The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1857-02-23
THE DAILY DISPATCH.
Monday Morning. February 23. 1857.
More Testimony In the Consrs ssi0naI
Corruption Case.

1
The follow ing is fuller account of the testimo.
ny take, hpf ,re the invesig ating committee shan
| we publish ID en- saturday
| James - Pike sworn-Said he was one { the
| writers Of the New York Tribune; and among
other questions, MIR. Orr propounded the follow
| ing:
I may have been thrown out TO you by aby mem-
| her Of Congress, in which you concluded from Il
that it was his purpose TO subsidize your penn"
| witness--To come directly to the point the or lv
instance in which remember anything of the sol t
| was q case when one of these railroad bills " as
| before Congress at the last session A gentleman
said to NE: You and Harvey, (Harvey is our re
| guiar correspondent-l am rather an amateur-I
30 and come when please, and few of you clever
| fellows must have section Of land. Well rath-
| er smiled at this suggestion. and made no reply
| Well said he some of these sections are pret-
| ty vaiusoie-worth as much as ten dollars an
| acre. IL was done in jsunting manner and fha
| thing passed by. l had occasion, very soon af-
forwards, to comment on these bills and expressed
my opinion, which was, that they were plunder-
ing schemes, aud ought not to pass l do not know
| OF anything that comes nearer to the point than
that
| In reply TO a question, whether it was the i'm
preston that it was an offer which, If accepted.
would have led to transaction, the witness said
bis impi ession was it m. snt something.
| The committee unanimously decided that Mr..
| Pike must tell the name Oh the member, and he
named erasmus Matteson.
lie thought this was about the time of the pas.
| sage Of the Wisconsin BILL but he did not know
| whether Mr. Matteson had any interest in that
| hill. MIR Matteson did not name any particular
| bill or location.
Hon. Reverdy Johnson, (wbo is counsel Tor the
| Des Moines Navig atioE and Railroad Company Of
the Stste Of Iowa. having been sworn, testified
among other things, that, some eight OF ten days
before the adjournment OF the first session of the
present o greSs, while happened to be in the
| House of Representatives, MIR o b Matteson of
| New York. and a member from that State ask ed
| me where the President of the Des Moines Com
| pary, br. ". c. johnson, was l told him
| thought he had tft the city. That l had
| not him for several days. He then ex>
pressed very great surprise at his ha,i ing left the
/ city, and said he must come back; that he WAS
sorry TO tell me, but SO was the tact that there
] were from tw enty to thirty-I am not sure as to
| numbers, but am sure that it was either twenty
| or thirty members of the Housewife had asso-
ciated tn. mselves together, and pledged each to
the other, not to vote for any law or resolution,
| granting money or lands, unless they were paid
| for il told lin could hardly believe it. /
think the expression used, tor l was indignant
| was that t was id outrsge." He agreed with
me, and was, as far as words and manner were
concerned as warm in deroupcing it as was -
He said they were a set of id scouudrels but
there they were and nobody could get ANYTHING
| of this sort through without them; that johnson
| must have here one hundred thousand dollars to
carry this bill etc.
Hon Henry j. Raymond, editor Of the New
| know ledge of his own that corrupt organizs.
ton Of members Of Congress! and certain lobby
| agents, at Washington, has existed since early in
| the session of last year"
| The knowledge there asserted, was derived
| from information obtained from other parties Il
| was not any personal knowledge of his owp; he
| had no personal ledge of any fact or cir
| cumstance which would warrant the assertion; be
| had only such information, at secondhand, left
| on his mind no DOUBT Of the facts asserted l.
| was derived in part from the regular correspon>
| dent of the Times. Mr. SRonton; he had frequent
| talk with individuals, other than Mr. Simontop,
| about such matter. and had received from them at
| different times statements of things.
| To MT Raynond's testimony, the committee
affix the following:
| NOTE The answer cf the witness to the last
| fur questions, rendered it unnecessary in the
| opinion of the committee, to enforce answers to
preceding questions, which the witness as raluc-
tant TO answer, on the ground that in doing so he
| would violate the confidence which the persons
| of whom he professed to have information repoaed
| in him His answers show tha. he could not even
| if he violated the alleged confidence state any,
thing himself or give the name of any witness who
had any personal knowledge of facts that would
| be material to the investigation.
| Jamea w SimOntoU, correspondent If the New
| York Times sworn, tes flied that he Il not know
of his own knowledge, by legal evidence of the
| existence of any suca organiZ ator. He bad heard
| that there as such organization, and from evi
dence conclusive to bis own Judgment, he had
been satisfied that ii did exist In the course OF
the examination he spoke about the activity CT
| Mr. Chase (exmemte: of Congre 50 in controlling G
| members He had seen bin call them out, and
whisper confden,ially in the of twenty or thir
ty Of them sent them back to their seats and they
had voted the reverse OF their previous vote This
afforded strorg conviction to his mind, without
enabling him TO give legal evidence. Chase pro-
tossed outside TO have control of votes inside
Mr.. Smonton was askt d the question, ycu have
at. ted members approached you, and desired to
Ent W, through you, if they could not procure
mon W for their vote upon certain bills. Who
were hey
The witness retl 9 that he could not answer
witbopt = violation Of confidence; than do which
he would -ather suffer thing
He. in r, teronce TO another nterrogatory, said
he VISA no, nor had be been, interested in the
Mjunesota Is I'd bill But he was offered an in
terest in the N 'cbigan bill not by member of the
House, but by l. T q. w Chase, but declined il for
the reason that il was one with which he could
honorably have no connection.
York testified tha, - could say nothing about
corruption, for he kn. nothing about any
/. was asked uhetbe, he had any interest direct
indirect, to result fo tAe passage OF de1'at OF
he replied he had no iutere vt in the defeat OF any
bill He was further asked the was Interested IN
the Minnesota bill, and reptile. he had taken an
interest in bills and urged til, u passage. Deins
questioned closely this subj, et, ne oeLlSo ine
right of the committee tas he was advlseo oy eouh
seD to inquire into his private de- Wings WIN per
sons other than members of Copgr. 81 ne did not
know Of corrupt COMMUNICATIONS, NJ dio ne ever
pretend TO have control over the vote 'oi member
OF Congress. There were some tlint y ne couio
not recollect, when quest ioued relative ftnem
Rev George w sampson, designated george
Wood as the correspondent of "The New ORR IKE
corder and Examiner" or New York Il. Ptist :
10 which appeared letter, speaking of a q tatin
OF brbes on thirty members of Congress
MIR Wood testified that he had received his W.
formation from Gen Tench Tilghmsn of Nd
Gen ilghman summoned, but 1t appear
that this gentleman could not come to Washing
ton. owing to sickness, as certified by his deposi
tions
Hon William A Gilbert, summoned at the request
of the Hon Mr. Welch, testified that Mr. Welch
never said to him under any circumstances that
he IGilbertI should receive any pecuniary eorsid-
eralion, or other benefit if the resolution for the
purchase of TIipletts book should be adopted.
Hon. y. d. Matteson-On ths 6th OF foorusry, MI
Gilbert addressed Communication tdsei ma.
tonsi Hotei) to the committee, saying that ne had
been confined 20 his room for the most part OF the
last two days by the prevailing epde but during
that time occasional rumors reached IA that IA,
committee had been engaged in secret enqpiry,
calculated to affect 'rsonal Jnor and char scteF
as representative. whose rights AID reputation are
es dear to hum 10 they possibly be TO his eeIs
Th5 enquiry no bayo, WAS Prompted against hil by