Evening star., 1950-03-26
Famous Federal Trials

I One Of the greatest of the Fed
eral trials 70 come before the
local courts, which almost monop-
olized the time of one branch fol
nearly two years, was the cele-
brated Star Route trial. This
trial-or rather trials. to be exact
for there were several-began in
1881 and did not end until 1888
Before they were through almost
everybody was tried. including
even some of the jurymen them
selves.
The greatest lawyers of their day
were pitted against each othel
and two of the most capable
judges who ever sat upon the Dis
trict Supreme, Court bench pre-
sided during the weary months OF
legal sparring.
The first proceeding in the case
was by way Of information" and
was read in court on September
80. 1881. This method of pro-
cedure was to. avoid application OF
the statute of limitations, since the
grand jury had adjourned for a
month and it was feared the
statute would operate against
some of the stronger cases before
formal indictments could be later
presented.
Froud Was Choreed
Col. William A. Cook. Washing
ton lawyer, as special assistant at
torney for the United States, to-
gether with Col. George Bliss of
New York, B. H. Webster of Phil
adelphia and Col. George B. Cork
hill, the district attorney, appeared
for the Government, and the de-
PENDANTS were represented by
Bob" Ingersoll, Samuel Shella-
barger, Chandler j. Hale Sypher
jeremiah M. Wilson and Enoch
Totten.
The information charged "that
on the first day of October, 1878,
at the city of Washington and
within the Jurisdiction of this
court, the said Thomas j. Brady
John l.. French. William T. Tur-
ner, together with George L. Nc
Donaugh. Samuel P. Grown and
certain other persons to the attor-
ney aforesaid unknown, knowingly
Willfully, fraudulently, unlawfully
and corruptly did conspire, COM
bine, confederate and agree to-
gether, between and among them
selves, to defraud the United
States of America out of large
sums Of money, in amount to the
attorney unknown" etc.
This action was tried by Judge
Walter S. Cox and after being be-
fore the court for six weeks the
information filed by the Govern
ment was quashed.
The second trial began June 2,
1882, and continued until Sep
tember Is, when the jury brought
in a verdict acquitting all the de-
PENDANTS except Miner and Rer-
dell who were granted new trials.
Case Had After-Effects
Even some of the newspapers
were brought into the case, and
the Police Department was not to
be left out of the trial, and after
the smoke had cleared away, De-
tective George O. Miller was
among those permitted to resign
for taking too much interest in
the case, and subsequently, as an
aftermath of the trial, President
Arthur removed from Office Mar
shall Henry, Postmaster Anger
and his assistant, M. D. Helm.
A subsequent hearing of the
Star Route trial. which began on
December S, 1888. resulted in a
verdict of acquittal.
Several years prior to this, on
June 2. 1875. occurred what was
generally known as the Ottman
Treasury robbery, in which Ben
jamin B. Halleck, a clerk in the
Treasury; w. H. Ottman, saloon
keeper, then at 1903 Pennsylvania
avenue, and Theodore w. Brown
were more or less involved.
On the above day, at about 2::30
pm, while several packages of
money were being checked off for
delivery to the Adams Express
Co.. it was discovered that there
was missing a package of Sat-
097.65. intended for the National
Park Bank Of New York City. I'm
mediate and thorough search for
the package being made without
success. notice was at once given
to the Acting Secretay of the
Treasury, who placed the matter
in the hands of the Secret Serv-
ice Division Of the Treasury De-
partment.
AS stated by John c. New. the
then Treasurer of the United
States, more than two months
passed before any clue was OBJ
tanned to the perpetrators of the
theft, and it remained for our
own Police Department to clear
the matter up. On Monday,