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THE GREEN BAG
CORRESPONDENCE SPEEDY PUNISHMENT OF GRAFTERS To the Editor of the Green Bag. — An effectual criminal prosecution has recently been concluded in London which, although of only local, but nevertheless very great, importance, appears to have attracted some attention in the United States. The fact that peculations by municipal officials in England has resulted in their conviction has occasioned the complacent comment in certain American newspapers that " graft " is not unknown in England, or at least is not confined to the United States, and that probably it is as prevalent abroad as at home, the only differ ence being, as one editorial writer puts it, that the English people do not wash their dirty linen in public. At the risk of destroying the satisfaction that may be derived from the companionship of misery, it may emphatically be stated that "graft," either in kind or degree, as it is known in the United States, does not exist in England. The fact that an isolated case has occurred is not an indication of an epidemic, and the celerity and effectiveness with which the grafters in this particular instance were punished, indicates a very healthy condition of the body politic. The story of the peculations, their discovery and the trial of the peculators, ought to prove interesting reading in America, and particularly to those who have apparently lost faith in all efforts to bring bosses and municipal grafters to book. In 1903, Bond, a coal contractor, who up to that time had been honestly supplying the West Ham Union with coal, was approached by Crump, one of the guardians, who intimated to him that he could not obtain a renewal of his contract unless he submitted to the exac tions of a ring of officials composed of guard ians and executive officers of the Union. He yielded to the pressure, consented to the terms, and, until the discovery of the conspiracy, in the early part of last winter, carried out his contract for the supply of coal. The guardians who were in the ring advised him what tenders other contractors were making, and h~ was
thus enabled annually to secure a renewal of his contract. They also so controlled the appointment of certain officials that short weights and inferior coal were regularly passed without comment. Six of the guardians were in the ring, and also four officials — Hodgkin, the master; Hill, the steward of the infirmary; Baird, the engineer; and Riches, the weighing clerk. The total amount paid by Bond to these individuals was the small sum of £260 a year, or about $1300. In the autumn of last year a zealous govern ment official, in auditing the accounts of the West Ham officials, had his suspicions aroused by erasures in the weighing clerk's book, and by the extraordinary amount of coal con sumed. His investigations led to the prompt arrest of Bond on the charge of receiving money upon false pretences. Bond pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months imprisonment. Furthermore he made a con fession, which resulted in the arrest of the members of the ring who have just been tried. Several weeks were necessarily occupied in their examination before the committing magistrate, and in the preparation of the indictments, which charged the specific of fenses of bribery, receiving bribes, and falsi fication of books, against each one of the accused, as well as conspiracy among them all to do the unlawful things complained of in the 90 several counts. Notwithstanding the necessary delay occasioned by these exam inations the trial began on the 2d of May, less than six months from the time the offenses were discovered. The accused were represented by no less than 15 counsel .alto gether, some of them having a King's Counsel and two juniors to appear in their behalf. Each was tried separately, and then the whole ten together, on the charge of conspiracy. The first twelve men who entered the jury box constituted the jury who heard the evidence separately as to each of the accused and conjointly as to all of them. No objec tion was made to any juror, and hardly an objection was made as to the introduction of evidence offered by the prosecution. There
