The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-03-23
FOR THE ENQUIRER.
TO THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA.
No. ".

have pledged myself, to prove to you, fellow
citizens, that the charges made against me by the
Armory Committee, of the Legislature before
the last, are false and groundless and although
the regular publication of my defence has been
greatly procrastinated by indispensable duties to
my private concerns, and q necessary resort to
voium!nous books and papers, embr3eing very
extensive transactions during serieB of more
than eleven years yet to- that promise you will
find me faithful. shall prove the falsehood of
that report, not by a mere assertion of facts but
by public vouchers and records, which are incon-
!troyertible.
The committee commenced their remarks as
follows" The chief material in manufacturing
FIRE arms, is hon Sine the frs. day of NAY,
1901, unri the first day of October 1903, a sam
nearly equal to $4,000 dollars ha. been drawn from
the treasury, for purchases made of that article
the amount could not be precisely a,certainea o.o-
ing to bar iron AVID sheet iron being blended in the
accounts rendered, and, in instance, the exsen-
iture Of $50 dollars rs stated to have been for bar
iron and gun.stocks. TIE sum estinated a6ooe.
however, is, IN the opinion Of your committee, nor
far va,iant from the sum actually expended for bar
iron" Here in the outset, the deception of that
report begins. The trainers thereof. endeavor
| to induce belief that S $4,000 had been expen-
ded in the purchase of bar iron, for making arms
In contradiction of that falsehood, Irefer Won to
the following certificate of Mr. Joseph Jackson,
chief clerk or clerk of accounts of the Auditors
office; and if more satisfactory to you, refer
fyoa to the vouchers in that office, upon which his
certificate is founded; also refer you to the GER
t'hcate of Mr. George Williamson, who then
was, and still is, the first master armorer of the
Virginia mandatory of arms Mr.. Jackson GER
tines that the whole amount expended in the pur-
chase of bar iron, for making arms, is several
thousand dollars less than the amount reported
by the committee and Mr. Williamson states,
upon oath, that a considerable portion of the iron
as well as other materials purchased for making
arms, WAS necessarily and properly applied to O.
ther purposes than that of making arms This
is one of the many instances of deception practi-
sed by the trainers of that report, as will be seen
IN the sequel. The certificates follow
Having examined the vouchers in this Office,
by which money has been paid for materials for
the manufacturing arms hereby certify, that
the whole sum drawn from the appropriations for
making arms, for the purchase Of bar iron, be-
tween the first day of May, 1901, and the first
October, 1903, amounts to nineteen thousand two
hundred and seventy two dollars, SIS cents /; and
there has also been drawn from the contingent
fund, one thousand nine hundred fifty four dol
lars three cents, for the purchase of bar iron but
whether for the purpose of making arms, or for
tools and aPparatas, or any other purpose, can.
| not say.
JOSEPH JACKSON,
CLERK Of Aeeourts:
| Auditors Office, 3olhl