John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

[435] to prison. Fortunately the rascals bungled and delayed their work to a later hour than was intended, and, still more fortunately, neither Alexander nor his family could be wakened, and accordingly avoided the trap set for them. The burglars themselves were, however, arrested, and, although they were released on straw-bail, in due time the conspiracy was fully exposed. The newspapers, and particularly the Sun, made an outcry which not only aroused the country from end to end, but forced the Congress to order an investigation.

The preliminary facts of the case were gathered by a committee charged with that duty, but, as it could not end its work before the end of the session, the House of Representatives required the secretary to complete it. He in turn delegated it to the solicitor of the Treasury. These men, Benjamin H. Bristow and Bluford Wilson, had only recently taken office, but, fearing nothing, they set resolutely about their disagreeable task, and in due time laid bare the almost incredible details and put the machinery in motion which brought the principals to trial. Although the immediate ends of justice were defeated through the verdict of a packed jury, subsequent confessions and revelations brought the culprits to disgrace, from which they were never able to escape.¹

The Whiskey Ring was a corrupt combination for defrauding the Treasury of the excise levied by law on distilled spirits. It doubtless had its origin in the need for money with which to pay the expense of national elections, though individual distillers and collectors had probably conspired to make “crooked whiskey” soon after the first act of Congress was passed providing for the collection of internal revenue. Honest distillers were the first to complain;