156 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
156 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 11 Num. 17
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=======================================
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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WHISKEY BOMB PLOTS OF 1888 AND BEYOND
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From the famous whiskey ring of 1874 to the pool of 1881 and the
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trust of 1887, and from the abandonment of the "trust" dress and
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the reorganization into one corporation in 1890 down to the
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present [1894], the private regulation of the liquor traffic has
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gone on. It is a regulation of a good deal more than the liquor
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traffic. More than one chapter of our history exhibits the
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government itself holding to these rectifiers relations
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suggestive of anything but rectification.
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By February, 1888, all the important distilleries in the Northern
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States were in the Trust, excepting two, the larger of which was
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in Chicago. In April the Chicago distillery firm published the
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fact that they had caught a spy of the Trust in their works. He
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had given them a confession in writing. In September it was
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discovered that the valve of a vat in this distillery had been
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tampered with in such a way as to have caused an explosion had it
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not been found out in time. In December the country was startled
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by the news that this distillery had been the scene of an awful
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explosion of dynamite. All the buildings in the neighborhood
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were shaken and many panes of glass were broken. A jagged hole
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about three feet square was torn in the roof. A package of
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dynamite which had failed to explode, though the fuse had been
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lighted, was found on the premises by the Chicago police.
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The Chicago representative of the whiskey combination ridiculed
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the idea that the Trust had had anything to do with this.
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On February 11, 1891, the explosion of December, 1888, was
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recalled by the unexpected arrest of the secretary of the
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combination in Chicago by the United States authorities. The
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Grand Jury of Cook County [Illinois] found an indictment,
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February 17th, against the prisoner. April 20th he was indicted
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by the Federal Grand Jury. The crime of which he was charged was
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attempting to bribe a government gauger to blow up the
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troublesome distillery. The gauger whom the secretary endeavored
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to enlist had been loyal to *his* trust, the government, and had
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made known to his superiors the offer and purpose of the bribe.
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The gauger through whom the secretary of the Trust had attempted
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to execute his plans was called as a witness before the Committee
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of Congress which investigated the Trust in 1893. His testimony:
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Late in December, 1890, I received a letter from the
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secretary of the whiskey combination at Peoria [Illinois],
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telling me that he would like to meet me. I met him. He
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said, "You may be able to do considerable good here; not
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only for us, but of considerable advantage to yourself.
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You can get $10,000 by assisting us in this thing; in fact,
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to make matters right, you could get in three months
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$25,000."
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He met the secretary again on January 25th, 1891.
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"Now," said the secretary, "I can give you something which,
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if put under a cistern, will in three or four hours go off,
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and no person know what it was or who did it."
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The gauger surrendered the infernal machine [special bomb] to one
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of his superiors in the government. A chemist who inspected it
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said that it was his opinion it would have gone off in *three*
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*seconds*.
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If the explosion had been carried out 150 men at work in the
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distillery would have been destroyed. The evidence given
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Congress afterwards tended to show that part of the plan was that
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the bribed gauger who was to set and explode the infernal machine
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was not to be allowed to survive to claim his reward and perhaps
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repent and tell. The fuse was fixed so that the explosion would
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be instantaneous instead of giving the time promised him to get
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out of the way.
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On June 8th, 1891, the judge of the United States Court in
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Chicago quashed the Federal indictment, on the ground that it is
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not a crime under any of the United States laws for an internal
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revenue officer to set fire to a distillery of his own volition
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and impulse, and that it is not a crime against the United States
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for another person to bribe him to do such an act. He held that
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the offender could only be punished through the State courts.
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The United States had property in the distillery to the extent of
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$800,000 due for taxes, which was a legal lien on the property;
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but the United States District Attorney and the judge could find
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no Federal law under which, for the gauger to destroy this
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property of the United States, or for the Whiskey Trust to bribe
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him to do so, it was a crime. When the indictments framed by the
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State's Attorney of Chicago came before the State courts, three
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of the four were found defective and were quashed. The State's
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Attorney had said, at the time the Federal proceedings were
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quashed, that of his four indictments he relied most upon that
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for conspiracy; "but in court yesterday," reported the New York
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World newspaper, "the State Attorney let the charge of conspiracy
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fall to the ground because, as he said, there was not evidence
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enough to secure a conviction."
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"We haven't the evidence of the gauger; I don't know where he
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is," the State's Attorney said.
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But the gauger declared in a public letter in February, 1893,
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"Myself and others with positive evidence were always ready to
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testify, and I have the facts today."
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The judge of the State court held the motion to quash until July,
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1891, and then announced that he would make no decision until
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August. He withheld his ruling until October. Then he held the
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secretary for trial on two counts, charging conspiracy to bribe
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the gauger and destroy the independent distillery; but remarked
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"informally," the newspapers said, that conviction would be
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difficult.
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When the case was called March 22, 1892, a delay was granted
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"until next Monday," to enable the prisoner's counsel to read the
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"bill of particulars" to find out what he was charged with. The
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secretary did not trouble himself to attend court. His case was
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not heard of again until June 24th, when he was released on a
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*nolle prosequi* entered by the State's Attorney because the
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evidence was "insufficient," and the secretary became a free man.
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That was the end.
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[Synopsis of *Wealth against Commonwealth* by Henry Demarest
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Lloyd. (1894)]
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+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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For related stories, visit:
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http://www.shout.net/~bigred/cn.html
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http://feustel.mixi.net
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Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those
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of Conspiracy Nation, nor of its Editor in Chief.
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I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
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New mailing list: leave message in the old hollow tree stump.
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Want to know more about Whitewater, Oklahoma City bombing, etc?
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(1) telnet prairienet.org (2) logon as "visitor" (3) go citcom
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
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pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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