Democratic banner., 1849-12-24

term, I knew to be true. ,...;'
AS regards your charge for locating land
warrant-it' was one dollar 10y"
,,sy!da Respectfully, yours &c.94s t7z..n'
L ai1tsuA OF sgrshUAMES 'F:LEWlSV.,
-ssorag i ,deb gai PALmYRA.qD Dec, 1867
7s Col. DAyIEs,-Siz, hYourFds this date
being resolved, Il haze totafs that / have
been acquainted with the Land 0 flee since
che 10Th OF October, 1888, and for. many
years have been employed in said Office.
That for many years the correspondence
of the Office, and other papers relating to
prescriptions, subdivisions, &c., have been
kept in'one desk in the Office, labelled and
ia pigeon holes, and especially during yonr
continuance in Office, was carefully kept,
and in'good order I was often employed
to represent you during your absence, and
if the papers remain; in the appropriate
places, l can readily lay my hand upon any
Of the papersf for any past year. I do not
think chat you made any change in the 9or-
der ofyour prede cessors. '..ot Hl't1.h
Regretting that you should consider it
necessary to call or me, lam willing to
respond IS far as have any acquaintance
with the Land Office. u Is F"n "i
4 Yours, respectfully " ~" .f-'
lti Ut g''5"'' EDWIN G. PRATT.
S.h pALmYRA, Mo, Dec. Sd, ls49 r.
Col. B. DAvIEs-Sir: As you have
called on US to state what took place on
the day we accompanied you to the Land
Office atthis place, we have no hesitation
in saying, that at your instance we went
10 the Office TO witness an investigation as
you pruposed) between yourself and Mr..
Mahan, the Register, respecting certain
statements made in a letter of Mr.. Mahsn
to the Land Office Department at WASH
ington City, complaining Of your official
delinquences as his predecessor, a copy Of
which letter had been furnished you BY the
Commissioner. On arriving at the Office,
you showed Mr.. Mahan the copy of his
letter, and asked him what'it meant; he
attempted what you considered an evasive
reply; and you askedtaa 10 Sfiow you to
examine The files of the Office TO see whetli-
er the papers he had stated in his letter
were not in the office, could be found there.
He replied that when the Government re-
quired him TO do so, he would allow your
request Very sharp words then passed
between you, and you said you were Reg.
lister so far as your own official acts were
involved; and as no had misrepresented
yon to the government officially, you de-
manded the privilege Of examining the
records Of the Office 10 establish your own
iunocents Of his charge, and his guilt in
having stated positive f~alsehoods to the De-
lpsrtmeDt against you as an officer. Being
much excited, you reached forward and
pulled open the door Of a large desk laid
of in pigeon-holes, for the purpose, as we
presume of preserving these records or files
Of papers, and showed us instantly ell the
letters that Mr.. Mahan had" stated in. his
letter were not there. Mr.. Mahan had sta
ted in his letter that a certain letter Of a
particular date had been carefully and dill
gently searched for, but could not be found.
This letter you prom pity drew out of one
of the bundles, and Mr.. Mahan then ac-
knowledged that he had not made, the ex-
animation as carefully as he should have
done, which he was willing TO state 10 the
department. You showed from the books
and other papers that he had misrepresen-
tied you in several of the statements of his
letter, which he acknowledged and prom
ised 70 correct. We have thus given the
substance of what occurred on the occa-
sion referred to, according to our best re-
collection, without going into further detail,
which we trust will be considered sufficient
for all practicable purposes. ..ak ..ax .
Respe ctfully your. felloy- citizens, i
JOHN VALIANT, >,
'ir' f' y. H. KIBBY,
..sra.. 49,. VIM. BLAKEY, az
JOHN TAYLOR.
1t will be seen from the names of the
gentlemen attached TO these certificates,
that this is no partizan proceeding. Mr..
James T. Lewis, is the newly appointed
whig postmaster at this place, and Messls.
Valiant!and Kibby are Of the same political
party. "a Having said as little as I thought
consistent With my duty to my own char
acter,' and without wishing to press my
personal afairs-which are Of no interest
to any one but myself-before the commu%.
nifty, Iieavs the further consid Grafton Of the
subject to impartial Investigation.
-f'b2sqS adioHH BENJAMIN DAVIES "
Paimyrs, Dec. "4th, 'ls49, ',i ino.a 13''