STAR-ROUTE TRIAL. 



765 



It is apparent from the whole history of the alleged 

 attempt upon Brown's virtue, that it was not done 

 with the knowledge, in behalf of, or in the interest 

 of, the prosecution ; that its guilty authors were nei- 

 ther the agents nor acted with the knowledge or ap- 

 proval of any officer of the Department of Justice. 

 It was a deliberate and carefully prepared conspiracy 

 against the administration of "justice, which view is 

 confirmed strongly by the following considerations 

 and circumstances : 



1. That the Government could have no interest or 

 desire to bribe jurors to convict'. It would seem that 

 those charged with the administration of justice 

 would, from their position, have a natural desire that 

 a full, fair, and impartial trial should end. if the ac- 

 cused were innocent, in an honorable acquittal. 



2. There was no fund in the Treasury of the United 

 States out of which the large sums alleged to have 

 been offered hi bribes could have been fixed, without 

 making a public record of the infamous transactions, 

 and specifying therein not only the amount and ob- 

 ject of the disbursement, but the names of the per- 

 sons to whom it was paid ; nor could it be done even 

 then without the connivance of other departments of 

 the Government. 



3. As soon, too, as the first intimation reached any 

 officer of the Department of Justice that improper 

 suggestions had been made, or it had been claimed 

 that any one had authority to make such proposals, 

 the authors thereof were summarily dismissed, and 

 their pretended authority indignantly denied. 



4. That every person who had made such false 

 claim of authority, including Fall and Taylor, when 

 charged therewith admitted the falsity thereof; and 

 all persons present at any conversations between offi- 

 cers of the department who employed them or gave 

 them their instructions deny that any such authority 

 was ever given them. 



5. That Brown, who, it was charged, had been bribed 

 in another case ; Taylor, who had before served a term 

 in the penitentiary, and who procured Fall to be em- 

 ployed because of the latters connection with the 

 prior bribery : Nelson, who had received money from 

 Fall to pay Brown for "hanging the jury" in the 

 Long case ; Laws, who claimed that he was the man 

 who engaged Brown in that case, and who also 

 claimed that he had been engaged by the defense to 

 work Brown in this case ; Foote, who employed 

 Payne to bribe Brown, and brought him to Fall's of- 

 fice, seeing, as he says, Fall daily in reference to that 

 matter ; and, indeed, every one of the vile creatures 

 who touched this infamous transaction, come forward 

 without shame, but for what consideration I do not 

 know, and put the proof of their guilt, in the form of 

 affidavits, into the hands of counsel for the defend- 

 ants. 



Their crime was not lessened, but rather aggravated 

 thereby. If any of them have had promises of im- 

 munity, they were not made by the Government, its 

 officers, counsel, or agents, and I therefore recommend 

 that for the offenses thus committed by them, both 

 severally and jointly, they be jointly and severally 

 indicted and tried under the laws and statutes applica- 

 ble to such cases. This recommendation reters to 

 Frank II. Fall, Arthur Payne, Thomas A. Foote, and 

 any other persons discovered to have participated, 

 aided, or abetted in that transaction. As to some of 

 them, however, I must add that, for a successful pros- 

 ecution, it will be necessary that the Government 

 should be furnished with the affidavits published by 

 Mr. Ingersoll, for which I have applied, and I assume 

 they will be furnished. 



The facts in the case of Doniphan were reca- 

 pitulated in the report, and the counsel stated 

 that there was " such a clear and unequivocal 

 case of violation of the law against corruptly 

 attempting to influence the action of a juror, as 

 to leave no doubt of the propriety of a crimi- 



nal prosecution of the person attempting to 

 corrupt this juror." He accordingly recom- 

 mended that " Frederick C. Shaw, and all other 

 persons who may be found to have aided or 

 abetted in the offense, be immediately prose- 

 cuted on that charge. Warrants were issued 

 for the arrest of Fall, Foote, Payne, and Shaw, 

 and, after a preliminary examination in the po- 

 lice court of Washington, they were held for 

 the action of the Grand Jury. In the course of 

 the examination in the case of Payne, who was 

 the first to be arraigned, George D. Miller, one 

 of the Government detectives, admitted that he 

 was accustomed to reveal to the defense infor- 

 mation which he had collected in the service 

 of the Government. He was subsequently dis- 

 missed. In the course of Mr. Wells's investi- 

 gation, a sworn statement was made by Mr. 

 Brewster Cameron, agent of the Department 

 of Justice, explaining the employment of Fall. 

 He had been introduced to Mr. Cameron' by 

 Edward Taylor, an employe of the department ; 

 and James Leonard, of the Marshal's office, 

 declared that he had positive knowledge that 

 Juryman Brown had accepted a bribe in a 

 former case. Fall desired to be employed for 

 the purpose of collecting and presenting the 

 proof of this, and was so employed. He after- 

 ward suggested that, if he could have com- 

 mand of three or four clerkships, he could con- 

 trol the action of two jurors. The suggestion 

 was promptly resented, and Fall was at once 

 dismissed from the service of the Government. 

 The statement of Mr. Cameron was supported 

 by affidavits, including one from Fall himself. 



During the month of December, William 

 Dickson, who had been foreman of the Star- 

 Route jury, underwent trial in the Washington 

 Police Court on a charge of violating the law 

 in reading his statement to the jury for the 

 purpose of influencing their action. The result 

 of it was that he was held to await the action 

 of the Grand Jury, and in January, 1883, both 

 he and the others charged with attempting to 

 influence the jury corruptly were indicted. 



The new trial of the defendants in the Star 

 Route case was set for December 4th, the open- 

 ing of the new term of the Criminal Court. 

 Judge Wylie presided as before. The names 

 of two of the defendants were eliminated, that 

 of Peck by death, and that of Turner by ac- 

 quittal ; and those remaining were Thomas J. 

 Brady, Stephen W. Dorsey, John W. Dorsey, 

 Harvey M. Vaile, John R. Miner, and Montfort 

 C. Rerdell. On the llth of November Mr. 

 George Bliss, of counsel for the Government, 

 had made a report to the President, in which 

 he complained of the attitude toward the case 

 of the Marshal of the District of Columbia, Col. 

 Charles E. Henry ; the Postmaster of Wash- 

 ington, D. B. Ainger ; the Assistant Postmas- 

 ter, M. M. Parker; and the foreman of the 

 Government printing-office, M. D. Helm, the 

 last-named being also the manager of a news- 

 paper which had defended the accused and 

 assailed the prosecution. The report of Mr. 



