge Woods and his counsel
| OrS to dwarf Dudley into accompiice and an
abettor, and to exalt the miserable pigmies
who are his tools in Indiana to principals only
| excites derision and contempt among honest
and intelligent people. This issue can be left
where Judge Woods has placed it, with the
tainty OF a conspicuously shameful place In the
history a the Judiciary of the Tinted States