Los Angeles herald., 1892-03-18
Chicago Aldermanic Circles
Shaken Up.
Gigantic Boodling Transac-
tiOns Disclosed.
INSCRIPTIONS Trafficking in Votes in
the City Hall.
The Grand Jury Has q Dead Cinch on
the Guilty Parties-A Number Of
Councilmen Will Wear
Striped Clothes.
Associated Press Dispatches.

CHICAGO, March 17.-As a SEQUEL to
the recent passage by the city council
of an ordinance granting permission to
the Chicago Power Supply and Com
pressed Air company to use the streets
and alleys of the city in about any man.
ner it sees fit, the indictment of mum.
ber of aldermen by the grand jury for
alleged boodling is promised. The City
Press association tonight says:
Bribery of most fragrant kind will
be shown. Corruption and rottenness
beyond the ideas of the most cynical
citizen will be disclosed, and facts which
make position in Chicago's council one
worth hundreds of dollars Of preliminary
expenditure will be shown up. Tomor-
row evidence will be presented
to the grand jury showing beyond doubt
that certain aldermen have been paid
literally for their votes. A Jury will
listen to tale of rottenness and corrup-
tion to which the boodling of the Cook
county commissioners was nothing. The
evidence has been in preparation some
times and q mesh now encloses some of
the city 'fathers' from which there is
little hope OF escape. 1t includes the
confessions of several guilty parties,
which are said to be very circumstan.
tial. The men who have been working
up these cases spared no expense, and
made sure of every step. They have
witnesses who have seen large sums of
money paid. by the representatives of
corporations to individual aldermen.
and who have heard the aldermen prom
ise to cast their votes on certain meas.
ure in certain way. Some received
their money at their homes some were
paid in the precincts of the city hall,
and two are said to have sold their
votes in the lobby of the council cham.
ber.
The investigation, it is said, will end
only when several of the present mem
bers OF the council are wearing stripes
in Joliet.
States Attorney Longenecker said this
evening that he expects to show that
the Compressed AIR, Northern Pacific
and Economic Gas ordinances, three of
the most important measures which
have passed the council for q long time,
were gotten through by the purchase OF
votes for hard cash. II don't mind say
ing" said he, "that there will be the
biggest upheaval ever seen in this city
when all the facts are finally made pub
lic." Z
Mr.. Longenecker added that he would
be aided in the matter by three of the
most prominent attorneys in the city,
they having been employed by local
newspapers who had men assisting to
make out case against the boodlers.
The states attorney also said several
aldermen would assist in the inquiry, in
addition to those who have confessed
that their votes were purchased. Sew
eral will testify to having been ap-
preached; others will tell of colleagues
who openly boasted of receiving money.
One alderman openly stated that he was
certain that almost every alderman,
favoyably connected with the three
ordinances above, was guilty OF receiv-
ing money for his vote. This alderman
said it is generally admitted that it re-
.quires money to get an ordinance
through the council, and many mem
bers make no secret of the fact that they
will not vote for any ordinance unless
rewarded for SO doing. In some cases
the reward is in the shape of a trade in
votes supporting some improvement
in the alderman's ward, but in the by
far greater number of cases the consid-
Grafton is hard cash.
The gentlemen who are behind the
prosecution issued an official statement
tonight which says in part that the
proof acquired relates largely to various
Doodle ordinances, and entangles four or
five aldermen in what it will be very
easy to show was q conspiracy.
"We will have no difficulty" SAYS the
statement, "in indicting and convicting
several well-known aldermen. It ia not
our desire to convict only aldermen,
however. We desire also to punish
those guilty of bribing councilmen, and
we will not stop this investigation until
they are brought to justice, no matter
whose door the incriminating evidence
leads to-"
General Lieb, foreman of the grand
jury, said tonight, they will begin the
investigation tomorrow that they have
a complete chain of evidence forged
around the boodlers, and any who do
not tell the truth Immediately will be
arrested for perjury as well as boodling.
He added that some of the men who
have been indicted have heretofore been