THE SECRET OUT

New York, 1895

About the Jury Commissioner Bill.

YOUNGS TALKS ABOUT IT.

A Conference in Albany April 3rd.

GEORGE WALLACE PRESENT.

The Queer Story He Told the Supervisors April 16th.

YOUNGS FULLY CORROBORATED.

On the 10.04 o'clock train from Jamaica to Brooklyn, Friday morning, May 3, William J. Youngs was a passenger in the smoking car. He talked loudly about the abuse that had been heaped upon him by the newspapers relative to the Commissioner of Jurors bill, and openly made the following statement:

"That he knew nothing of the bill until the day it was introduced by Vacheron, when he went into a room in the Kenmore Hotel at Albany, and found Assemblyman Richard Higbie of Suffolk, Assemblyman Vacheron and George Wallace (counsel to the Board of Supervisors), holding a conference. That they told him then of the Commissioner of Jurors bill, and asked what he thought about it. That he (Mr. Youngs) stated that he would prefer a bill to create the office of Register, were it not that he did not think it wise to create that office during the term of the present incumbent of the County Clerk's office. That he had no objection to the Commissioner of Jurors bill, but had not read it, and knew nothing about it. That he was informed that they (meaning the conferees) had agreed to put through the Commissioner of Jurors bill, and had agreed that Mr. Vacheron should be appointed to that office.

This statement was too serious to be taken lightly, and THE FARMER did not publish it last week for that reason, desiring time to inquire into it.

THE FARMER has since then investigated the statement made above by Mr. Youngs, and finds that it is true. The conference was held in parlor No. 130, in the Kenmore Hotel at Albany, April 3d. Naturally enough, Mr. Youngs thinks that all the blame for the Commissioner of Jurors bill should not fall upon him, as it has up to this time, and that George Wallace should be made to carry his share of it. The bill was introduced by Mr. Vacheron April 3rd, the day of the conference, and yet on April 16th, when the board of Supervisors was in session at Barnum Island, and Supervisor Everitt called upon Mr. Wallace for information as to the bill, Mr. Wallace informed the board that he knew nothing whatever about the bill until it had passed the Assembly, when, meeting Mr. Vachoron in Albany, the Assemblyman told him that the bill had passed the House. And yet, according to the statement of Mr. Youngs, which is abundantly corroborated, Mr. Wallace sat in a conference on April 3d, at which it was agreed to pass the bill to make Mr. Vacheron the Commissioner of Jurors.

THE FARMER recognizes fully the seriousness of the statement of Mr. Youngs as affecting Mr. Wallace, and because of it we sought corroboration of Mr. Youngs' statement, which proves to be truthful.

One of the witnesses who corroborates Mr. Youngs is the Hon. Richard C. McCormick.

THE FARMER representative was so careful that he saw Mr. Wallace himself, and he admitted being present with the others at the conference. He said it was an informal talk. The Commissioner of Jurors bill was discussed somewhat, but no draft of it was shown, and he advised Mr. Vacheron not to make it too expensive.

Why Mr. Wallace thought it proper to tell the Supervisors on April 16 that he knew nothing about the bill until told by Mr. Vacheron that it had passed the Assembly, it is for him to explain, for his own admission, as well as the statement of Mr. Youngs, and the corroborative statements of Governor McCormick and others, all prove that he knew about it on April 3. The bill passed April 11.

The reader will not fail to observe that Mr. Youngs states that the bill had been introduced at the time the conference was held.

(Extract from the proceedings of the board of Supervisors, Barnum Island, April 16th, page 20 of the pamphlet.)

"Supervisor Everitt asked counsel [Mr. Wallace] what he knew in regard to the bill creating the office of Commissioner of Jurors for Queens County.

"Mr. Wallace said that the first knowledge he had was that Assemblyman Vacheron handed him a copy of the bill and stated that it had passed the Assembly.

"Supervisor Everitt said that he thought some action should be taken by the board to protest against the passage of the bill by the Senate."

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, May 24, 1895, p. 1.