The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-04-28
CRAFT FOR COURT OFFICERS
TRCNKFUL or METROPOLITAN
ACCELERATION VOUCHERS.
Jurors Also H~guro-Hats, cigars, Lunches,
Dollars and Larger sums Appear 10
Have Been Dispensed where Damage
suits We're Trled-JerOme Inquiry On.

n. wv y 80 AaNfH 49,
'rc audience room Of the Public Service
Commission yesterday vouchers were put
r evidence intended to cinch the charges
uf Jury fixing and bribery Of court attend
g,s which have been made against the
Metropolitan Street Railway Company.
-.me If these vouchers. which came acct
r.rially into the hands Of the King COM
r.'reo. show queer payments by the
Metropolitan in some OF the cases In which
william II. Tillinghsst confessed he had
..replcd brides IA a juror. %Tillinghast.
.''rr he had confessed. was convicted and
-ant TO the penitentiary, but none Of the
legged bride givers was prosecuted.
The vouchers introduced yesterday show
l..ments amounting TO as much as $500
~ time to Knox, the halter" Tillinghast
..ithat the company played Santa Claus
cry Christmas and gave most Of the
.IIrt attendants and clerks hats. Appar-
.u,ly New York county attendants hadn't
any monopoly on the good will Of the COM
llnv, for the vouchers show that Mr.. Knox
rendered services" in Kings, Queens, West
chester. Orange and also in the United
states Circuit Court.
4 bill Of 500 or more for cigars wasn't
20 all uncommon, One voucher for $50
bore the name Of Alexander B, Smith, who
was formerly secretary to Justice Fursman
and Ia now attached to Part v, Special
Term Of the Supreme Court. TiIlinghast
in his original charges alleged that Smith
started him on his downward career as a
fake Juror. Smith denied this emphatioally
Yesterday and explained the payment rep
resented by the voucher on the ground
that he had at one time lent one Of the Met
ropolitan investigators some money.
Mr.. Jerome objected to the admission
o'these vouchers on the ground that neither
ha nor any Of his assistants knew OF their
existence and he therefore could not be
held 70 account for what they disclosed.
Commissioner Hand a~llowedlthe vouchers
IN as part OF the King, committtee.s eyl;
IonCe that grimes had been committed
hv the Metropolitan, but he stipulated
that the committees counsel, Frank lin
Pierce. would ultimately nave to show
that Mr.. j erome knew OF these vouchers
ur that the circumstances were such that
no ought TO have uncovered the conditions
which they indicated. Pierce bargained
IN do this and said he would show that
Jerome, instead Of inquiring into the con-
I.IlIUH. lIIOkklNA \ Ao II NoAAhoNAeh NV
vas started.
one Of the facts brought out In the course
~ the days inquiry was that George Il.
Ragg, who was formerly head OF the Metro
obtains investigating department, was
900 the payroll OF the District Attorneys
Vice Immediately preceding and for some
time after action was begun In the City
court before Justice Seabury In February,
pB against Ambr ose T.. McCabe, one
tIa No rnpolitan laWvara This DrO-
,.eding was TO get evidence against some
the Metropoltan's lawyers and was
pyln after District Attorney Jerome h ad
1aclined TO act on the T~illinghast confession.
I was based largely on a corToboratory
g0idavit made by Stanley Bagg, a brother
at G gorge r., who also had been a Metro
rolftan Investigator, Bagg's affidavit sup
ported Tillinghast In practically every
Thing, but Mr.. Jerome produced Bagg on
the day Of the Seabury hearing and Bagg
declared then that his affidavit was false.
That broke the back bone OF the proceed
irgs against McCabe, and District Attorney
Jerome left the court room after a tilt with
Justice Seabury, Justice Seabury has
testified that Mr., Jerome never intimated
~ him that Bagg had gone back on his
aHidayit. but the District Attorney says
he did.
George R. Bagg. the brother Of the afa-
davit maker, was running a private deteo-
i've bureau when he was employed by The
District Attorney, He had been out OF
the employ Of the Metropolitan for about
q year. Mr.. Jerome said yesterday that
be- was engaged on the Bertha Claiche
murder case. According to the testimony
Of Miss Lillian Merritt George n baggs
former stenographer. Bags was In the
District Attorneys Office under an assumed
name. Miss IMerTitt said she called up
assistant District Attorney Ely one day
and asked for Bagg,
Don't you know better than to ask for
Il. II. Bagg2' was the reply which the ste
uographer says she got from Ely. .
I asked him who ! should call Tor,
said the Witness 'and he replied; ASK
for Mr., Ray
After that she added, Il asked for
Mr.. Ray and got Mr.. Bagg.'
II was George R. Bagg who had In his
possession the trunldul OF vouchers which
we're introduced in evidence yesterday.
The Metropolitan company, he says, had
given them TO him TO be destroyed and
he packed them away. One night IN the
spring Of 1908 he X NJ .. Sheehan.
me Of his detectives, TO take the trunk
from his home In Edgecombe avenue and
keep it. Sheehan testified that he took
the trunk in q cab TO his boarding house,
at 48l West Thirty-fourth street. He
couldn't remember exactly when this was,
but the newspapers used as packing in the
trunk, IL is alleged, bore the dates OF Feb
uary % and "a, which we're the very days
unwhlch Justice Seabury was moving in bis
proceedings. Sheehan had 10 leave the
BOARDING house because he hadn't paid
ms bill, and Mrs. Britton, the landlady,
uahbed his trunks. She refused TO give
them up, and waiting a year without pay
she finally opened the Bagg truhA She
aid Yesterday that Sheehan had tdH her
nat the trunk contained papers OF great
value to the Metropolitan Railway Com
ANY. but Sheehan declared that he never
new what the trunk contained and tina
Rlgg had given him no reason for wanting
q, get it away from his home.
Mrs. Britton when the Jerome inquiry
logan told her lawyer what she had found
nd a day or two later Mr.. Pierce walked
round. paid Sheehan's board bill, 81,
nd got the trunk and its contents. II
n,ted in front OF the witness stanc
t-sterday as Exhibit A.
The p5int made by the King committee;
yver is, Of course, that these vouchers
laboratory Of the charges that had beef
..rde. we're in the possession OF a man ~
-.a employ Of the District Attorneys office
. tho very time when that mans brother
.rs appearing in the Seabury proceeding
~ rcpudiating the statements made in hi
.rlgjnal affidavit.
Many Of the vouchers were signed py
'ubrose +. McCabe. the defendant in the
.rihury action. A detailed voucher FOL
.%,ncnditures in March. 1901. contains amonl
tiers these items:
NJ day on trial: lunch with clerk, t.TS.
IN trial Part II. tCity CourtE expense will
rh. s..
.r,i two cases, all day In Part H., McCar
T.. expense after adjournment will
.-s. $3.50.