The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-12-30
THE FULL PENALTY.
Prominent Lumbermen Convicted at st
Joseph of Violating the Interstate Law
aud tsfyau the FuII Penalty.

PROMINENT LumDermen convicted at ~
Joseph of Violating the Inter-state Law
aud Given the Full Penalty.
ST. JOSEPH, Mo, Dec. 22.-The cele-
brated cases of the United States
against Spooner r. Howell and George
w. Howell, of the lumber firm of How
| ell, Jewett & CO., of Atchison, Kan,
and Edward Tibbet,s for violating the
Interstate commerce law, ended in the
federal court here yesterday. George
! Howell and Tibbetts were found guilty
| and were each sentenced by Judge
Parker to a year and half in the peni-
tentiary and pay fine of $1,000. The
case against S. L. Howell was dis
missed as it was shown that he was not
an active participants in the frauds and
probably had nothing to do with them.
In pronouncing sentence on George
| Howell and Tibbetts,, Judge Parker
| took occasion to declare that the Of
| fenses which they had committed were
of n most fragrant character and that
| the proof was too conclusive to admit
of doubt as to their guilt.
He also remarked that the full meas
ure of the law should be meted out to
| the defendants, and said that in view
| of the gravity of the offense he was
sorry he could not make the punish
ment heavier.
A bill of exceptions was prepared
and filed, aud will be acted upon next
term Tibbetts bond was reduced to
$1,000 These are the first convictions
for violation of the Interstate COM
merce act in this section.
Probably no firm of wholesale lumber
| dealers was better known throughout
the west than that of Howell, Jewett
| & Co. With yards at AtchisOn, Omaha,
Chicago and in Texas it completely COW
| cred the territory west of the Missis-
sippi. George w. Howell, the general
manager of the firm, was in charge of
! the Atchison yards which did busi-
ness of over s1,OOO,OOO a year S. r.
Howell had charge of the Chicago
yards, while Edward Tibbetts superin-
| tended the yards at Atchison.
In the spring of 1890 the Rock Island
officials caused the arrest of each indi-
vidual member of the firm of Howell,
Jewett 6c Co, except Mr.. Jewett, two
of their employees, Edward Price and
W. ID. Matt, and Edward Tibbetts on
the charge of violating the interstate
! commerce law.
The Western Weighing association
does the weighing of the freight for all
the western railroads and the Rock Is
land people claimed that Howell, jew
ett & Co. were bribing the association
to underweigh their freight. The cases
against Pierce and Matt were dismissed
and they were used as witnesses for the
prosecution.
The specific charge against the How
ellis and Tibbetts was that they had
bribed Matt and Pierce and other
weighers of the Rock Island at Atchi-
son and that firm was given from 500 to
5000 pounds less weight on all cOnsign-
ments of lumber to customers in Kan
sas and Colorado than the shipments
actually called, for.
1t was proved at the trial of the case
that in July Tibbetts was given sums
of money to bribe weighers and switch
men and the latter received S1.50 to So
per car on all cars on which fraudulent
rates were reported. Matt and Pierce
| acknowledged that they accepted
money from Tibbetts, and by turning
states evidence the defendants escaped
punishment themselves. s. T. Howell
was not connected with the Atchison
or Omaha yards and therefore there
existed doubt as to whether he was
guilty. Jewett was also connected
with the Chicago yards and there never
! were any indictments returned against
him The case has been stubbornly
fought from the beginning. 1t is al
| legged that Howell, Jewett & Co,
through the method they employed
netted themselves many thousand dol
lars