The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1857-03-07
fFor the Jonrnal.1
An RvunsA
rcon,,,o.a from ve.,era,y,. y,

Fer the Jonrnal.I
An Expose.
tContiuusd from yesterdays Journal
To OLIVER H. SMITH, ESQ, President of the Z.
l. d C. S. L. Railroad Company.
Before we knew Of the existence Of these
Or. visions in the contract, though We knew
they ought to be there, We have seen your
self and the contractors unite your forces, and
by means unaccountable, procure l think, the
vote of your Board, most palpably, to violate
both the letter and spirit Of two out of three, Of
these lonely saving clauses, in this ruinous in
strument. Sir, have to beg, the pardon of some,
If not all the members Of your Board, for thus
referring to them, and 1 will say here that
am sure when the above order was passed
they did not know and were not advised Of
its scope and aim. / wish to be distinctly
understood when say, that under an order
of your Board, Mr.. Carpenter has demanded
the 100000 Of the city of Evansville Bonds,
to be used on the first division Of this road,
and professedly to be used to purchase rails
or pay duties; which is violation of our orig
inal agreement with you, when We subscribed
our stock: q violation of the clause in the con-
tract between the road and Carpenter & Co.,
which requires these bonds to prepare the
road for the rails; and violation of the faith
which you as President Of the Company plight
ed to Mr.. Hopkins, Mayor of the city, W hlch last
agreement you refer to IN the body of the con-
tract, with Carpenter & Co.
; There is one more feature IN, or perhaps
to, this contract to which desire to invite
your attention. After all those visions of
wealthy and influential Eastern parties" and
of "the certainty of early completion" which
accompanied the announcement of this contract
and fitted before our unenlightened eyes, this
last development is something for which We,
after even the lapse of near three years are
not prepared. After looking carefully through
, the body Of such an instrument, We naturally
examine the execution of it, the signatures, to
see WHO are bound 10y it; when, IN this case,
we look for the signatures OF the men, who
have undertaken to do this near five million
JOB, in three years time, We find simply the
,, signature Of "Willard Carpenter Il Co." Here
sir, and on this subject have no comment to
" make.
You were and are the President of the road
. and know who that signature was intended TO
!, bind. You are good lawyer, and know who
it does bind.
. surely need not remind you that if an &C
: knowledged leader in any public enterprise
, would preserve his influence and usefulness
= he must not only avoid the pursuit of ignoble
ends by crooked means. but he must avoid the
very appearance Of such evil. That it is not
enough for him to be pure. lie must have q
:, care that he is unsuspected.
u Before the date of that contract, yourself
; and MIR. Carpenter, the Crginators and
leaders in this great and difficult enterprise
!, welded powerful moral influence over thu
minds Of the people and enjoyed to no small
lextent the prestige of heroism.
, After the knowledge Of that contract, a
, least so far as he was concerned, that mora
% influence and prestige were gone. They hac
; given place whether justly or not (God iorbi,
: that | should judge to the imputation O
y cupdty.
Before it, he was our strong man OF who's
. Srowess and influence his owmcu hmunity wer
proud, and surely the influence and strengt tn O
public men and men Of public spirit, are valu
). able public property. He had done us OF
more occasions than one, important publ
l. service, and in other respects, rs well rs il
A. the progress Of this enterprise, we were dirsct
g ly and deeply interested in the preservation O
- his public strength and public usefulness. Blu
=" sir, when you inves ed him with this contrac,
y though little Of its peculiar characteristic
s. have been known until lately, enough wa
10 known, to greatly impair his public influence
!, and thereby to impede the farther progress O
:" your road. Sir, the shears Of Delilah, wer
n not more fatal to the strength Of Sampson, no
RS the poisoned shirt of Nessus to that of Hercu
ir les than has been this contract to the strength
>. |of this strong man OF ours.
&c Such, sir, has been its influence upon thss
S. contractors SO far as | have the pleasure L
IS know them.
rs Permit me now, briefly to show its influ
ar ence upon the road. To do this shall chief,
Vi have recourse to your own exhibit and reports
n and shall pay my particular addresses to you
ie several successive annual tables of asset
e therein contained. You, at least, can desrr
y no better authority than them. Leaving on
then, what you are pleased to put in as .'stocl
taken by contractors" and as ''iron, bonds
$ $4,000 per mile, to be taken at par by con
l. tractors" which of course, are well enough
'e understood by this time, as being no assets,
u and leaving out "road graduation at cost,
!, and fright Of way at cost" which we wei
: know have no business in the assets" column
y which also contains the whole stock subscrip
ton out of which the work has been paid for
IA These items left out your own three publishe,
IL tables ofassets for March LIST, 1854, Nav 10Th
1855 and May LIST, 1856, (since which yo'
> have given us no report, will stand as follows
cities
of lands cash value 49, %
Is Individual cash eriptions. 3s0.Ot
Total VI VeO. ~
70 (See your exhibit March LIST, .s,I.l
Sc May 10Th. 1855.
=, subscrp tions Evansville and Lamsseo $4,000
10 Real in deed of 25i.fs2
IL r6,a5
. q" mot yed............ ...... 10000
W Cash stock not paid 9iuSLl
al - - paid. is.f2D 12f.sel
n Your report May 10Th. ls55....... as73s
Decrease since exhibit Of March 1s .eso Il
nc May LIST. 1856.