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BRISTOW, BENJAMIN HELM (1832-1896)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 583 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BRISTOW, See also:BENJAMIN HELM (1832-1896) , See also:American lawyer and politician, was See also:born in Elkton, See also:Kentucky, on the loth of See also:June 1832, the son of See also:Francis See also:Marion Bristow (1804-1864), a Whig member of See also:Congress in 1854-1855 and 1859-1861. He graduated at See also:Jefferson See also:College, Canonsburg, See also:Pennsylvania, in 1851, studied See also:law under his See also:father, and was admitted to the Kentucky See also:bar in 1853. At the beginning of the See also:Civil See also:War he became See also:lieutenant-See also:colonel of the 25th Kentucky See also:Infantry; was severely wounded at See also:Shiloh; helped to recruit the 8th Kentucky See also:Cavalry, of which he was lieutenant-colonel and later colonel; and assisted at the See also:capture of See also:John H. See also:Morgan in See also:July 1863. In 1863-1865 he was See also:state senator; in 1865-1866 assistant See also:United States See also:district-See also:attorney, and in 1866-1870 district-attorney for the See also:Louisville district; and in 1870-1872, after a few months' practice of law with John M. See also:Harlan, was the (first appointed) See also:solicitor-See also:general of the United States. In 1873 See also:President See also:Grant nominated him attorney-general of the United States in See also:case See also:George H. See also:Williams were confirmed as See also:chief See also:justice of the United States, —a contingency which did not arise. As secretary of the See also:treasury (1874-1876) he prosecuted with vigour the so-called " See also:Whisky See also:Ring," the headquarters of which was at St See also:Louis, and which, beginning in 187o or 1871, had defrauded the Federal See also:government out of a large See also:part of its rightful See also:revenue from the See also:distillation of whisky. Distillers and revenue See also:officers in St Louis, See also:Milwaukee, See also:Cincinnati and other cities were implicated, and the illicit gains—which in St Louis alone probably amounted to more than $2,500,000 in the six years 1870-1876—were divided between the distillers and the revenue officers, who levied assessments on distillers ostensibly for a Republican See also:campaign fund to be used in furthering Grant's re-See also:election. Prominent among the ring's alleged accomplices at See also:Washington was Orville E. Babcock, private secretary to President Grant, whose See also:personal friendship for Babcock led him to indiscreet interference in the See also:prosecution.

Through Bristow's efforts more than 200 men were indicted, a number of whom were convicted, but after some months' imprisonment were pardoned. Largely owing to See also:

friction between himself and the president, Bristow resigned his See also:portfolio in June 1876; as secretary of the treasury he advocated the resumption of specie payments and at least a partial retirement of "See also:greenbacks"; and he was also an See also:advocate of civil service reform. He was a prominent See also:candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1876. After 1878 he practised law in New See also:York See also:City, where he died on the 22nd of June 1896. See Memorial of Benjamin Helm Bristow, largely prepared by See also:David Willcox (See also:Cambridge, See also:Mass., privately printed, 1897) ;Whiskey Frauds, 44th Cong., 1st Sess., Mis. Doc. No. 186; Secrets of the See also:Great Whiskey Ring (See also:Chicago, 1880), by John McDonald, who for nearly six years had been supervisor of See also:internal revenue at St Louis,—a See also:book by one concerned and to be considered in that See also:light.

End of Article: BRISTOW, BENJAMIN HELM (1832-1896)

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