Weekly Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1908-1909, 1908-12-25
PITTSBURG IS
STARTLED BY
GRAFT CHARGE
SEVEN COUNCILMEN AND TWO
BANKERS ACCUSED OF BRIB-
cry AND CORRUPTNESS.
MORE ARRESTS ARE COMING.
Voters League Declares There Has Been
Fraud in Depository, Paving, Bridge
and Traction Contracts.
SUSPECTS TAKEN BY SURPRISE

! SUSfEIlS lAhEN bI SURfRlSE.
PITTSBURG, Pa, Dec. ga sen7
sational scandal Of municipal graft
which, it is intimated, will cause the rel
cent graft revelations at San Francisco
to fade into insignifcance, and which
/ became known here last night with a
! suddennesS that was dumbfounding
when seven councilmen and two bank.
ers were arrested, is the main topic in
all circles today.
Furthermore, it is stated that other
arrests will follow. In this connection
Director Long Of the public safety de-
partment said:
Tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock the
men arrested last night will be given
hearing. They will not be permitted to
waive hearings for court. After these
hearings, more arrests will follow. How
/ ever, no arrests will be made today
The nine defendants by furnishing an
aggregate bonds of $17S,OOO have been
! released.
This afternoon rumors were heard that
prominent men interested in traction
companies in this city and Philadelphia
! are implicated in the bribery scandal
1t is also said that a number of well
| known local business men are to be ar
rested, while it seems certain, from in
tmations made by attorneys affiliated
with the Voters league, that several
more councilmen will be taken into Gus.
| tody.
AS the investigation of the scandal
| progresses it is apparent the results will
eventually cause one of the greatest raids
against alleged malfeasance in legislative
circles in the history Of Pittsburg
Attorney w. K. Shiras said today:
'"This will not be a flash in the pan. We
are going to carry this through to the
end. The city of Pittsburg has e. great
opportunity NOW, if it cares to avail itself
of it. There will be results if the Of
| ficers of the city do their part, and if
! the people will it. There is no play about
these cases and we are in earnest
Only the Beginning.
Attorney A. Leo We'll, president of the
! Voters league. stated today: "This is the
beginning. The end is not yet
! Following are the men accused: Coun-
Gilman Will Brand, John f. Klein, J. G.
| WATSON, L. o. Atkinson, Jacob Soffel,
| w. H Melaney and Hugh Ferguson,
! former President W. w. Ramsey, and
| former Cashier A. A. Vilsack of the Ger
man National bank, are also accused
Information against all the seven
members of the council charge them with
conspiracy, corrupt solicitation and
bribery.
| An additional information against
Brand, WATSON and Klein charges them
with bribery and corrupt solicitation.
From Brand, WATSON and Klein bail in
| the sum of $4,000 each was demanded.
/ The bail of the other four members of the
council was fixed at $4,000 each. The
/ information against Ramsey and Viii
sack charges them with giving Klein
ST. 900 as a bride. Bail demanded from
each is $4,000.
Are Taken by Surprise
While all the defendants were taken
by surprise when arrested last evening,
each secured the necessary bail which
i'll the aggregate amounted TO $17SOOO
All the informations were sworn to by
! Tensard de Wolf, secretary of the Vot-
! ers league, and formerly political writ
er on a local paper.
| Robert Wilson, superintendent of the
| Municipal league of Scranton, Pa, is de-
scribed as The Man Behind the Gun"
Mr.. Wilson, assisted by a corps of private
! detectives, brought to this city from
| Scranton, gathered the evidence from
| the defendants.
| Mr.. Wilson says the Voters league is
! back of the prosecutions and it is the
! intention to make Pittsburg as clean as
! Scranton. In making Scranton so, Mr.
! Wilson said prominent men committed
suicide or were sent to the penitentiary
| Concerning the case against RAMSEY
| and Niisack of the German National
1 bank, Attorney Charles A. Pagan. vice
president OF the bank, issued the follow
ing statement:
| On last Saturday, after banking hours
| the attention of the board of directors wa
| directed by the national bank examiner to
! the fact that charge had been made of
| the improper use of money to secure the
! selection of the German National hank q
/ one of the city Repositories This informa
/ ton came 4 great surprise to the mem
! bers of the board. 1t was deemed advis
| able, however, pending a proper inyestiga-
| ton, to secure the designations of Mr. Ram,
| sey, the president, and Mr.. Vilsack tho
| cashier, they being the officials affected nv
! the charge. This was done.
The Specific Charges.
The seven councilmen, it is alleged. die
/ Wickedly and corruptly conSpire with each