WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1859
247
this letter was to Judge Watrous himself. It was about "our case." Here is the letter of the "dear friend," the counselor, the agent to a United States district and circuit judge 'inform- ing him of trades made for his (the judge's) benefit, with drunken vagabonds, and chuckling over the cheats thought fo be imposed upon the dirty and miserable bar-room gangs with whom it was found necessary to carry on their criminal com- merce. Here is the principal, Judge Watrous, judge of a Federal court, adopting the acts of this smart agent, particularly in the low swindling of bar-room vagabonds, and through the letters of his agent communing with himself, and congratulating him- self on the fruits of the lowest and most debased exploits of fraud. It must be recollected, too, that this commerce in land cer- tificates, openly treated of between Judge Watrous and his agent, was in violation of a law, of a highly penal character, punishing the offender with the infamy and pain of thirty-nine public stripes on the bare back. Here also is another letter, which I will read, from the same William G. Hale to 0. F. Johnson, directly indicating Judge ·Watrous's active connection with the suits referred to, and with the procurement of fraudulent land certificates: "Galveston, July 5, 1847. My Dear Sir: Colonel ··---------------------, Judge Watrous, and myself, received the 'legal papers' and your letter. Judge Norton happened by the merest good fortune to be here at the time, and Trueheart also; so the whole matter was arranged here, and by a trip to Houston. We altered the petitions materially, owing to many reasons which have sprung up since you left. Judge Watrous will explain them to you at length. All the papers were sent to San Antonio by Colonel Wilson, a partner of Trueheart, who pledges himself to have them filed by the 20th of last month. That directions should be sent from New York on the 1st of June, and in a matter of such difficulty, and be executed at San An- tonio on the 25th, is one of those lucky chances which rarely happen. I have received several letters from the trustees of the Peters Association, and have written to them ex- plaining some matters. What arrangement did you make with them as to fees; and will they advance anything? Our other matters remain in statu quo. The Stafford cases have given us much trouble, but we shall get out the attachments in a few days. We may, however, have
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