Show THE republican RECORD benjamin harrison knows full well the methods employer employed to his election after the dudley letter was published tho the matter wits was in all the newspapers and it was a general topic of conversation throughout 0 tho the lanil land the marld borre correspondent tells how the i pious president protected dudley and protected the part isian judge who sat ct the scoundrel free mr II arrison perfectly knew the character of the men who had purchased ili his election for him and the in methods et cods hods they trev had used yet with the single exception of dudley dudlets Dud leys 7 case lie he in no way frowner frowned upon the men or indicated his displeasure with the methods method on the contrary lie he gave sanction to the methods by rewarding the men lie ile made wanamaker post postmaster master gen cral at the command of the contributors of the corruption fund lie ile rewarded clarkson for his part in the campaign with the spoils dis bensing bensin place in the pot office don department part ment lie ile turned tanner loose in the pension office to make wreck of the surplus v fter after the plan proposed by that worthy around the campaign camp fires lie Ile raised no voice voice in in protest against quays continuance at the head of liis jis bartvs organization even after the horld II 11 had laid bare the story of that embezzlers crimes in ili dudleys dudlets Dud leys case alone lie he manifested a certain measure of sensitiva ness but the facts that have bave since conic come to light strongly suggest n that his disapproval was directed agai against st the sin of getting found out rather than founded upon any broader considerations con side rations of public morality tv the sequel to the blocks of five letter is one of the most humiliating incidents in our political history that infamous letter gave specific directions to county committee chairmen as to the methods to be employed in bribing voters and securing the delivery of their votes it told where the money was to be used that letter was widely distributed throughout indiana and many copies of it were secured as evidence of dudleys dudlets Dud leys guilt it was explicit in its terms it I 1 left eft no room for doubt the statue which it transgressed r 5 was defective in many ways but it precisely pre cisly and specifically covered dudlets dudleys Dud leys levs case it did not make it an offense to attempt to bribe voters unless the attempt orld be shown to have been but it did not lint make it a pennal offense to advise or counsel such attempts on the part of others whether the attempts were made or not this was dudley haldone had done the proof of his offense was clear and convincing it consisted of his own letter signed by hims himself elfand and sent to many persons co an and d advising them to bribe voters in blocks of five telling them how to do it and promising the necessary money A reputable citizen of indiana promptly swore out a warrant for dudleys dudlets Dud leys arrest and that worthy dared not return to his home i in n indiana until a year afterwards when i secured against a ainest molestation bythe by the favor fator of the administration lie had helped to put into power by ili hii purchase of votes Me meantime antimo the matter canic came before forejudge judge woods in the united states district court for indiana ile he submit submitted teft it to tho grand jury on nov 14 1888 one week after the election lie ile did so in charge to 0 o the grand jury clearly setting fai foith th he ahe law in a fashion obviously sound which left no room for doubt in the mind of ann any I 1 juror that eliat dudley should be indicted and brou brought 0 fit to trial the substantial part of that charge was as follows I 1 will instruct you fully upon the word attempt as aa it is i used in this clause last of fel tion i in n oi der that you you may understand its force in re batio to the specifications made regarding coun co sell i rl g to bribe and actual bribery tin clause makes it an ail offen buene dorany for any one to advise another to attempt to commit any adv of the offie nees named in the section so halt u while hile it is not a crime to make the hie attempt te pt it is ia a crime to advise advice another to ma make ke tho the attempt if A attempts to bribe U D that is ia no offense under tile statute eta tute but it if A advises 15 3 to aftem attempt t to mauss bribe bibe 0 then the one who com commands or gives gives tile the advice is an offender under this thi slaw law and I 1 will siy that I 1 consider sider there is some wisdom in thia this provision two days after the charge in as aos given and before dudleys dudlets Dud leys case had been taken up the grand jury was adjourned to meet again on dec 4 under this charge dudleys dudlets Dud leys indictment was certain and his conviction was scarcely less so but dudley had no mind to suffer alone others were involved with him in this offense a against aillet tile the law and others rather than lie he had profited by it those others had the influence noc necessary essary to save him lie ile summoned them to his aid with avith i treat ire ife declared that his pockets were full of dynamite and that if ho he were in indicted something nom ething 0 loud would bo be heard tho the grand jury met again on dec 4 and began to take testimony in dudleys dudlets Dud leys case the evidence was overwhelming copy after copy of the blocks of five letter was submitted the proof wit was positive that the letter had been sent pent to the county chairman gan cn some of them li had a d 1 been ee n wise enough to burn their copies and were unscrupulous enough I 1 not to remember with any certainty what they contained it haq obvious eions vions that unless there was interposition of some kind an ail indictment would be found then dudley it was feared would explode his dynamite the interposition came apparently parent ly from mr harrisons harrison own owl law office through his partner liff miller fler now attorney general of the united states by grace of his big appointment I 1 miller M I 1 ler was in frequent consultation with judge woods and on the oth of december woods abruptly y interrupted tile the inquiry by adjourning tile the grand jury for a week ili his s pretense was that it was necessary for him to hold court at fort wayne low how shallow that pretense was nas the subsequent facts sufficiently showed woods went to fort davne on the of the month and held bell court there for one hour and forty minutes to hear an argument in a civil suit involving n the sum of 1150 meantime the consultations went on with a great buzzing on oil the of december the grand jury reassembled on the matthew quay arrived in indianapolis and held a long conference with tile the president eident Pr elect on oil the second and third lays days thereafter mr imarri ilardi ROHS gons law partner was en engaged aged 0 for a protracted period in secret consultation sul tation with judge woods meantime the district attorney had resigned and liis his ak assistant mr bailey had been appointed to the vacancy by president cleveland upon the pica that tile the senate hall had not yet yet confirmed the appointment ju judge 0 woods refused to deimit bailey to si sin sign n indictments and adour adjourned i ned the grand jury to meet again I 1 on oil jan 14 when th the e grand jury reconvened in january there was no longer any technical difficulty in the way of dudleys dudlets Dud leys indictment justice harlan having designed judge n claypool to act as district attorney some other means of saving dudley must be found and judge woods found it by completely reversing liis his former decision overriding a ion long line of rulings upon which me men n had been convicted and setting petting at naught decisions of his own under which men were at that time serving out sentences in prison lie ire called the grand jury before him and gave them a an 1 amended charge including 0 tho following paragraphs t 0 another important question arises arises in in respect to tile the interpretation of this tin s att statute and that is whether or not one is is pu punishable n ashable who counsels or advise another to commit any any of theme thee the e offen offenses Fes if the be not committed or an ail attempt wade made to commit it I 1 instruct you that it must be hon that the crime contemplated nias aa committed or an attempt made to commit it it results of co course that tile lie mere sending bendin by one to another of a letter ietter or document contain containing im advice to bribo bribe a voter or setting se tini forth a scheme for such bribery how aver bold anti anil reprehensible is i iio not indi indict dable alile there mut be shown in addition an attempt by bv the re reviver biyer of the letter or of some soine other oilier bisti gated by him to execute the scheme by brixius or attempting to bribe some voter in respect to the election of congressmen or in in such way as to affect such election another point deserves consideration in this connection if the view be adopted that advice not acted upon may constitute a crime then the exact edict 10 words ads used in giving the advice whether flie ther oral or wr written ilten must be ascertained and erera possible lilt ment it lit fator til or of ennst lie be allotted and all doubts resolved res cesoli olied ed im HI favor tizio of the ift if the 11 e 1 use ise of money be advised but tile the particular p irti cular purpose of its use lie not clearly and indeed conclusively clu indicated a 1 possible innocent use will be presumed and even if the orpo purpose be to bribe be unquestionable and atit e tit appears that tile lie design was to purchase abase votes for other officers than representatives in congress it would lie ie no crime under the at statute batuto is designed to protect tile election for thai that office falce judge woods first instruction was that of a jurist bo honestly nestly laying el down tho tha law in accordance with its letter its spirit and the alie uni uniform foria course of decisions rendered under it ilis his second instruction wa iran a pettifogging gin 2 per perversion arsion of the law ingeniously contrived to save a particular criminal indictment anti and prosecution it wa wat 4 fore forc been would bring 0 forth disclosures so startling M and so BO harmful to tile the approaching administration and to men inen high in the party abat had elected it as justly to be likened to nn an c explosion of dynamite the rho first instruction was given in obedience to law the second in obedience to dudleys dudlets Dud leys do demand illand with its ita accompanying thre threat it and apparently patently parent ly upon an ail urgent solicitation from mr harrisons sons law oance even if the interpretation given to the law in this second instruction had biad awen sound judge woods had bad no business to present it to the grand jury as lie he very well knew iris his manifest purpose in doing so BO was to break the effort of his first instruction and to prevent the indictment of dudle dudley Y it was not the grand jurys to search out tile the remits alts of D dudlets dudleys Dud 1 I 1 leys advice or 0 r to find an ail ultimate u 1 t amate verdict in the cne it was wag that blodys business merely to inquire whether or not there was ground to justify a trial of the case by a court and jury I 1 it t w was a for the court and jury to aR ascertain certain if such ascertainment was necessary at all whether or no not actual tactual bribery had been done under dudley Dud leys y s in instructions that it had been done there ther was no room for doubt the bri bribery bery was general open and notorious A grand jury indicted persons for that and kindred offenses fences of and jud judge go woods and sentenced inn inen in n under indictments which did not meat the requirements quire ments set forth in in th hit 14 hi his 8 second instruction to the grand jarv in one of those cases lie he had bad specifically and in terms ruled contrary to the interpretation which ii he now gave to tile the law for the sake of shielding dudley and protecting mr clarris II arrison on from the dynamite the grand jury however could consider none of these things it was bound bv the alio instructions instruction of the court and by virtue of those thol se in instructions dudley went free why dudley was thus protected at the cost of the honor of a court it is not difficult to conjecture the impulse was fear of what dud dudley I 1 e y might reveal concerning the re relations lation s of men in higher hiber positions than his own to the nefarious practices in which he had been encased that the protection was arranged through the oil law office of mr II arrison him hin Telf elf appears to be b clear on the face of tile the facts that the proceedings hall had mr sanction has been shown by subsequent events in december 1891 there was a 1 vacancy upon the bench of the united states circuit court there were honorable judges in the district court and elsewhere well de ervin I 1 promotion to the place mr II arrison passed them all by bv to give the promotion to this man woods who had bad thus debauched his court for the protection of crime when it was first suggested that lie ho in might bolit t do this the suo suggestion estion was re sensed by honorable men in both parties as one reflecting unjustly upon the president yet in tile the face of protest from men high in the counsels of the nation and in tile the face of a known and emphatic P public bublic sentiment mr fr harrison arrison made the shameful appointment no act of liis his administration no act of any administration has bas created a deeper disgust C than this in the minds of the people if it has not mado made dudleys dudlets Dud leys case the president s own it has at any rate placed the president in the position of dudleys dudlets Dud leys protector it has given tile the sanction of his approval to official conduct on the part of woods which should have driven any any judee guilty of it from tile the bench there ther e was no other reason for worlds wondus s promotion than his sup servie nev in this matter lie was not distinguished above other federal F ed eral district judges for ability 0 or r service and even if the president in the existence of conscious conscious wrong in the jud judges judes 7 es action he be was still bound t to 0 protect the circuit court bench from the presence upon it of a man so smirched smirch ed in public opinion no man mail who has haq ziven eiven occasion however innocently to such criticism as that invited by woods is fit for judicial place and certainly no president properio prop proper erIv v regardful odthe of the good i name of tire courts would ever have thought of selecting 0 a man so disqualified for so con spacious spi cious a promotion the president received tile the benefits fit of dudleys dudlets Dud leys of fence and the benefits of the bribers silence secured through the conduct of this unprincipled judge |