Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1856-10-16


Peter Mccall. Of Philadelphia. Commis
sioners to take depositions of witmesse;
for Col. Fremont in Pennsylvania. They
were to be sworn and then TO administel
oaths 10 interpreters, clerks. trc.-the ties
limony so taken to be sent under seal tc
Chief Justice Sir James Farke of the
Common Pleas. James Buchanan being
the only witness sworn, we give his state
ment in regard 20 these bills before this
court. These bills were the same claims
which DR.. Fitch tried to make us believe
were illegal. and in relation TO which
james Buchanan, under oath said:
"To the best of my knowledge the ori-
ginas OF the bills, copies Of which are
now produced and shown 10 me. and are
hereto annexed. marked Nos. l, 2. 3 s. 4,
were presented at the State Department.
in the City Of Washington, for accep-
tance and payment, but do not recollect
the individual or the individuals by
whom presented, I should have accepted
and paid these bills from my general
knowledsc of the transactions in Cali.
fornia. had Congress appropriated any
money, and placed 1t ni my disposal, 4,
which could be applied to their payment,
though it would have been more correct
to have drawn these bills on the SecTeta.
ry of War; should have accepted and
paid these bills, and have them charged
in account against Co.. Fremont, to be
settled for at the general settlement OF
his accounts es Commander Of The Cali
fornia battalion, had any such appropri-
alton been made; | know of no other
matter or thing touching or concerning
the matters at issue in this cause, CT the
parties thereto material or necessary to
be known and adduced on the trial there
Of"
So much for James Buchanan's opin-
ions of these claims.
Now we propose to show DR.. Fitch's
Misrepresentation of the honesty of Ere
mont. by referring our readers to the fol-
lowing extracts from a speech Of Willis
a. German. Of Indiana, Chairman of the
Committee on Military Afflirs; and as
will be seen, he had this claim Of Col.
Fremont thoroughly investigated. Ii
has been charged that not one dollar of
this money borrowed by Col Fremont
had been used in the u. States service.
On this point Mr.. German said:
There is upwards OF 1856 for which
there ere no vouchers on file. That
amount was paid to the quarter masters,
but the vouchers are not yet found
The vouchers which have been presented.
| nd Of has her
clear end satisfactory. 1t is satisiactorl
ly shown that the sum Of $500 So ioi
which there nre no vouchers at hand. has
been paid. The Committee on Military
Affairs called before them on officer OF
the army who was with Col. Fremont,
aud testiGes to facts which ought to sat
isfy the House that every dollar has been
accounted for."
1t has been charged that with portion
Of this money Fremont purchased the
Mariposa tract. The charge as published
in the Cincinnati Enquirer is in these
words, to.wit:
with this money he purchased the
Mariposa tract. which he holds to this
day as his private property. 1t was not
until 1882 that the United States paid
this borrowed money. and then not be
cause it was legal claim, but because
Don Jose lent the money i'll good faith,
and ought not 10 suffer from Fremont's
fraud. The entire amount then paid, in
cluding interest, was $4,000. which is
the exact sum that Col. Fremont's Mari
posa tract cost the United States"
| The statement Of Mr.. German, tina,
the disbursement, Of this money was sat
isfaciorily accounted foT, would be q
sufficient answer TO this; but we have
other and more direct testimony. Mr.
German said: (see page 500 of vol. &c
of The Congressional Globe.)
at was said that Col. Frcmon. had
90, this $4,000 and bought the Mari
posa land with il; and a distinguished
gentleman in this House told me he had
heard that he had purchased a large
amount of cattle with it, upon which he
had made large profits. Now the Mari
posa had cost only 50 ,000-ihough i,
turned out 10 be exceedingly valuable
and worth forty or fifty times what he
paid for it. But the date of that pur
chase was anterior to the transaction"
Another charge in reference to the
meat cattle operation reads as follows:
'ln the same year he bought six hun.
dred head Of cattle for $4,000. a; SIC
head. the hides TO be given back to the
Mexican of whom he bought them. Not
one Of them was ever used for the bat
tallion; but. after il was discharged, Col.
Fremont had them pastured for three
years, with one Mr.. Abel Stearns, the
latter to be paid for the pns,urage by a
share Of the increase. And Col. B.
Mason says that not one Of the cattle
was ever used for the public purpose. -
The United States paid for these cattle
Sc .975. including interest-not because
any soldier. sailor, or marine ever tasted
the beef. but because. again. it was not
right that the innocent Mexican should
suffer for Fremont's fraud"
On this point Mr.. German remarked:
"As TO the alleged purchase of large
am cunt Of cattle and the grand specula-
ton out Of the operation! How did we
act as to the charge? Did we believe i,
blindly? No, sir, we went into an in
vestigation of it. and what was the re-
suit? We found that he had purchased y
certain amount of cattle for the use Of
the army. but because he had not the
means OF paying for them. he left the
cattle in the posse sson of the vender,
1 Il l.. r