Carpenter, in January, 1882, that he had a memorandum written by
himself, which he showed to James and MacVeagh, and that he made it so
much like Dorsey's handwriting that he did not think anybody could tell
it. What was his answer? "I may have done so." Honest man!
On page 2462, in answer to the question, "Did you not tell Carpenter
that you brought no book from New York?" the honest man answered:
Very likely I said I brought no book over from New York.
On the same page, in answer to the question, "Did you not tell French
that you were trying to entrap James?" he admits that it is likely he
was.
On page 2463 he admits that he may have told French that he had learned
to imitate the handwriting of Dorsey so well that Dorsey himself could
not tell the imitation; and that he wrote that memorandum in pencil
because he could the more easily deceive. Honest man!
Mr. Bliss holds S. W. Dorsey up to scorn because he endeavored to turn
two men out of the Cabinet on the testimony of Rerdell; and yet he is
trying to put four men in the penitentiary on the same oath. Do you
not think that it is better to get a man out of the Cabinet than to put
another into the penitentiary? And do you not think it is better that a
man be put out of office than that he be put into the penitentiary, his
family destroyed, and his home left to ruin, upon the oath of a man who
swears that the oath was a lie? Dorsey was an awfully wicked man to try
to get Mr. MacVeagh out of office on Rerdell's testimony. But now
they turn around and want to put Mr. Vaile and Mr. Miner into the
penitentiary on the same testimony. The other testimony was the best,
because we did not promise him immunity. I will come to it after a
while.
On page 2465 Rerdell swears that he did not have any pencil memorandum
that he showed to MacVeagh, claiming that it was in the handwriting of
Dorsey, and was asked, "Did you not tell Bosler that you had?" What does
he say? "Possibly I did." "Did you not tell Bosler that you wrote it?"
"Possibly I did."
S. W. Dorsey swears on page 3810 that Rerdell told Bosler that it was in
the waste-basket, and Bosler took the pieces out and put them together.
Rerdell says he had written it, and in pencil, so that it would look
more like Dorsey's handwriting. Why did you not ask Bosler about it,
gentlemen, when you had him on the stand to prove your letter? Even Mr.
Bliss, in his speech, asked, "Why didn't they call Bosler?" Why didn't
you have the fairness to tell all the circumstances? I will tell them
all when I get to that part of it. Why did you not tell them that you
had looked all through Mr. Bosler's books?
On page 2466 Rerdell swears that he did not get that memorandum out of
the waste-basket, but got a note from Mac-Veagh, and that Dorsey was
present.
On page 3810 Dorsey swears that it was a pencil memorandum imitating his
(Dorsey's) hand closely.
On page 2466 Rerdell admits that he very likely told Bosler in June,
1881, that he had no book on the train and brought none from New York.
In answer to my question, he says, "Possibly I did," or "Probably I
did," tell Bosler. I cannot bring other witnesses to contradict him when
he admits that he did. That is enough for me.
On page 2467 he admits that he very likely told Judge Wilson about the
affidavit; that if he told him anything, he told him that no such book
existed, and that there was no necessity for any book except an expense
book.
On page 2469 Rerdell swears that he had a copy of the day-book and
ledger in June, 1881, in Dorsey's office; that Dorsey took them that
day, and that they had been there ever since they were made, to be
carried to Congress. Then he began to gather his ideas, and he says:
Hold on. I am mistaken. These books were all sent over to New York
before that, in the summer of 1880, when I carried the originals over
for the last settlement I was present at, between Dorsey and Bosler.
There was no settlement in 1880, the time he speaks of. Mr. Merrick then
says:
Q. There were two sets of those copies?
That would be four copies and two originals.
A. No, sir.
On page 3955, S. W. Dorsey swears that he had the first settlement
with Bosler in December, 1879, or January, 1880, and had no subsequent
adjustment until November or December, 1882; no settlement between those
dates. Yet Rerdell says that he took those books over in the summer of
1880 for a settlement, when there was no settlement, and at the same
time carried the originals. A moment before he had sworn that the
originals were there in the office in June, 1881.
On page 2470 Rerdell swears that he did not give the books to Dorsey in
1881.
On page 2447 he swears that he did not have the balance-sheet in New
York; that he had it in the office in June, 1881.
On page 2479, Rerdell, in speaking of the pencil memorandum, was
cornered, caught. He said, "I have kept it as a voucher." Then finally
he admits that it was not his property, but was the property of Dorsey;
and the last admission he made upon that subject was, "I stole it."
He says that while he was in jail somebody got into the office and
destroyed his papers. And yet, on page 2480, he tells that the first
time it ever occurred to him to use that pencil memorandum was after the
first trial was over. Can you believe that? He was trying to steal it on
the 13th of July, 1882; was trying to go over to the Government on
the 5th day of July, 1882, and did not think that he had that pencil
memorandum! Writing a letter on that day to Dorsey; giving him notice
that he was going to desert him; saying in that very letter that he had
been persuaded by Bosler to make the first affidavit; saying that he was
making preparations to go to the Government, was going to set himself
right, and yet did not remember the pencil memorandum! Why? Because he
manufactured it afterwards. He says that within a day or two after he
was out of jail he found this paper a second time. He found it before,
and laid it carefully away as a voucher. Then he lost sight of it. Then
he was trying to sell it to the Government, and he forgot it; trying to
blackmail Bosler and Dorsey, and forgot it. When he got out of jail he
found it. That will not do. How does he say it got to his house? His
wife carried it from the office while he was in jail. And yet he would
have us believe that Dorsey broke into that office and stole all the
papers. And yet he says that was in the office, and Dorsey did not take
it. It will not do. He manufactured that paper after that time.
On page 2481 Rerdell swears that he did not know that he had that paper
at that time, at the time he says his wife got the papers. I say he did
not; I say he made it afterwards.
On page 2490 Rerdell swears that he had those red books in the office
at 1121 I street; that he never made any effort to conceal them. And
yet Kellogg never saw one of those books; never saw Rerdell working upon
them, and never saw them in the office.
On page 2491 Rerdell swears that he thinks Kellogg did some work on
those red books; that Kellogg helped him (Rerdell) make the first
entries. On page 3636 Kellogg swears not only that he did not help him
to make those entries, but positively swears that he never even saw any
such books.
On page 3635 Kellogg swears positively that Rerdell did not keep
any books, but a private expense-book and a route-book; and that he
(Kellogg) never saw any other books; that he never saw a ledger or
journal in red leather, kept by Rerdell. He swears that he himself kept
the three books (the journal, ledger, and cash-book,) and that Rerdell
never made an entry in them.
On page 2512 Rerdell swears that he never imitated Dorsey's handwriting,
or tried to, in Kellogg's presence. On page 3636 Kellogg swears that he
saw him do it.
On the same page (2512) Rerdell swears that he never signed Dorsey's
name to show Kellogg that he could imitate it. On page 3636 Kellogg
swears that he did do it.
I have just given you a few, gentlemen, of the corroborations of
this man Rerdell. Recollect that you cannot believe him unless he is
corroborated. If you believe him at all you have got to believe all,
unless you believe he is mistaken. Where a man comes on the stand as an
informer--and I do not call him an informer--even in that capacity he
has to be taken altogether or not at all.
Now, with all these contradictions upon his head, I will now come to the
affidavit of July 13, 1882. You will remember that I read you the letter
of July 5, in which he says that Bosler got him to make the affidavit
of 1881. At page 2374 Rerdell gives an account of this affidavit. Dorsey
got him in Willard's Hotel, locked the door, and had him. Now, he said
to him, "Mr. Rerdell, I will tell you what I am going to do with you:
I am going to have you prosecuted for perjury." Let us imagine that
conversation. Rerdell replies, "What are you going to have me prosecuted
for?" "For making the affidavit of June, 1881." "Why," says Rerdell, "in
that affidavit I swore you were innocent." Says Dorsey, "Don't you know
you swore to a lie? Do you think I would stand a lie of that kind,
sir? Do you think I will allow any man willfully, maliciously, and with
malice aforethought, to swear that I am an innocent man? I will have you
arrested to-night, sir." "Well," says Rerdell, "my good God, ain't there
any way I can get out of this?" "Yes; make another affidavit just like
it. Now, sir, you have perjured yourself and I will arrest you for
perjury unless you do it again." "Well," says Rerdell, "when I get that
done you will have two cases against me." "I can't help it," Dorsey
says. "Is that the way you treat a friend? I swore to that lie from pure
friendship. Don't you remember you took me by both hands and begged me,
for God's sake, and for your wife's sake and your children's sake, to
make that affidavit? And now are you going to be such a perfect devil as
to have me arrested for perjury for making that same affidavit?" Dorsey
says, "Yes, sir; that is the kind of man I am." "Well, but," says
Rerdell, "don't you know the trial is going on now? They are trying to
prove, now, that you are guilty, and in that affidavit of mine I swore
you are innocent, and how are you going to prove a man guilty when
you swear that he is innocent?" Dorsey says, "That is my business, not
yours. I am going to have you arrested." "But," says Rerdell, "you had
better hold on, I tell you." "Why?" "I have got the red book that I got
in New York." Dorsey says, "I don't care." Rerdell says, "I have got
the pencil memorandum that you made for me to open the books upon, and
charge William Smith with eighteen thousand dollars. And you wrote John
Smith first, and I changed it to Sam Jones, don't you recollect, as
otherwise there would be two Smiths? And there is the account against J.
H. Mitchell, and J. W. D., and cash, and profit and loss." Dorsey
says, "I don't care about that. I am not going to allow a man to commit
perjury. I am going to have you arrested." Rerdell says, "You had better
not have me arrested." Dorsey says, "Why? What else have you got?" "I
have got a copy of the letter that you wrote to Bosler on the 13th of
May, 1879, which you say that you paid twenty thousand dollars to Thomas
J. Brady. That copy was made by Miss Nettie L. White." "Do you believe
I care anything about that? You have perjured yourself, and it is no
difference to me whether it was in my favor or not. Justice must be
done, and I am going to have you arrested." Rerdell says, "You had
better not. I have got a tabular statement in your handwriting, Dorsey,
where you had a column for the amount due and the amount received, and
another column for thirty-three and one-third per cent, given to Brady,
and then at the top, in your handwriting, 'T. J. B., thirty-three and
one-third.'" Dorsey says, "I don't care what you have got." Rerdell
says, "That ain't all I have got, Dorsey. I tore out of your copy-book a
copy of the letter I wrote to Bosler on the 21st or 22d of May, 1880, in
which I told him that I had gone to Brady, and that Brady said you were
a damn fool for keeping a set of books, and suggested to me to have some
copies made, and I had the copies made, and I can prove the copies by
Gibbs if he does not try not to remember that he made them. Now, go on
with your rat-killing; go on with your perjury suit." Dorsey had him
already locked up there, don't you see? But Dorsey was bent on having
that man arrested for perjury because he had sworn that he (Dorsey) was
innocent. Dorsey was implacable.
What else did he do? He put his hand in his pocket and said, "Do you see
those letters to that woman?" Then, sir, when he saw the handwriting he
was like that other gentlemen that saw the handwriting on the wall, and
he began to get weak in the knees, and says, "Dorsey, I hope you are not
going to have me arrested for perjury. I am willing to do it again right
now, on the same subject."
Now, it turns out that at that time Dorsey did not have those letters.
Dorsey swears that he never got those letters until after Rerdell was
put upon the stand. And after he swore that, the Government had the
woman to whom the letters were written subpoenaed. Why did they not
place her on the stand? That is for you to answer, gentlemen. That is
the affidavit of July 13. Recollect, there was a trial going on at that
time in which Dorsey was insisting that he was innocent, and although
Rerdell had sworn that he was, he was going to have him arrested right
off.
What else did he have against Dorsey at that time? Now, says Rerdell,
"Dorsey, don't you have me arrested for perjury. I have got a memorandum
of that mining stock that was to be given to McGrew and Tyner and Turner
and Lilley for corrupt purposes."
What else did he have? After he had agreed to make the affidavit, Dorsey
wrote out what he wanted him to swear to, in pencil, and gave it to
him. And when he got his liberty, when he walked out of that room a free
citizen, he had all the papers I have spoken of not only, but he had in
his possession a draft, in Dorsey's handwriting, of the affidavit Dorsey
wanted him to make. He made the first affidavit from friendship; the
second from fright. You know he never took a dollar for an affidavit.
He was not that kind of a man. You might get around him by talking
friendship or you might scare him, but you could not bribe him;
he wasn't that kind of a man. Armed with all these papers he was
frightened; so he made the affidavit of July 13--
Now, let us see. He admits that--I will not say every word, but the
principal things in the affidavit of June, 1881, are false. He swore to
them knowing them to be false. But he tried to get out by saying he did
not write them all. Writing is not the crime. The crime is swearing that
they are true when they are not true. It does not make any difference
who wrote it. For instance, you swear to an affidavit, and you
afterwards say, "I did not write it." "Did you know the contents?"
"Yes." "Did you swear to it?" "Yes." What difference does it make who
wrote it? And yet he endeavors to get behind that breastwork and say, "I
did not write all that affidavit; I only wrote part of it. What I wrote
was true, but what I swore to was not." That will not do.
So the affidavit of July, 1882, he now swears was a lie. But he gives a
reason for writing that, that you know is utterly, perfectly, completely
false. You know that Dorsey never threatened to have him arrested for
perjury because he had sworn in favor of Dorsey. You know it, and all
the eloquence and all the genius of the world could not convince you
that at that time Rerdell was afraid that Dorsey would have him arrested
for perjury. No, sir.
Now, let us take the next step. Mr. Rerdell testified, on page 2275,
that this letter (32 X) was received by him in due course of mail in
1878. Upon being asked whether he did not know that S. W. Dorsey was
here in Washington at that time, he replied that he knew he was not. I
will read it to you, gentlemen:
Chico Springs, P. O.
Mountain Spring Ranch, Colfax County, New Mexico,
"April 3, 1878.
"M. C. Rerdell, 1121 I Street:
"Dear Rerdell: I wish you would get fullest information in regard to all
the new post-office lettings and keep posted as to the schemes going
on in the department. There are certain routes we want advertised and
others we do not. I shall be in Washington as soon as the 12th unless
something unexpectedly happens,
"Faithfully,
"DORSEY."
Q. What Dorsey was that?--A. That is S. W. Dorsey's handwriting.
Q. And signature?--A. Yes, sir.
There is where he first speaks of it. At the time that letter was
introduced, or in a little time, gentlemen, they also introduced the
envelope. I do not know that I should have suspected the letter if they
had not introduced the envelope. Whenever there is an effort to make a
thing too certain I always suspect it. When that Morey letter was gotten
up, what made me suspect it was that they had the envelope, and I said
to myself, "Why did they want the envelope if it was clearly in the
handwriting of Garfield? What difference did it make whether it was sent
to Morey or to somebody else? What difference did it make when it came
from Washington?" The only question was, "Did Garfield write it?" And
upon that subject the envelope threw no light. When a man feels weak and
thinks that other people will know what he does not want them to know,
then it is that he wants to barricade and strengthen before the attack.
So they got up this envelope, and when I looked at that it did not
look to me as if that stamp had been through the mail. I noticed the
handwriting of "Chico Springs, N. M.," and then I noticed the 3 or the
B on the postage stamp, and then I knew that the man who wrote "Chico
Springs" never made the letter or figure on that stamp. It is utterly
impossible for the man who wrote that "Chico Springs" to make that mark
on the stamp. This stamp looked awfully clean, and I said, "Well, I
wouldn't wonder if that was an envelope used here in the city which has
been got through the mail in some way." They had it stamped on the back
and I said, "Perhaps that was written in 1879." No. You see, if it was
not written in 1879 it did not do any harm, because in 1879 Dorsey was
not a member of the Senate. Having gone out on the 4th of March, 1879,
that letter was dated in April, 1879, why then there was no harm in his
writing to Mr. Rerdell and telling him to look after the mail business.
But if it was written on the 3d of April, 1878, it went far to show that
Dorsey was personally interested at that time in mail routes. You will
notice the printed date, April 3, 1878. They introduced that letter.
I noticed that that envelope was a funny looking thing, and that the
writing on it did not correspond with the mark on the stamp. I noticed
also that upon the back they had the stamp. I do not know how they got
it. When the Post-Office Department has possession of a paper they can
put almost anything on it.
When I said to Mr. Rerdell on cross-examination, not knowing anything
about the letter, "Was that not written in 1879?" he said, '"No, sir."
Said I, "Don't you know, as a matter of fact, that Dorsey was not here
on the 3d of April, 1879?" He said, "As a matter of fact I know that
he was here on the 3d of April, 1879." "Don't you know, as a matter of
fact, that he was here on the 3d of April, 1878?" He says, "I know as a
matter of fact that he was not here on the 3d of April, 1878; he was at
Chico Springs." He knew as a matter of fact that he was here in 1879,
and he swore that so as to preclude the possibility of his having
written the letter in 1879. And he swore to the positive fact that he
was not here on the 3d of April, 1878, so as to show that he wrote him
that letter from Chico Springs. They wanted some letter from Dorsey in
1878, to show that he was personally interested in these routes while
in the Senate. They submitted that letter to Mr. Boone, who was their
witness. He looks at it and he tells you that Dorsey did not write that
letter. A clear forgery. Whom else do they bring now? They leave it
right there, and by that admit that Rerdell forged that letter. Mr.
Boone, their witness, swears it. Nobody swears to the contrary except
Rerdell. Boone threw the letter from him contemptuously, and said, "That
is not Dorsey's handwriting," and they dare not bring another
witness. The country is filled with experts, gentlemen, who know about
handwriting; the United States had plenty of men and plenty of money,
and they never brought a solitary man.
Now, gentlemen, do you want to know how this fellow got caught? I will
tell you. There is the letter, and they dare not put a man on the stand
to swear that it is in Dorsey's handwriting. Look it all over. But I
want to tell you how Rerdell got caught about Dorsey being present on
the 3d of April, 1878, and I might as well tell you how I found it out.
I do not want to pretend to be any more ingenious than I am. I found
it out because I made the same mistake myself. I stumbled on that same
root. I hit my toe of heedlessness on the same obstruction. I went up
to look at the Senate journal. I opened a book to see whether Dorsey was
here on the 3d of April, 1878. You see at the bottom there of the title
page, Mr. Foreman--Washington: Government Printing Office. 1877.
You know I was not looking for the book of 1877, so I shut that book up.
I then took the next book and opened it, and it said at just the same
place:
Washington: Government Printing Office. 1878.
I thought it was the book. So I looked over here, and I found that there
was no session of the Senate in April, and I said to myself, "Is that
possible that there was no session in April, 1878? Why, there must have
been." But the book said "no." I looked back here, and it still said
1878. Then I happened to look back to this book that said 1877, and
it said that the session commenced December 3d, 1877, and consequently
April 3d, would be found in the book marked 1877 on the title page. So I
turned right over here and looked up at the top and saw the date, April
3d, 1878. He was looking for the 1878 book, and that included April,
1879, and when he got to April, 1879, there was no session of the
Senate. So he came right in here and swore that Dorsey was not here in
1878, but that he was here in April, 1879. I looked in that book and
found that Mr. Dorsey, on the 3d of April, 1878, was appointed by the
Vice-President on a committee of conferees, on the part of the Senate,
together with Senators Windoin and Beck, and I saw exactly how Mr.
Rerdell made his mistake. He opened the book, and at the bottom-of the
title page it said 1877. That was not what he was looking for. He was
looking for 1878. And the book that said 1878 showed that in April the
Senate was not in session. The book that said 1877 showed that in April
the Senate was in session on April 3d, 1878. That man thought he was
backed by the records of the Senate, and thereupon he manufactured
that letter. And that is the letter sworn by Boone not to be in the
handwriting of S. W. Dorsey. Now, gentlemen, there is nothing in this
world that a man would be prevented from doing, for its baseness, who
would do that.
There is more evidence than this. I asked Mr. Rerdell, "When you got
that letter did you understand it?" He said, "No." "Did you do anything
on account of it?" "No." "Did you know what it meant?" "No." And yet
he has the temerity to swear that he received that on the 3d of April,
1878.
How did he come to spell the name Reddell? I will tell you. On page 2275
he had a letter to go by. That is the very page on which the Government
puts in that letter. This letter is a letter of introduction. When
Rerdell manufactured that letter he had this letter of introduction to
go by:
Hon. J. L. Routt, Denver:
My Dear Governor: I wish to introduce my friend, Mr. M. C. Reddell.
It was written Reddell in that letter, and when this man wanted to
manufacture one he had one in his possession that Dorsey wrote about
that time (April 14, 1879), and he noticed that in that he spelled the
name Reddell. So when he wanted to get up a fraud he spelled the name
Reddell. That is the way. There is no pretence that Dorsey wrote that
letter, and they dare not bring an expert or another man on earth
acquainted with the handwriting of Dorsey and submit it to him and
expect him to say that that is the handwriting of S. W. Dorsey. So much
for that.
Now, it is claimed that while Torrey was writing up Dorsey's books,
having in his possession the check stubs, he was uncertain as to whether
a charge was twenty-five dollars or twenty-five cents, and he thereupon
sent to Rerdell to ascertain the true state of the account, so that
he might open his books. Thereupon Rerdell made the calculation in the
evidence marked (94 X,) and Donnelly wrote under it that it was right.
Donnelly made that little certificate at the bottom. Here is
the important paper [submitting 94 X to the jury], another piece
manufactured out of whole cloth, not whole paper. Now, I ask a few
questions about this. In the first place, they knew that unless this was
corroborated it was good for nothing, and we find on it:
Lewis Johnson & Co., note due 28th October, three thousand dollars.
Was that note at Lewis Johnson & Co.'s? Why did they not bring some of
the officers of that bank, if there was such a note for three thousand
dollars there? But no one was brought. And yet they knew that everything
coming from Rerdell must be corroborated.
If Rerdell had come to Donnelly to find what the account was, how did
it happen to be in Rerdell's handwriting before it got to Donnelly?
Donnelly wrote this certificate at the bottom. Rerdell had written
all the facts before. If he went to Donnelly to get the facts, how did
Rerdell happen to write this before it got to Donnelly? It is like me
wanting to get some information from a man, and writing the information
before going to him.
Now, if Donnelly wrote that after Rerdell had written, where did Rerdell
get the information? If Donnelly had the books, Donnelly should have
given the information. If Rerdell had the books, why did he want to
go to Donnelly for information? And if Donnelly had the books, how did
Rerdell write the information before he went to Donnelly? Then if he
wanted that information for Torrey, why did he not send it to him? How
does it happen that Rerdell wrote out the information for Donnelly, then
got Donnelly to certify it, because Torrey had asked it? And then how
does it happen that Rerdell kept it? It seems to me that that ought
to have been sent to Torrey. Torrey wrote to Rerdell for information;
Rerdell wrote it all down, and then got Mr. Donnelly to say it was so.
If Donnelly had the books, Donnelly should have given the information.
If Rerdell had the books, he did not have to go to Donnelly for
information. That is another manufactured paper. As I say, how does it
happen to be in the possession of Rerdell? They claim that it was for
Torrey's benefit. I believe when Torrey was on the stand they asked him
if there was not some dispute about thirty-five cents. Now they bring
that here to show that there was a dispute about twenty-five cents. Was
there any reason for supposing that it was twenty-five cents? No,
except that it was in the dollar column, that is all. Of what use was
Donnelly's statement after Rerdell had made the calculation? Nobody on
earth can tell why that was given. Why did they not bring some of the
books or clerks from Lewis Johnson & Co.'s Bank to show that there was a
note there in October for three thousand dollars.
There is another little matter, a conversation between Rerdell and
Brady. Rerdell said he had a conversation with Brady in which he told
him about the Congressional committee; that he was summoned to bring his
books. Brady was astonished that Dorsey would be "Damn fool enough to
keep books," and suggested to have them copied. If this is true, Brady
at that time made a confident of Rerdell. If it is true, Brady at that
time admitted to Rerdell that he (Brady) was a conspirator; that he had
conspired with Dorsey. And yet Brady says that he never had but three or
four conversations, I believe, with this man, and Rerdell himself
admits that he never had but four or five, and when he is pinned down
on cross-examination he accounts for enough of these interviews, without
any interviews on the subject of the books, to exceed all that he ever
had. Do you believe that he ever had any such conversation? Do you
believe that Brady would make a confident of him? Do you believe that
Brady would substantially admit in his presence that he had been bribed
by Dorsey? I do not.
Now, in order that you may know what this man is, I want you to have an
idea of his character. So we will come to the next point. Mr. Rerdell
admits that he sat with the defendants during the early part of this
trial; that he was willing to make a bargain with the Government; that
he proposed to the Government that he would sit with his co-defendants,
and would challenge from the jury the friends of the defendants. Did
any man wearing the human form ever propose a more corrupt and infamous
bargain? That proposition ought to have been written on the tanned hide
of a Tewksbury pauper. He went to the Government and deliberately said,
"Gentlemen, I am willing to make a bargain with you. I am willing to
sit with my co-defendants, pretending to be their friend, and while
so pretending I will challenge their friends from the jury. I will so
arrange it that their enemies may be upon the panel." "And why do you
say that, Mr. Rerdell?" "In order to show my good faith towards the
Government." He made the first affidavit for friendship, the second for
fear, and he made this proposition to show his good faith. There never
was a meaner proposition made by a human being, under the circumstances,
than that. He proposed to do it. Mr. Blackmar says that the proposition
was rejected; but that does not affect Mr. Rerdell. He was willing to
carry it out.
What more does he swear? He swears that he tried to carry it out. In
other words, that although it had been rejected, that made no difference
to him. Mr. Blackmar says they would not do it. Rerdell swears that he
tried to: went right along and did his level best; and if the Court had
allowed him four challenges he would have challenged four friends of the
defendants from the jury.
What more does he admit? That when the Court decided that all of us
together only had four, he endeavored to challenge one. Why? Because he
believed he was a friend of the defendants; because he believed he would
be against the prosecution; and he wanted to get the friends of the
defendants away. Why? To the end that the defendants might be tried by
an enemy. That is what he was trying to accomplish.
Let us take another step. That proposition reveals the entire man; that
takes his hide off; that takes his flesh all off; that leaves his heart
bare, naked; you can see what he is made of, and it shows the workings
of his spirit, the motions of his mind; and you see in there a den of
vipers; you see entangled, knotted adders. And yet that man is put upon
the stand stamped by the seal of the Department of Justice, and that
department says to twelve men, "Here is a gentleman that you can
believe; that gentleman proposes to sell out his co-defendants to us,
but we would not buy; he is an honorable kind of gentleman, but we would
not buy."
Mr. Merrick. It should be interpolated there--if you will pardon me a
moment--that the Government refused to accept Rerdell until he himself
had pleaded guilty.
Mr. Ingersoll. I understand that. I say now, Mr. Merrick, that I
would not for anything in the world, on a subject of that kind, go the
millionth part of an inch beyond the testimony. Although you and I have
not been very cordial friends during this trial, and neither have I and
Mr. Bliss, yet if I know myself I would not for anything in this world
put a stain upon your reputation, or upon the reputation of either of
you, by misstating a word of this testimony. I would not do it. I am
incapable of it. I admit that the evidence is that the proposition was
rejected, but I also insist that the Government knew the proposition had
been made, otherwise it could not have been rejected. And so I say that
after this man had made that proposition, infamous enough to put a blush
upon the cheek of total depravity, the Government put that witness upon
the stand, sealed with the seal of the Department of Justice.
Now, we will go another step. He sat with us from day to day, gentlemen,
as you know, went in and out with us, as one of the co-defendants. In
the meantime--and there is a laughable side even to this infamy--he
borrowed money from Vaile. He went to him as a co-defendant, as a
friend, and said, "I want a hundred and forty dollars; I want to buy
bread and meat to give me strength to swear you into the penitentiary."
And Vaile gave him the money. Would you believe a man like that? You
cannot think of a man low enough, you cannot think of a defendant vile
enough to be convicted on such testimony.
Now, we will go another step. He wanted to make that bargain with Mr.
Blackmar. Mr. Blackmar swears that he told Mr. Merrick of it, and that
Mr. Merrick rejected it; would have nothing to do with it.
At that time Mr. Woodward had two affidavits of Rerdell in his
possession--an affidavit of Rerdell, made in September, supplemented by
another affidavit, I believe, of November, that he made in the city
of Hartford, covering seventy pages. When Mr. Woodward saw Mr. Rerdell
sitting with the defendants, pretending to go with them, he (Woodward)
had those two affidavits of Rerdell in his pocket. Did the prosecution
know that Rerdell had made the two affidavits? I do not say they did,
gentlemen. I only go right to the line of the evidence; there I stop.
Another thing: Mr. Blackmar swears that they had a signal to look at the
clock, and that night Rerdell would meet him at six or seven o'clock, I
have forgotten the hour; but Mr. Blackmar could not sit in his room all
the time waiting for him, and so he gave him a certain signal, so that
he would know he was to wait that night. Then what happened? Then Mr.
Rerdell came to Mr. Blackmar and gave to him written reports. Of what? I
do not know. He sat with the defendants; he gave to Mr. Blackmar written
reports. What were they? I do not know. What did Mr. Blackmar do with
them? He handed them to Colonel Bliss. What did he do with them? I do
not know. Did he read them? I do not know. Did he know that they were in
the handwriting of Mr. Rerdell? I do not know. That is for you.
Still another point:
Mr. Bliss, after this jury had been impaneled, stood before them while
Rerdell was sitting with us as a defendant, and said:
The ranks of the defendants are closed up, and he--Rerdell--stands
before you now as one of the defendants, whose testimony--Meaning the
confessions made to MacVeagh and to Postmaster-General James--will be
accepted by the Court and by you, &c.
The question arises, Did Mr. Bliss know at that time that Mr. Woodward
had in his pockets two affidavits made by Rerdell, one made in September
and the other in November? Did he know at that time that Rerdell had
given his papers over to Mr. Woodward? Did he know at that time that he
had offered to challenge the friends of the defendants from the panel?
And so knowing, did he give us to understand that Rerdell had passed
from the influence of the Government and was now acting as one of the
co-defendants? Is it possible that Mr. Bliss would furnish Rerdell with
a mask behind which he could gather information from the defendants and
sell it to the Government for immunity? Is it possible? Those were the
circumstances. I do not say that he knew. I do not know.
Gentlemen, I do not believe that it is the duty of a Government to
prosecute its citizens. I do not believe that it is the duty of a
Government to spread a net for one of the people whom it should protect.
I do not believe in the spy and informer system. I believe that every
Government should exist for the purpose of doing justice as between
man and man. The mission of a Government is to protect and preserve its
citizens from violence and fraud. The real object of a Government is to
enforce honest contracts, to protect the weak from the strong; not to
combine against the one, not to offer rewards for treachery, not to show
cold avarice in order that some citizen may have his liberty sworn
away. The objects of a good Government are the sublimest of which the
imagination can conceive. The means employed should be as pure as the
ends are noble and sacred. The Government should represent the opinions,
desires, and ideals of its greatest, its best, and its noblest citizens.
Every act of the Government should be a flower springing from the
very heart of honor. A Government should be incapable of deceit. The
Department of Justice should blow from the scales even the dust of
prejudice. Representing a supreme power, it should have the serenity and
frankness of omnipotence. Subterfuge is a confession of weakness. Behind
every pretence lurks cowardice. Our Government should be the incarnation
of candor, of courage, and of conscience. That is my idea of a great and
noble Government.
The next point to which I call your attention is the withdrawal of the
plea of not guilty by Mr. Rerdell. You probably remember the occurrence.
I will read to you what he said upon that occasion. I find it on page
2202:
After mature reflection and a full consideration of the whole subject,
I have determined to abandon any further defence of myself in this case,
and put myself at the mercy of the Court and the Government; and if
desired to do so by the counsel for the Government, to testify to all
my knowledge of any facts with reference to any of the defendants either
against or for them, myself included. Therefore, I now in person ask
leave to withdraw my plea of not guilty, heretofore interposed, and
enter my plea of guilty, and in so doing put myself upon the mercy of
the Court I feel this to be a duty I owe to myself, my family, and
to truth. I have arrived at this fixed determination upon my own
reflections and responsibilities, and without any previous consultation
with my counsel, who, I believe, would not have advised me to this
course, and whom I now relieve from all and any responsibility for the
course I have adopted.
Now, gentlemen, is it not wonderful that if Mr. Rerdell was about to
tell the truth as a witness in this case, he could not even withdraw
his plea of not guilty without misstating the facts? Is it not wonderful
that he felt called upon at that time to tell several falsehoods? He
says that he took this step upon his own responsibility. He says that he
did it without the advice of his counsel. He tells you that he believes
if he had asked his counsel, his counsel would have been opposed to
it. He says he is willing to be a witness for the Government if the
Government desires it, leaving you to infer that at that time no
arrangement had been made for him to be a witness; that it was all in
the regions of uncertainty; that he had withdrawn into the recesses of
his own mind, and consulting with himself and nobody else had made
up his mind to throw himself upon the mercy of the Government and the
Court, and took that step without even allowing his counsel to know what
he was about to do.
But he speaks further on the subject. I read from page 2523. I was then
examining him:
Q. How did you come to do it?--A. I finally made up my mind to what I
would do. I talked it over the evening before with my counsel.
He so states under oath; and yet when he stood up before this Court and
withdrew his plea of not guilty, he said he acted without the knowledge
of his counsel--I read this to show you that the statement he made to
the Court at the time he withdrew his plea was absolutely false. What
next? I will go on a little further. The same man Rerdell, after he had
made up his mind to go over to the Government; after he had made up his
mind to swear away, if it was within his power, the liberty of S. W.
Dorsey, admits, on page 2525, that he endeavored to get five thousand
dollars from Mr. Dorsey.
On page 2589 Mr. Rerdell swears positively that he did not know that he
was to be used as a witness for the Government until he was called in
court to take the stand. Let us look at the evidence of Mr. Bliss on
page 2590. I will read you what he said:
Mr. Bliss. Your Honor, we propose to show, in substance, that this
witness, for reasons with which we have nothing to do, connected with
his own views of his own safety, from an early period was desirous of
being accepted by the Government as a witness; that the counsel in the
case refused to communicate with him or to have anything to do with
him until, in the presence of his own counsel, he was brought to Mr.
Merrick's office, and there the whole thing was explained; and that
then for the first time the Government accepted his willingness to be
a witness; and they did it under circumstances which held out to him
no inducement and which involved no training or anything of the kind by
anybody representing the prosecution.
Now, let us go to the next step. I want to be perfectly fair. On page
2591 Mr. Merrick asked Mr. Rerdell this question:
Q. When did you first learn that you would be put upon the stand after
pleading guilty?--A. It was the day before my plea was made in court.
Yet when he rose to withdraw the plea he expressed his willingness to
go upon the stand for the Government, leaving you to infer that no
arrangement had been made, and he afterwards finally swore that he did
not know that he was to be called until he was called.
These things, gentlemen, you must remember.
On page 2515 Rerdell swears that on the Sunday after he got out of jail
he proposed to Mr. Lilley to have Lilley act for him, and authorized
Lilley to say to the Government that if the Government would accept him
he would go on the stand and rebut Vaile. He told him that he had in
his possession a letter or two of Mr. Vaile's. Rerdell tells you that he
made this proposition on the 16th or 17th of September, 1882, which was
after he made the affidavit of June, 1881. On the same page he said it
was just after Vaile went off the stand. That is my recollection. In
the last trial Vaile testified on the 4th of August, 1882. So about
that time Rerdell, according to his testimony, went to Lilley and made
a proposition to sell out then. When he made the affidavit of July 13,
1882, the trial was then in progress. The very next month, August, while
the trial was still going on, that same man, having made the affidavit
of July 13, 1882, went to his attorney, Mr. Lilley, and authorized him
to say to the Government that Mr. Rerdell would take the stand to swear
against Mr. Vaile. Remember another thing, gentlemen. The only thing he
offered to do then to insure his own safety was to swear against Vaile.
He did not offer to swear against Dorsey. He did not authorize Mr.
Lilley to tell the Government about the pencil memorandum and the
tabular statement and his letter to Bosler and Doisey's letter to Bosler
and the Chico letter. Not a word. He simply went and wanted to sell
some letters he had that had been written by Vaile. Why did he make that
offer? Because that was all he had.
On page 2517 he says that nothing was said about pardon, but he says
that Lilley told him that he thought he could get him off. What does
that mean? That means pardon. On page 2518 he swears that he saw
Woodward in November in Hartford, and Woodward and he wrote out the
statement, covering, I believe, about seventy pages of legal cap. Then
Mr. Rerdell, on page 2519, swears that he never made an affidavit after
that. Then he admits, on the same page, that the day before he came
into court he met Mr. Woodward and made another affidavit. That was
supplementary to the first. In the meantime he found some new papers. So
we find, according to his testimony, these affidavits:
On page 2521 we find that he made an affidavit in June, 1881. Remember,
gentlemen, that he swore to that affidavit three or four times.
He made another affidavit in July, 1882, and another in September and
November of the same year, and another in February, 1883. And yet he
swears that he was not to have immunity.
Now, gentlemen, one point more about his plea of guilty. After having
withdrawn his plea of not guilty, after rising in court and solemnly
saying that he was guilty, and that he was guilty as charged in the
indictment, which says that Rerdell conspired with Brady and Vaile and
Miner and John W. Dorsey and S. W. Dorsey and Turner, that they all
conspired, and that all the false affidavits and false petitions and
false everything else mentioned in the indictment were made for the
common benefit of all, then on page 2570 he solemnly swears that he
never entered into any conspiracy or agreement with the defendants
mentioned in the indictment or any of them for the purpose of defrauding
the Government. When I asked him, With whom did you conspire, when did
you conspire, and what was the conspiracy? he could not tell; and yet he
had stood up in court and admitted that he was guilty, and then on oath
denied it. Did he not swear himself that after the division was made in
the routes Stephen W. Dorsey had not the interest of a cent in any route
that went to Vaile or Miner? Did he not also swear that Vaile and Miner
had not the interest of one cent in any route that went to Stephen W.
Dorsey? Did he not swear that they were not mutually interested, and yet
did he not stand up in court, and by a plea of guilty say that they were
not only mutually interested, but he was one of the interested parties
himself? It seems impossible for that man to tell the truth on any
subject whatever. On page 2571 he swears he never made any agreement
with Vaile to defraud the United States. He stood up in court and
admitted, that he had. He swore that he never made any agreement with
John W. Dorsey. He admitted that he had. He swore that he never made any
agreement with S. W. Dorsey, and yet stood up in court and admitted that
he had.
Now let us see whether he expected immunity. He swears that he was
taken to Mr. Merrick's office by Mr. Woodward and his counsel. What Mr.
Merrick told him we find on page 2590:
Q. And did I not say that, under the circumstances, the Government would
have nothing to do with you unless you pleaded guilty?--A. You did.
Q. And that if you pleaded guilty you had nothing to trust to but the
mercy of the Government and the Court?--A. That is what you did, sir,
exactly.
Now, on page 2523:
Q. Was it not arranged that Mr. Woodward was to come to your house
and then take you to one of the attorneys for the prosecution, for the
purpose of arranging the terms and conditions upon which you were to
take the stand?--A. It was not.
In another place he swears that it was, and that the arrangement was
carried out.
The next point I wish to make, if the Court please, is that whenever
what is called an accomplice or an informer turns what is called State's
evidence, and whenever he is permitted by the court to be sworn as a
witness in a case, there is then upon the part of the Government an
implied promise that if he tells the truth he shall not be punished.
I read from the Whiskey cases, 9 Otto, page 595. Mr. Justice Clifford
delivers the opinion of the court.
Courts of justice everywhere agree that the established usage is that an
accomplice duly admitted as a witness in a criminal prosecution against
his associates in guilt, if he testifies fully and fairly, will not
be prosecuted for the same offence, and some of the decided cases and
standard text-writers give very satisfactory explanations of the origin
and scope of the usage in its ordinary application in actual practice.
The Court. What point are you now making to the Court?
Mr. Ingersoll. I am making this point: It appears from the evidence that
Mr. Wilshire, the attorney of Mr. Rerdell told him at the time he was
making up his mind whether he would go to the Government or not, about
the whiskey cases.
I make the point that when an accomplice turns State's evidence the
State cannot prosecute him after that if he testifies fully and fairly;
that the usage is immemorial, and that there is not an exception in
the records of all the cases in the books; consequently that when Mr.
Merrick told him, "You must look simply to the Government and to the
Court and you will have just exactly what the law gives you and no
more," his remarks meant that the law gave him perfect immunity,
provided he went upon the stand and swore truthfully.
The Court. You have demonstrated, as far as you have been able to, that
he has not sworn truthfully.
Mr. Ingersoll. He has not; he has not; and if the Government will act
fairly with him he will get no immunity.
When he went to the Government he understood the law to be that if he
swore fully and fairly, or if he swore in such a way that they could not
prove that he did not swear fully and fairly, he was to have immunity.
He understood that the more he swore against the defendants the better
was his chance for immunity. He knew that the Government would never
complain of any lie he swore against the defendants.
Now, the next question is what is the law of accomplices, of informers?
There was a remark made by Mr. Bliss in his speech, that they had plenty
of evidence in this case without the testimony of Mr. Walsh or Mr. Moore
or Mr. Rerdell; plenty of evidence without the testimony of Mr. Rerdell.
If that had been so then the Government had no right to put Mr. Rerdell
on the stand. There is but one excuse for using the testimony of a man
who pleads guilty, and that is that without his testimony a conviction
cannot, in all probability, be obtained. And upon that point I refer to
10 Pickering, 478, and to 9 Cowen, 711; and not only upon that point,
but upon the point I made at first, that whenever you put such a man
upon the stand that of itself amounts to a promise of absolute immunity:
The object of admitting the evidence of accomplices is in order to
effect the discovery and punishment of crimes which cannot be proved
against the offenders without the aid of an accomplice's testimony. In
order to prevent this entire failure of justice recourse is had to the
evidence of accomplices.--I Phillips on Evidence, 107.
If, therefore, there be sufficient evidence to convict without his
testimony, the court will refuse to admit him as a witness.--Roscoe's
Criminal Evidence, 127.
Neither do I believe that Mr. Rerdell had a right to go upon the stand
until his case was finally disposed of. Precisely the same language is
used by Wharton on Criminal Evidence, 439:
An accomplice is used by the Government because his evidence is
necessary to a conviction.
That is the opinion of Mr. Justice MacLean, in 4 MacLean's Circuit Court
Reports, 103.
Mr. Merrick. If not improper I may remark that all those cases refer to
a condition of things prior to the trial in which the party appears as
the witness.
Mr. Ingersoll. The usual question is--and the court determines that
question--whether a man shall be a witness or not.
The Court. How can the court determine that without passing upon the
evidence in the case? That is not the duty of the court; it belongs to
the jury.
Mr. Ingersoll. The prosecuting attorney has to pass upon that himself
when he makes up his mind to put him upon the stand; and he only has the
right to do that when he believes that no conviction can be had without
that testimony.
The Court. Then it belongs to the prosecuting attorney.
Mr. Ingersoll. I go further than that, and say that the prosecuting
attorney cannot do that without consultation with the court, and without
saying to the court that he believes no conviction can be had without
that testimony.
Mr. Merrick. May I be allowed to suggest a point which probably you
would like to comment upon--that all these cases refer to accomplices
prior to the trial. My own opinion in reference to the case was that I
would not put Rerdell upon the stand until he had pleaded guilty.
The Court. I do not see the ground for the distinction between the
cases. Undoubtedly, when an accomplice goes over to the Government
and offers his testimony, he does it always in the hope of pardon or
immunity from prosecution.
Mr. Ingersoll. That is all I want at present. I want it understood, if
the Court please, that I shall argue to the jury that at the time he
made up his mind to go to the Government, he understood that that meant
immunity.
The Court. Oh, well, of course it did.
Mr. Ingersoll. The next point is that the Court has to take all his
story or none; and I read from the second volume of Starkie on Evidence,
side-page 24:
In judging of the credit due to the testimony of an accomplice, it seems
to be a necessary principle that his testimony must be wholly received
as that of a credible witness or wholly rejected. His evidence on points
where he is confirmed by unimpeachable evidence is useless. The question
is whether he is to be believed upon points where he received no
confirmation. And of this the jury are to form their opinion from
the nature of the testimony, his manner of delivering it, and the
confirmation which it receives derived from other evidence which is
unsuspected. If his character be established as a witness of truth, he
is credible in matters where he is not corroborated. If, on the other
hand, nothwithstanding the corroboration upon particular points, doubts
and suspicions still remain as to his credit, his whole testimony
becomes useless.
That is the point I want to make. If they are only to take his evidence
where it is corroborated, they might as well have had the corroboration
in the first place without him.
Now, gentlemen, the evidence, in my judgment, shows, and shows beyond
a doubt--and I believe it is now admitted--that at the time Mr. Rerdell
made up his mind to go to the Government he expected that he was to have
absolute immunity. You must judge of his evidence in the light of that
fact, in the light of that knowledge, in the light of what had been told
him by his counsel. Now, it is for you to say. You know something of
this man. You have seen him from day to day. You saw his manner upon the
stand. Why, they tell you that at one time he was overcome with emotion,
and that that is evidence that he was telling the truth. It may be that
there is left in that man some little spark of goodness still. When he
was swearing, or endeavoring to swear, away the liberty of the man who
had been his friend, may be at that time the memory of the past did
for a moment rush upon him. He may have remembered the thousand acts of
kindness; he may have remembered the years of liberality; he may have
remembered the days that he had spent beneath that hospitable roof; he
may have remembered the wife and children; he may have remembered all
these things, and for just that moment he may have realized what a
wretch he was. In no other way can you account for his having emotion.
But I am about through with that gentleman. I shall not take up your
time in the remainder of my speech by commenting upon Mr. Rerdell. Let
us finish his testimony now; let us put him out of sight; let us put him
in his coffin, close the lid, nail it down:
First nail--affidavit of June 20, 1881; drive it in.
Second nail--the letter of July 5, 1882, when he says that affidavit of
1881 was made by the persuasion of Bosler; drive it in.
Third nail--affidavit of July 13, 1882, where he swears that they were
all perfectly innocent.
Fourth nail--the pencil memorandum; drive that in.
Fifth nail--the tabular statement that gave thirty-three and one-third
per cent, to Brady; drive it in.
Sixth nail--his pretended letter to Bosler telling about the advice of
Brady; drive that in.
Seventh nail--the letter he pretends that Dorsey, on the 13th of May,
1879, wrote to Bosler, the copies being made by Miss White; drive that
in.
Wind his corpse up in the balance-sheets from the red books made by
Donnelly.
Then you want a plate for his coffin. Let us paste right on there the
Chico letter, April 3, 1878.
Now, we want grave-stones. Let us take the red books, put one at his
head and one at his feet.
And let his epitaph, written upon the red book placed at his head,
be--Up to this moment I have been faithful to every trust.
My prayer to Gabriel is, "When you pass over that grave don't blow."
Let him sleep. There are, there never were, there never will be twelve
honest men who will deprive any citizen of his liberty upon the evidence
of a man like Mr. Rerdell. It never happened; it never will.
And now, gentlemen, it becomes my duty to answer a few points made by
the gentlemen who have addressed you on behalf of the Government. The
first gentleman who addressed you was Mr. Ker, and he had something to
say--considerable to say--about what are known as the Clendenning bonds.
They claim, gentlemen, first, that an immense fraud was in view when
these proposals--I think they are proposals--with accompanying bonds and
oaths of sureties were sent to Mr. Clendenning. I wish to give you, in
the first place, my explanation of this paper. See if I understand it.
If you sent this paper to that officer or to that gentleman as a form to
guide him in making up the bonds, you would only fill up that portion of
the bond in giving him a sample which you wanted him to fill up, and you
would fill it up in order to show him exactly how he was to fill it up;
and you would leave out that part which was already filled up in the
bond. That is exactly what was done in this case. There was not one of
those bonds that had an oath of the surety or the names of the sureties,
because they were unknown. The names were unknown, and the amounts that
the postmaster would certify to, and so all that was left in blank in
the bond sent. But this being only a sample, it was sent to him so that
he might know how to fill up the bonds that were sent. Consequently that
portion which was absolutely blank in the bond sent would be filled up
as a guide to him, and that portion which was filled up in the bonds
sent would be left blank in the guide, because he had nothing to do with
that part. Now, that is all there is to it.
What was left out, as they claim? Why they claim that the name of the
bidder was left out and the amount of the bid. It makes no difference.
That is not the slightest evidence of fraud, is it?
What was the next thing? They were never used, never. No bond included
in that bundle was ever accepted by the Government. No bonds were ever
made, no contract ever based upon them, not a solitary cent taken from
the Government by those papers. Why, then, this secrecy? Because when a
man is in this business he does not want anybody else to know that he is
bidding, in the first place; and, in the second place, he does not want
anybody to know the amount of the bid. If the amount of the bid is put
in, then the persons going security will know it, and they may tell. The
postmaster who approves the security will know it, and he may tell. The
object of the secrecy is not to defraud the Government, but to prevent
other people finding the amount of the bid and then underbidding. That
is the object, and it is the only object. And yet this little, poor,
dried-up bond, soaked in the water of suspicion, swells almost to
bursting in the minds of the counsel for the prosecution. There is
nothing of it. It was never worthy of mention, in the first place. You
will never think of it when you retire. It will never enter your minds;
but if it does, remember that the object of the secrecy was simply as
a precaution against other bidders, and had nothing whatever to do with
the Government.
There is one other point. I believe Mr. Dorsey did say, in his
examination-in-chief, that he did not talk to anybody about it, and it
afterwards occurred that he did go and ask Mr. Edmunds whether what
he had asked Clendenning to do was illegal or improper. To that
contradiction you are welcome.
Mr. Ker gives the date of Boone's circular to postmasters asking for
information, and says it was dated December 1, 1879. Thereupon Mr.
Merrick corrects him, and says it was in 1878. The Court does the
same. As a matter of fact, these circulars were dated December, 1877.
Gentlemen, I just simply speak of this to show how easy it is for
people to be mistaken. Those circulars were gotten up for the purpose
of getting information before bidding. All the bids were put in in
February, 1878. The circulars were sent out, I believe, in November
and December, 1877. And yet upon that one point Mr. Ker is mistaken two
years.
On page 4512 Mr. Ker states that Miner, in April, 1878, said to Moore
that it all depended upon affidavits of the contractors, and that "they
were all good affidavit men." The object of this, if it had an object,
was to show that this conspiracy was entered into with Moore, and that
S. W. Dorsey was a part of it in April, 1878. The evidence of Moore is
that the conversation took place, not in April, but in July, 1878, at
the city of Denver. And yet Mr. Ker tells you that it was in April.
1878. It is not, perhaps, a very material point, but it simply serves
to show you the manner in which this evidence is repeated to you by the
counsel for the prosecution.
At page 4537 Mr. Ker says that before J. W. Dorsey went West he made an
arrangement with his brother to sell out his interest for ten thousand
dollars; that he did this before he started West; that he did it before
there was any service put on; and that these contracts were taken at
such low figures; yet John W. Dorsey had raised his interest up to ten
thousand dollars. Mr. Ker tells you that the evidence shows that before
any service was put on and before John W. Dorsey went West he tried to
sell out his interest for ten thousand dollars. Now, what was the object
in making this statement, unless it was pure forgetfulness? Why it was
to connect Vaile with this business some time in April, 1878.
On pages 4100 and 4102 J. W. Dorsey swears that he was here in
Washington in November, 1878; before that time he had gone to the Tongue
River route; he had come back from Bismarck; and it was then, not in
April; it was then, not before he went West; it was then, not before any
service was put on, that he talked with Vaile about selling out to
him for ten thousand dollars; and it was in November that he left the
instructions for his brother to sell to Vaile. It was not in April; it
was not before he went West; it was not before any service was put on.
At page 4540 Mr. Ker states that--Dorsey held thirty-three routes, and
there was not one of them, I suppose, that was not expedited to the
fullest extent.
What evidence is there of that? Is there any evidence that any route of
Dorsey's was expedited not mentioned in this indictment?
Did not Mr. Ker know whether the routes had been expedited or not? Did
not I offer in this court to prove what was done with every solitary
route we had? I say to the gentleman that the other routes were not
expedited. I say to the gentleman that only two other routes were,
and we were not interested in them. And I say also that they know the
record, and they knew the record when this statement was made; but they
may have forgotten it. But is it fair, gentlemen, for a prosecuting
officer to state to you that he supposed all the routes of Dorsey were
expedited? One of those in the indictment was not expedited; and not a
route outside of the indictment belonging to Dorsey, in which he had an
interest, was expedited. So much for that statement.
At page 4546 you are told by Mr. Ker that--Nobody ever heard of
expedition on a route before.
We proved what form of contracts had been in the PostOffice Department
for twenty years, and proved that in every one of them there was a
clause for expedition. So much for that evidence, gentlemen.
At page 4546 Mr. Ker tells us that J. W. Dorsey testified--That the
routes were taken so low as to cut out other people, but that they knew
they were to be expedited, and they knew they were to be increased.
J. W. Dorsey testified upon that subject, and his testimony will be
found at page 4085:
Q. Did you have an arrangement by which you should bid an extremely
small amount on the routes, with the further understanding that the
service was to be increased and expedited?--A. No, sir; I never thought
of such a thing.
And in his entire testimony in chief and cross, I believe there is not
another question on that subject.
On page 4549, referring to the letter of John M. Peck, which was in fact
written by Miner, Mr. Ker says:
Cedarville ought to have had as many mails as the other points between,
according to the order, but they were going to supply it only once a
week. .
As a matter of fact, gentlemen, this letter was written on the 22d
of October, 1878, and at the time the letter was written the mail,
according to the contract, was carried only once a week on that route,
and consequently Cedarville would have had exactly the same mail as any
other point; that is to say, once a week.
Page 556 of the record shows that three trips a week were put upon this
route to Loup City with a schedule of thirteen hours, but not until the
10th of July, 1879, nine months after this letter was written.
On page 4609 Mr. Ker, in commenting upon an affidavit on the Toquerville
and Adairville route, reads from the evidence of John W. Dorsey, citing
page 3945, and ends at this question and answer:
Q. It was done so entirely, was it not?--A. It ought to have been so.
Now, let me read you the balance:
Q. Was it not so done?--A. No, sir.
Q It was not?--A. No, sir.
Q For whose benefit was it done?.--A. He--Meaning Rerdell--stole five
thousand dollars on that route, or very nearly that--four thousand nine
hundred dollars on that very route.
Q. When did he steal that five thousand dollars?--A. About a year ago or
a year and a half; I do not remember the time.
Q. From whom?--A. From Mr. Bosler and myself.
Q. At what time?--A. I should think in February, 1882.
The question now arises, did Mr. Rerdell take this money as charged?
Read now from the record, at pages 734 and 735, and you will find in the
last line of the tabular statement introduced in this case that on this
very route four thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven dollars and
eighty-three cents was paid to M. C. Rerdell as subcontractor on that
route. We also find that it was paid on the 4th of February, 1882. This
is the money that Dorsey swears Rerdell stole, and that gentleman never
took the stand to deny it.
At page 4616, Mr. Ker, after going over all the evidence with regard to
the affidavits as to the impossibility of the number of men and horses
doing the service rendered necessary by the affidavit, comes to the
following conclusion: That under the oath the proportion was, as nine to
twenty-three; that under the oath of Johnson the real proportion should
have been, and was, eight to twenty-two.
In other words, the real proportion, according to Mr. Ker's own
statement, would have taken more money from the Treasury than the wrong
proportion made under the fraudulent affidavit, and that was nine to
twenty-three. Nine into twenty-three goes twice and five-ninths; that
is, two hundred and fifty-five per cent, and a fraction. That is the
fraudulent proportion. Mr. Ker says that the real proportion was not
as nine into twenty-three, but as eight to twenty two. Eight into
twenty-two goes twice and six-eighths; that is to say, two and
three-quarters; that is to say, two hundred and seventy-five per cent.
The fraudulent proportion, according to his claim, only gave us two
hundred and fifty-five per cent. The real proportion, which Mr. Ker
admits was right, according to the evidence of Johnson, would have given
us two hundred and seventy-five per cent. In other words, we got twenty
per cent, less under the fraud than we would under the evidence of
Johnson that Mr. Ker admits to be correct. Finding that it is twenty per
cent, less under the fraudulent affidavit than under Johnson's estimate,
he shouts fraud.
On page 4617 Mr. Ker tells us that Sanderson "had no more to do with the
route than you or I had." On page 731 I find that Mr. Sanderson drew all
the money on the route from Saguache to Lake City, I believe, with one
exception--the third quarter of one year--1878, it may be. He drew every
dollar upon that route, anyhow, up to February 17, 1882, except for one
quarter. And yet Mr. Ker stood up before you and said that Sanderson
"had no more to do with the route than you or I had."
Let us see if we have any more evidence. I find on page 3271 a
subcontract executed on route 38150, from Saguache to Lake City, by
Miner, Peck & Company to Sanderson for the whole time until June 30,
1882. I find that subcontract is signed by John R. Miner and J. L.
Sanderson. This contract was to be from the 1st of July, 1878, and was
made the 15th of May, 1878, and here it is in evidence. The evidence is
that the contract was made between Miner, Peck & Company and Sanderson;
the evidence also is that Sanderson drew the pay. And yet Mr. Ker stands
up before you and says that Sanderson "had no more to do with the route
than you or I had."
The subcontract, gentlemen, states that Sanderson is to have the entire
pay, and it was before the contract term began. So much for that.
Mr. Ker. When was it filed?
Mr. Wilson. That does not make any difference.
Mr. Ingersoll. "When was it filed?" There was a trial in my town of a
suit against the city, I believe, for allowing a culvert to get filled
up and flood a man's cellar. They brought in evidence to prove, don't
you see, that the culvert was not filled up, and one witness swore that
the day before the rain he saw a dog go through there. One of the jurors
got up and said that he would like to ask a question; he said, "What was
the color of that dog?"
On page 4631 Mr. Ker states that during the investigation by
Congress--Contractors got out printed letters and sent them to every
subcontractor upon every star route in the country, asking them to write
to their members of Congress urging their members of Congress to vote
for this appropriation.
On page 1346 is Rerdell's letter upon this very route, in which not one
word is said about the contractor doing anything one way or the other.
There is no evidence that any other letter was written on that route.
I call your attention to it to show how the prosecution strained every
possible point, and how they endeavored to patch and piece and putty
and veneer this evidence. Mr. Miner wrote a letter (page 669). I do not
remember any other evidence upon this subject. And certainly it would be
impossible to write a milder letter than Mr. Miner wrote. He did not
ask the people to get up petitions against reduction, or ask for more
service. Here is what he says, and I will read you Mr. Miner's letter:
It will be well for the people of your section to send to the member
of Congress from your district such petitions as will express their
opinions on the subject of this reduction.
Truly, yours,
JNO. R. MINER, Ag't.
Could you write a milder letter than that, to save your life, and refer
to the subject? Could you write a fairer letter than that, to save your
life?
He does not say, "Get up petitions against it." He does not say, "Send
those petitions to your member of Congress and tell him to do what he
can to prevent it." Not one word of that kind.
Yet that is considered as evidence of fraud; that is considered as
evidence of conspiracy.
The next point made is that Mr. Ker states, at page 4632, that
Brady endeavored to bribe the members of Congress into making this
appropriation by doubling every star route in the Southern and Middle
States, and did so during the Congressional investigation. What are
the facts? The deficiency bill passed April 7, 1880.. That appropriated
money only for the purpose of carrying the mails up to June 30, 1880.
The regular appropriation bill was passed at the same session, and
appropriated money to carry the mails from the 1st of July, 1880. Now
let us see if Brady doubled the trips in these Southern and Middle
States during that investigation. On page 3393 Brady says:
Practically on July 1, 1880, we doubled up the entire service for all
the Southern and Middle States.
This was after the deficiency bill had passed; it was after the money
appropriated by that bill had been expended; and it was paid for out of
the regular appropriation for the Post-Office Department.
Yet that was a bribe. It just shows that Congress by the regular
appropriation indorsed the policy of Mr. Key to have a daily mail to
every place where there was a county-seat.
At page 4652, on the route from Mineral Park to Pioche, there were
two petitions, marked 17 K and 18 K. It is somewhat singular that the
Government brought no persons whose names are on these petitions to show
that they had not authorized their names to be signed thereto, but they
brought persons to show that the signatures were not genuine.
On page 1621 the witness Wright swears that the names are the same on
both petitions. He is then asked if he knows the signatures of any
other people, and he says "Yes." He then says that the signature of John
Deland is not genuine. He swears that he knows nearly every one of the
people. He is then asked whether these signatures are in the handwriting
of the people, and he replies that he thinks not. Then he is asked as to
the signature of Cornell, and he says; That is not in his handwriting.