Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1908-12-25
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.

! PITTSBURG. Pa, Dec. pa SEN
sational scandal Of municipal graft
which. it is intimated, will cause the re-
cent graft revelations at San Francisco
% fade into insignifcance, and which
became known here last night with
;uddenness that was dumbfounding
when seven councilmen and two bank
ers were arrested, is the main topic in
Ill circles today.
/ Furthermore. it is stated that other
arrests will follow. In this connection
Director Long of the public safety de-
0artment said:
/ Tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock the
men arrested last night will be given a
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 $178,0OO 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
timations 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 u great
opportunity now, if it cares to avail itself
IF it. There will be results if the Of
icers of the city do their part, and if
he 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-
:ilman Will Brand, John f. Klein, J. G.
WATSON, L. O. Atkinson, Jacob Soffel,
W. II. 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
SIT 900 as bride. Bail demanded from
each is $14, 900.
Are Taken by Surprise.
While all the defendants were taken
by surprise when arrested last evening,
each secured the necessary bail which
IN the aggregate amounted to $17S.OO0.
All the informatiofls were sworn to by
Tensard de Wolf, secretary of the Vot-
ers' league, and formerly political writ
err on local paper.
Robert Wilson, superintendent of the
Municipal league of Scranton, Pa, is de-
scribed as 1.-THE Man Behind the Gun"
Mr.. Wilson, assisted by 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 Vilsack OF the German National
bank. Attorney Charles A. Pagan, vice
president of the bank, issued the follow
ing statement:
the attention of the board of directors was
directed by the national bank examiner to
the fact that a charge had been made of
the improper use of money to secure the
selection of the German National bank as
one of the city depositaries. This informa-
tion came as a great surprise to the mem
bers of the board 1t was deemed advis
able however, pending a proper investiga-
tion to secure the designations of Mr.. Ram
sew the president, and Mr.. Vilsack, the
cashier they being the officials affected by
the charge. This was done.
The Specific Charges.
The seven councilmen, it is alleged did
uickediy and corruptly conspire with each
other and with divers persons unknown, to
secure the passage, by corrupt and unlawful
means and by bribery of the members of
the select and common councils of Pitts
burg. ordinances and resolutions designating
the depositaries of the city; bridge ordf-
nances; bond ordinances for freeing bridges
between Pittsburg and Allegheny, recently
Consolidated; an ordinance for additional I'll
ter beds for the new filtration plant; He
berton street railway ordinance; resoIu-
with wood block, and others pending before
--ncilS.