New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-04-28
to Be sold. Dr. Graham. indeed, tells ~ that Secre
tary Floyd told him; bat hear the others:

tary Floyd tod him; bat hear 'ne o.no" IN g..
"oneioo ~ Stats Whence you IN ms,irs sui iot
Answer DO no, distinctly scosc how zane in Po..-.aso
OF The f.os ,hsi saw paper, during fer'e'
trs; n. ths, the Fori WAS 10 be sod al -
This statement il scarcely reconcilase win re-
corded facts Rice tried, the year before, 10 induce
the War Department to sell the Fort oneliioe Nc
serve 70 Franklin Steele for fifteen dollars an acre'
stating in bis letter that the whole RESERVATION
including tho overhowed lands, contained ou'
five thousand acres, making the price S7o,ov.
Secretary JEFF. Davis very promptly inserted 'oe
following flea in the ears Of the confederate sPecu'
latOrs: ,..
"w,s DEPARTMENT WASHINGTON, Msy 6, $50
dr, 1900 your Ie,te. Of the 2h ultimo iIcosn
an offer Of MI Franklin Steele purchase the military Fe''
5js} ~: :s s''f'f' be en-
v respectfully fF ISsio Ssfaisn' SECRETARY of wr
"HoD. H. NJ Rrcs, Hou.e Of Representatives,"
The authority to sell Fort Smelling was on'y
wormed tbr ugh Congress by Mr. Rice in the very
last hours Of Gen. Pierces Administration, and then
in terms that made 10 distinct alusion to that tort.
Nothing was ever said of it in the newspapers I'LL
the fact transpred that the Reserve had been Pm
vately sold Yet Mr. Schell, when further pressed,
persists that he " does not remember cannon
gay" &c, &C., from whom or how he hrst
learned that Fort Smelling was to be sold And
Mr.. John c. Mather, when pressed in similar
way, finally responds:
81 thk it in the lars sent among which was one
authorizing the sale Of these reservations
Now. the Session Laws Of Congress are very
hard 10 pet-(as we have had ample reason to know,
since We require an early copy every year TO be
COZ Iensed for our Almanac) for several weeks,
after session closes this act Saying nothing OF
Fort Snellirg) was not passed till March Sd; aud
DIR. Graham states that be went to Mime sofa to
buy this property for Mather, the Schells and him
elf Gas he testifes) "the last of April 1897 VI
course. Mr.. INTERCHANGEABLE But why Ii
it deemed necessary by Mather and the Schells to
testify after this fashion The "white heap yonder
is visible to all eyes, but who is the cat it seeks to
| conceal Ii his nsme is not John B. Floyd, what
is it,
.. Messrs. Eastman ard Heskel were appointed
and paid as Commits siouers to sell the Fort Smelling
property-of course, to cell it justly for the Gov
eminent. fairly for the community. 1t was per-
fectv notorious that there would be eager and wide
competition for this property if it we're known to
be for sale. Though the Hon. Robert Smiths first
letter Of inquiry is ignored at the War Office yet
the letters of John G.. Sherburne and the Ho1
Paul Dillingham; (ex.M. c. from Vt askipg to be
allowed a chance to purchase, are there on fle
Mr. D., writing from Waterbury VT, May l, 81,
tells Secretary Floyd "that he has learned that
such lands aud forts as are no longer needed are
TO be Sold and it has occurred to ME thatyou will
sell Fort Smelling, near where l would Ike t)
"locate." Mr.. D. tells Mr.. Floyd that he al
ways has beeD, and am yet, reliable Demo-
crat-that he is tired of living in Vermont,
"whcIe genuine Democracy is poorly thought Of
by the great colored party who rule, and always
Twill, here" One would suppose such letters
we're worth response through some idle clerk in
the War Department, but never word did they
evoke. Messrr. Eastman and Heiskell went about
the business of selling eight or ten thousand acres
of highly valuable land as though it were the steal
| ing of q sbeep-iaying nothirg to nobOdy-never
allowing it TO transpire that they were commissioned
for this puIpose-never giving another person but
Fran kin Steele aud his corfederates chance to
make an offer and selling The whole tract in a
lump. within enc week after dr. IIeskel arrived,
for half of its worth aud fourth Of what it would
have brought and giving one and two years credit
without interest for twO-tlirds of the price
TO- Maj. Eastman f,vOrs the Committee aud
the rest of mankind with definition that
strikes us as sumner. Hear him
Question y Your objec: to get good price
o. e.ion a. Why then did you advertise IT, in order to
Apswer because il ,coud then hare been pyirate sale,
f. T. and our objects might have been defeated"
Mai. Eastman is Of course entitled to q leather
medal for bis improvement in photography, but We
cannot accept it. We must insist that our respect
ed patrons who advertise their farms, houses, &c,
in The TRIBUNE to be sold sat private sale " are
not idiots. We don't dispute that this OF Fort SLel-
ling vds a private sale-vey private-the most
private, for such property, that ever heard of
but, though more fair and open course might
have spoiled the profit of the Transaction, We insist
that it would still, so pg as the property was not
put up at auction, have been private sale to all
creditable ntents and purposes.
IL. We must close this too long expose, yet
single touch Of Mr.. William King Hsiskel', Secre-
tary Floyd's townsman and special envoy, must
not be omitted Mr. II. testiiies as follows:
Aer the sale made Mr. Steele remarked that il We had
from tn Govcrnm1st him tina. looked upon
ike this, II the sale had been made to auyOody
else the BGek Republicans in Congress would have been un
supnlous given $50 o for buildings
You a,e De mocrst but foT all that the Black Repub
csn. oud have given you - OoO ior buidins' that
ooId upon sale as. l. Atty made for $4,000 or $1,000
than the price named
As neither Mr. Steele nor any one else had any
possible presumption right to any part Of this nor
any other subsistirg Reserve (the law being ex-
pEclt on that point). We submit that Mr.. Hsskel's
eagerness to smuggle away the public property at
half nrice from apprehension that the wicked