That letter was introduced to show that there was a conspiracy between
Miner and Brady; and yet when that man complained that the service was
not put on at the time it should have been, and that he was postmaster,
was forced to carry his returns to the nearest post-office, and
consequently spent about thirty dollars, Miner sent him the money.
Why? Because he and Brady were not confederates; because they were not
conspirators. For that reason he sent the man thirty dollars. The letter
says, "The man that was postmaster." When this letter was written Mr.
Abbott was not postmaster; he had ceased to be postmaster. Yet they
have endeavored to impress upon you the idea that when this letter
was written to Abbott he was then postmaster. He had written a letter,
stating that a weekly mail was all that was wanted, and that Mr. Carey
did not pay his bills. Mr. Miner wrote to Carey on that account, "The
man is trying to make trouble. He tried to make trouble once before, and
we sent him thirty dollars. He is not postmaster now. He has no official
position. Go and see him. Give him what is reasonable, and tell him to
mind his own business." Why? If he had been in a conspiracy with Brady
he would not care what Mr. Abbott wrote to the department. If he was
absolutely certain there he would not care anything about it. But having
no arrangement with the Second Assistant, having no arrangement of the
kind set forth in the indictment, he did not want Mr. Abbott to write
letters; he did not want Mr. Abbott to make trouble. That letter,
instead of showing that there was a conspiracy, shows absolutely that
there was not, and the letter was not written to him while he was an
official. The man was not then postmaster. He simply had been.
The next point made by Mr. Ker is a very powerful point, that Mr. Vaile
came from Independence, where the James boys came from, and where they
steal horses. Suppose I should say that Mr. Ker comes from Philadelphia,
the town that Mr. Phipps lives in, the man who stole the roof off of the
poorhouse. Would there be any argument in that?
Mr. Ker says that J. W. Dorsey wrote in his letter that the profits
would be one hundred thousand dollars a year. That was a mistake. I turn
to the letter and I find that it says one hundred thousand dollars in
the life of the contract, and not one hundred thousand dollars a year.
Mr. Bliss. Your Honor, I claim the right to call attention to the
fact that Mr. Ker read the letter in full referring to the one hundred
thousand dollars clear of expenses. He read it and then followed it
by the statement of one hundred thousand dollars a year, which was
obviously a mistake.
Mr. Ingersoll. That only makes it worse. After he had read the letter
to the jury, and while the echoes of the letter were still in the
court-room, he then said one hundred thousand dollars a year, while
the letter said one hundred thousand dollars within the life of the
contract. Upon such statements, gentlemen, they expect to strip a
citizen of his liberty. [To counsel for the Government.] You will have
some work to do in a little while. It may be that Mr. Ker forgets these
things. I do not say how it happened.
Mr. Ker also tells you that Miner wanted to cut out S. W. Dorsey and
J. W. Dorsey and Mr. Peck. Was that because he was a co-conspirator? He
also tells you that Miner deserted his friend S. W. Dorsey. Was he at
that time a conspirator? Mr. Ker tells you that S. W. Dorsey wanted to
gratify his spite against Vaile and that the first thing he did after he
got out of the Senate was to write that letter to the Second Assistant
Postmaster-General against the subcontracts. Does that show they were
co-conspirators? Did he want to gratify his spite because he had made a
bargain with them by which they were to realize hundreds of thousands of
dollars?
Mr. Ker also says that Miner's letter to Tuttle shows the conspiracy.
It is perfectly wonderful, gentlemen, how suspicion changes and poisons
everything.
Let me read you the letter from which Mr. Ker draws the inference that
there was a conspiracy. It is on page 885:
Washington, D. C., August 19, 1878. Frank A. Tuttle, Box 44, Pueblo,
Colo.,
Dear Sir: Yours 14th received. We accept your proposition, provided (so
that there shall be no conflict) that a friend of ours, who has recently
gone to Colorado, has not made different arrangements before we can get
him word.
The petition for expedition should be separate from the petition for
increase of number of trips. We make no boast of being solid with
anybody, but can get what is reasonable. Yours, truly,