Weekly American. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1858-1858, 1858-05-15
yBE FORT SMELLING swINDLE.

The sale by the present Secretary Of War
of Fort Smelling, including the reservation of
e;obt or ten thousand acres of valuable land
living between the rivers Mississippi and Min
nesota at their junction, six miles above the
city of ST. Paul and about the same distance
below the Falls Of st. Anthony, has very nat
urally excited general comment and aroused
much indignation. An investigation of the
origin and character of this sale was ordered
by the House early in January, and fair
Committee 1.-TWO Administration men, two Re
publicans, one Douglas Democrat) appointed
by Speaker Orr to make it, That Committee
took testimony at intervals throughout the
first three months of this year, and this
testimony has been reported by them in vol
ume of 1858 pages, pungent extracts from
which are given on another page of this sheet.
Those extracts-being the evidence of the
Hon. Robert Smith of Illinois, who formally
demanded the investigation, and of the Hon.
Richard Schell of this city, who was one of the
silent partners in the purchase-will serve to
give shrewd and careful readers pretty clear
idea of the nature of the transaction. Let us
endeavor to present in order its most promi-
nent features, viz. " .
/. AT the last session of Congress, at the
very close of the session, an amendment was
foisted into one of the General Appropriation
bills authorizing the Secretary Of War to sell
such of the U. S. Military Reservations as
were no longer required for Military purposes
This amendment though moved in the Senate
by Mr.. Weller of California, was prompted (as
Mr.. r. himself testilies) by Mr.. Rice, then
Delegate (now U. S. Senator elecD from Min
nesota, with special eye to the sale of the
Fort Smelling reservation.
q This amendment was received with dis
trust by Senators, who inquired-"How arc
these lands to be sold?" Mr.. Weller promptly
and confidently answered, "At public SALE"
This Quoted all opposition, and the amend
ment was adopted. Probably less than half
the Senate, and hardly Member of the House,
were aware of its existence. Nothing was
said of the matter in the newspapers; and, so
far as can be ascertained, not twenty people in
all were aware that the sale of this Reserve
was contemplated, until the fact transpired,
about mid summer that IL had been prioatezy
sold by the Secretary through the agency of
two Commissioners of his appointment, to Mr..
Franklin Steele who had long been Army suit
tier at that Fort and claimed to own certain
buildings there. There was no advertisement,
no public announcement that this Reserve was
for sale, until after it had been actually sold;
and the three or four persons who suspected,
or guessed, or had heard rumors that it might
be put in market, were unable to learn that
any such sale was going forward The Hon.
Robert Smith testifes that he wrote the Secre-
tary from Minnesota in April, stating that he
desired to know if, when and how this Reserve
was to be sold, desiring to bid for part of it.
This letter was never acknowledged in any
way; when he again wrote (July % he re-
ccived an answer dated 21sD informing him
that the Reserve had been sold.
8. Mr.. John B. Floyd Of Virginia became
Secretary Of War on the 4th or 9th Of March,
1S57-directly after the passage of the Rice
amendment aforesaid. Though then a novice
at Washington, he seems to have been early
posted up with regard to this Rice-amendment
and its bearing on the Fort Smelling reserve
DIR. Arch. Graham of Lexington, Va (but who
appears to be quite at home in Washington, }
testifies that he called on Secretary Floyd IAN
old friend in April 1857, told Mr.. F. he was
going to Minnesota to make investments, and
would like anything to do in that quarter
that would pay his expenses. "He told me
he had nothing, unless took the agency Of
some old forts that Congress bad directed the
sale of He mentioned Fort Smelling and Fort
Ripley" Congress had directed" the sale
of no forts, but only such as were no longer
needed for Military purposes might be sold ]
DR.. Graham inwardly decided that he should
prefer to 60 into this business as purchaser,
so he told Secretary Floyd he would think of
the matter, and in due time wrote the Secre-
tary note declining the agency, and went to
Minnesota to buy the Fort Smelling tract, not
to sell it There he figured as the agent or
representative Of the Hon. John G. Mather,
Mr.. Richard and Mrs. Richard Schell (which
doesn't mean Mr.. Augustus) of this city, and
was secretly partner with Mr.. Franklin
Steele in buying the property-the Commits
sioners now swearing that they didn't know
him in that capacity, nor suppose anybody but
Franklin Steele concerned in the purchase.
Mr.. Secretary Floyd also knew nobody as con.
cerned in the purchase but Franklin Steele.
We say Mrs Richard Schell doesn't mean Mr..
Augustus Schell, because both the Mr. Schells
40 testify; but it appears that Mr.. Augustus
Schell lent Mrs. Richard Schell IS, 900 of the
money put into this operation, and has not yet
got it back, though Mrs Richard Schell is at
tested by her husband TO be worth 800, 00O
And Dr. Arch. Graham, who was going up to
Minnesota to speculate in lands before he ever
heard Of Fort Smelling or had any relations
with Mather and the Schells, appears not to
have put one dollar into this nor anything else
1t doesn't look as though he had anything TO
put in. Franklin Steele has paid in $4,000,
Mather and the Schells $4,000, but Dr. Ora
ham just nothing at all except his services, for
which he is to have $4,000 year, and is "let
in" for one-twenty- seventh Of the purchase
A. Mr.. Secretary Floyd, coming green into
the War Department on the 4th or 9th Of
March, was formally applied to by Delegate
Rice on the 9TH of April following. In his