Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-02
B00DLING In CANADA.
The Prime Minister of Quebec is Ac-
cused of Completely.
CHARGES MADE BY A CONTRACTOR,
Money Was Necessary to Get Big Bills
Through Parliament.
LACONIC BUT TELL-TALE DISPATCHES

poses of this most prolific of Canadian
scandal seasons have been cast completely
into the shade by developments in connec-
tion with Contractor Whelan's bribery of
two successive Governments of the Province.
The Murphv-McGreevy dock swindle of
S25o, 900, the Rykert land deal of $200, 900,
which cost its author his seat in the Cana
dian Parliament, and General Middleton s
looting of turs in the Canadian Northwest,
all pale into insignifcauce before scandal
that proclaims the shame of the principal
public men OF the Province of Quebec.
Shorn of its unnecessary and unimpor-
| tant Details this new story of national
humiliation is as follows: Some eight years
j. P. Whelan, of Montreal, then editor and
proprietor of the Daily Post and True Wit
ness, signed a contract with the then con-
| servative government of the Province of
| Quebec to build new Court House in the
city of Quebec at cost of $4,000 Up to
| the present time, however, 500. 900 have
been paid out to the contractors, and
Whelan has filed claims for $500, 900 more.
QUARREL BETWEEN PARTNERS.
The present scandal, like that of the Nc
Greevy dock scandal, might have been sue
cesstully kept from the public but for a
quarrel between partners over the division
Of the Doodle. Whelan's partner in the
Court House contract was Daniel Ford,
practical architect and builder, who sup
piled most OF the mechanical experience,
while WheIan supplied the money. Ford
did not furnish all the experience, however,
for that necessary to successful political
fnanciering was supplied by Whelau. Not
withstanding the large amount of Doodle
paid out to the politicians, both partners
have already made handsome fortunes out
of their share of the profits derived from the
Court House contract.
Whelan's last claim for extras, in consid-
Grafton, 1t is said, of the payment of large
sums to leading politicians, he succeeded
in having referred to arbitration. Whelan
was clever enough to take for his lawyer
Mr.. Beausoliel, M. P, Premier Mercier's
law partner; but, complaining that he bled
him too much for political subscriptions,
WheIan some time ago dropped him and re-
tanned in his place Mr.. Prefontaine, M. P,
another influential politician, and a law
partner OF the Premier's son-in-law, Mr..
Gouin. Thereupon' Beausoliel took up the
case of Ford, Whelan's old partner, and
proceeded to put the Government contractor
through a severe course of cross-examina.
ton in regard to his disposal of certain
moneys that had passed through his hands.
He struck a snag, however, when he insist
ed upon knowing what Whelan had done
with certain $4,000.
JUST LIKE TWEED.
81 paid it to the boodlers," said Whelan,
"to prevent the rejection by the House of
nv claim of $155, ,000."
Report has it that when his $500, 900
claim was referred to arbitration an IN
derstanding was arrived at by which
Pre:ontaine, the lawyer of Whelan and
partner of Premier Mercier's son-ip-law,
was to receive 10 per cent of all the extra
recovered by Whelan before the arbitration,
the appointment of which arbitration was
made by the Premier, and that an arrange
ment was actually made or offered the arbi-
traitor of 2 per cent upon all sums accorded
by him to Whelan. The arbitration gave
Whelan $155, 900, and it is over the division
of this amount between Whelan and his
late partner, Daniel Ford, that the details
of the boodling have come ont. No record
of payments made by Whean in late years
can be found, for books are missing, and he
claims that payments of sums aggregatIng
S10o, 900, of which he was bled by politi-
clans, cannot, for obvious reasons, be es-
tablished by him.
= The unsavory part Of the scandal is that.
though a change of government took place
three years ago, Whelan seems to have sue
ceeded equally well in bribing both parties,
while in power, to recognize his extortionate
demands. He claims that while the Legis-
lature was in session last February he paid
$40, 900 to Ernest Pacaud for the purpose of
having his item of S155 900 pass the House.
This item was included, according to the de-
cision of the arbitrator, in the Governments
estimates of expenditure, and Whelan
claims that Pacaud notified him that the
item would be withdrawn from the esti-
mates unless he handed over $40, 900.
CLOSE TO THE PREMIER.
Pacaud is the confidential friend and ad-
wiser of Premier Mercier. He edits Il Elec-
teatr, the Premier's personal organ, is his
election organizer and Secretary-Treasu
of his party's Chief Executive Electoral
Committee. Pacaud admits reception of
the SO, 600 from Whelan, but states that its
object was to buy off the opposition in the
House, not on the part of his own and Mer-
cier's political friends, but on the part of
their conservative opponents. He says he
did not keep the money, but gave it to
friend of the opposition, and in corrobora-
ton of his assertion points to the fact that
from the date the money was handed him
by Whelan in Montreal the opposition to
the item in the House ceased.
Every member of the opposition in the
House has, however, signed declaration to
the effect that he never received the $40, 900
or any part thereof Whelan, too, denies
that he had anything to dread from the op-
position, but declares that Pacaud simply
told him he must pay $40, 900 or the item
would not pass, from which it was naturally
understood that the money was exacted for
friends or members of the Government
A MATTER OF HONOR.
Pacaud declines to give the name of the
party to whom he paid the SO, 900 on the
preteuse that it is matter of honor, and
that he will go to Jail rather than divulge
the secret. Meanwhile there is nothing but
his own word to show that he disposed of 1t
at all.
whelan produced kilograms that look as
If Mr.. Mercier was party to the whole
transaction. Immediately after Mr.. Pacaud
received the $40, 900 from him in Montreal,
he (Pacaud) telegraphed Mercier in Quebec
as follows:
20. K"
And Mr.. Mercier telegraphed back 30.
K" to Mr.. Pscaud.
Mr. Lemieux, Mr.. Whelan's secretary.
corroborates his employers story of the cir
cumstances under which the $4,000 were
paid.
BISHOP PHELAN OFF FOR ROME.