The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-05-05
Gossip at
the Capital
Special Correspondence of The Tribune.

Special Correspondence of The Tribune.
Washington, May t.
Joseph r. Dunlop, editor of the Chicago
Dispatch, who will spend the next two
years in one Cf the Illinois pententiaries
for sending obscene literature through
the mails, has been a b!ackmailer for
years. 1t was not what he printed in his
newspaper but what he did not publish
that made him man to be feared a
Well known Chicago newspaper man now
located in Washington said today that
Dunlop had way of blackmailing people
which was unique as we'll as profitable.
Dunlop" he said, would first pick
out his victim. Then he would find out all
he could about his domestic and business
affairs. If the victim was a married man
and employed female as stenograpner
or clerk to whom he paid more than usual
attention Dunlop would at once set out to
shadow him, After getting the dead
wood on him, as he called 1t, Dunlop
would write very sensational article
containing the name of the man whom
he wanted to blackmail as well as the
name of the girl in the case. He would
have 1t set up in type in his printing Of
lice, and then either take it to his intended
victim in person or send 1t with some one
else, with a private note asking the gem
tleman to please revise the proof--that
Is, make any corrections he might desire.
OF course, If the aforesaid gentleman felt
guilty he would revise the article by
sending his check, which in many cases
was quite large, often way up in the
thousands. l have been told of one case"
continued the Chicago correspondent,
which netted Dunlop $4,000 1t was tho
clearest case of blackmail on record. A
well known street car magnate of Chicago
was the victim, Dunlop got the dead
wood on him and threatened to expose
sCme alleged shady transaction in which
int he
proof was sent to him for revision the
gentleman sat down, wrote out his check
for $4,000, and handed 1t over to the agent
OF Dunlop with the remark that he
guessed that (meanng the check) would
pay for the printers ink already used"
1t has been nearly two years since Dun
lop was convicted of sending libelous ana
obscene matter through the mails. lie
appealed his case from one court TO all
other until IL reached the United States
supreme court, which, a few months ago
sustained the verdict of the courts below.
He then appealed TO President Cleveland
for a pardon, pleading i'll health. Mr..
| Cleveland paid no attention to the case.
He then appealed to President Mckinley,
who last week decided not to interfere
with the verdict of the court, and ordered
+ that the sentence be carried out at once.
The Dunlop case has been quite inter-
! y
controversies Of the Chicago newspapers
have all along been in evidence In IT. Not
long ago Mr., H. II. Kohlsaat, of the Chica-
go Times Herald, came here and threw
| his influence against the exercise OF elem
ency, although his associates, William
Penn Nixon, of the Inter Ocean, and X.
w, Patterson, of the Tribune, had Joined
In requesting the president to favor the
petition for the waving of the imprison-
ment part of Dunlop's sentence. The iet-
tiers and telegrams received at the eXecu-
tive mansion In favor of Dunlop far out
numbered the letters against him. Among
those who favored clemency for the vet
eran editor Were General John NJ. Pal
mer, late gold Democratic candidate for
president, and both senators from Illinois,
although the Dispatch, Dunlop's paper,
was the only one in Chicago that support
ed Bryan. The Democratic and Populist
city conventions In Chicago also urged
his pardon. Nearly every labor organiza-
tion I'm the western metropolis asked the
president to intervene. Siegel. Cooper &
Co.. Mandell Bros, and many other lead