The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-07-30

case had east a shadow were infiuen-
tlal in New York City politics
was mystified by the presentation
OF the three packages of papers be-
| longing to Miss ShotwelI There was
little doubt that Brooks was the nys-
FERROUS client Attorneys Cardozo and
FarreH declined TO name. / could IN
derstand why the papers were pre-
sented, as the men who had conspired
to get possession of the ShotweII bonds
and other private papers, L argued. had
learned OF the work done in Detroit and
or the closing Of the net around Everett
and Brooks Realizing this, they-prob
ably deemed it better to admit the pos
session OF the papers and make a
biuh at assisting the authorities in
solving the mystery than to DENY all
knowledge or to have it proved on them
later But why had they allowed the
empty bond envelope to remain III one
or the packages? To this day 1 cannot
explain why this was done except on
the theory that it was an oversight II
II were not it was a decidedly stupid
piece of business on their part
And further, that they presented the
private correspondence of Miss Shot
well at all would indicate there was an
element in the case of which 7 knew
nothingS but which they depended on to
check the prosecution when the time
came In fact, from the very first /
had held the opinion, as ] have previ-
CN|aAS SefiU, ludl the inert was not COM
Initted fTon the COMMONPLACE motive
or pecuniary gain as much as from
some other motive concerning which i
was entirely in the dark Miss Shot
wells story had been told with APP
Parently the greatest candor and truth
fulnesS- She seemed TO have held moth
ing back Ny only legitimate purpose
IN the case being the discovery If Ia,
theft and the recovery of the stolen
property The mystery under the sur
face had no interest for me excep. as il
might assist me in doing my police
duty.
The Brooks case came up before Jus
tlce bowling, who was a prominent
member Of the Tammany orgadizct ior,.
lowing and Boss" Tweed were close
personal and political friends. Kelso
%nd DoWlinS were closely associated as
members Of the same political organiza-
ton, and Brooks attorneys were in
nuentlal In court and police circles It
was for these reasons that I had taken
the case to the grand jury, so that if il
were allowed to die natural death in
the city court-as many cases in which
defendants are influential are allowed
to do in all cities-the state courts
would still have jurisdiction.
During all this time Miss ShotwelI
had maintained a consistently proper
attitude for a person who had been
robbed and who wished to see the thief
punished Although the bonds had not
been recovered had secured sufficient
evidence to Justify indictments. and
with that my duty as a Chicago police
man ended untn I should be called
upon 10 give evidence in the cases
against Brooks and Everett 1 there
fore returned to Chicago, leaving Miss
Shotwell in New York Her last
statement to me was that she intended
to prosecute the case as long as she
was physically and financially able to
do so. Soon after this 1 entered the
United States secret service and the
Shotwell case was shelved in a far
corner of my memory.
In 1875 I received a letter from New
York, written in behalf of John d.
Townsend, a prominent attorney of
that city The New York state assem-
bly, had some time before appointed
committee, known as the committee on
crime and the management of the dis
trict attorneys office, for the purpose
of investigating certain alleged irregu-
iarities in the administration OF the OF
flee of district attorney under Benia-
min X. Phelps. ! am not familiar with
the details of thu charges made agains:
Mr.. Phelps, but among them was the
general one that certain criminal cases
under his Jurisdiction had not been
prosecuted as diligently as they should
have been, and the intimation was
thrown out that DecUniary Influences
had been allowed to enter into the COM
duct of the Office.
The Shotwen bond case was one of
the principal ones under Investigation
by the legislative committee, and NV
presence was desired in. Albany that /
might tell what / knew of the case. The
communication was referred by me to
Elmer Washburn, who in the meantime
had become chef of the secret service,
out he declined 20 grant the time for