The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-02-22

.
tIeman he had employed in the case,
/ dated back to the 4th OF March, author
izing him TO apply for that pardon He
stated, IN the presence of Col. Smith,
that Judge Rtce commenced writing to
/ him very singular letters. (which were
exhibited to the eommittee,) urging
him TO go on and prepare for his trial,
/ Whle he ktergusOn) was going round
his circuit attending the courts in the
Sth Judicial Circuit. He had paid no
attention to these letters, and finally he
| got TO Catlettsburg, on the 18th of
April. Before he saw Judge Rice a
/ subpoena was taken out in blank for
this witness, Taylor, who was in Ohio.
/ de then went TO Judge Rice's office,
who asked him to sit down and write
as he should dictate. This Ferguson
commenced TO do, and as soon as he
found he was TO write an application
for pardon, he refused 10 do it. But
| finally Judge Rice disclosed to him
that he (Rice) had already made an ap-
plication and got the pardon; didn't
have 1t in his possession, but said it
was in the possession OF friend, who
had procured it; that Rice had used
MS tterguson's) name without author
ity, and there was law in Kentucky
which would punish him for doing so,
II he was ever brought to account for
1t, unless he could show something as
his authority for having done so. Judge
/ Rice having finally satisfied him that,
I under all the circumstances as il had
been done, he had better let 1t go. Fer
| gusou finally sat down, and wrote the
/ letter, dating II back before the date of
| the pardon. This statement he had
made before the committee in the pres
ence of Colonel Smith, and called upon
I that gentleman to tell Judge Rice to
/ come here and contradict the state
ment if 1t was not true. He accepted
the pardon because his most important
I witness was in Ohio, where he
could not get him, and without
I him his defense would be in
complete and on account of
/ ", KY, against him, where this thing
/ was gotten up; and on account of a
/ suspicion that this very counsel he had
\ employed was not true to the trust re-
I posed in him Finding the pardon
had issued, and, surrounded as he was,
not seeing how he could well help him
/ self, he concluded TO let il go.
In concluding, Mr.. Ferguson said
that inasmuch as for the only time in
/ his life he was in condition not to
know what transpired, he did not know
/ OF any certainty whether he did the
act charged or not; but he never had
| believed, and never would, that he had
I ever touched that mans carpet sack
| and overcoat. The matter was well
/ understood by his people. He might
say he had received the endorsement of
both parties. Year before last, when a
candidate for the legislature, he wrote
q letter which contained his honest con-
I victions land which were his honest
convictions yet,) as to the true policy
\ to have been pursued at the close of the
war. This was construed TO mean that
! he had gone over to the conservatives,
! and he received the entire conservative
vote OF the county. Last fall he got the
1 entire radical vote. He had been en-
( dorsed by both parties there since this
| transpired, and as he had several mea-
| sures to carry through the House for
his people, he couldp't afford TO quit
now to accommodate this committee.
A faint applause, partly on the floor
and partly in the lobby, indicated that
| Mr.. Ferguson had the sympathies of at
least part ofthis hearers.
Mr.. Bee moved to recommit the re-
port, with instructions that the COM
mittee make report expressing an
| opinion as to Mr. Ferguson's guilt or
| innocence, and proposing something
| definite for the action OF the House.
! Mr.. Ferguson desired no recommit-
| ment for the purpose OF sending for
! witnesses, for al this period OF the ses-
| sion II was impossible to get them here
he was willing toleaveit for the House
to dispose of.
! Mr.. Harris opposed recommitting.
! The committee had had as much to do
| with this case as they desired-and a
| great deal more. In regard to the state
| ment of Capt. Ramsdell before the COM
mittee. of what Burns said concerning 9
his belief as to Mr.. Ferguson's inten-
! lons, the committee did not introduce
4 that in the report, because under the
| rules of testimony it could not be
! taken as evidence. If they had intro
| duced that in the report, they should
also have introduced the statement
4 ~ L. 49,
a statement to him that he did be-
lieve Ferguson intended to steal his
| property.
Mr.. Ferguson asked what Col. smith
| said as to when Burns made this state
ment-whether Immediately after the
| occurrence or after the political difficul-
| ty had been excited against him?
Mr. Harris said it was afterward, In
regard to the circumstantial evidence
] produced before the committee, to show
| that the pardon had been obtained
without Mr.. Ferguson's knowledge, it
was not of conclusive character, though
the committee were willing to take it
and the gentleman's statement as true.
/ But the point with the committee was
I that whether obtained with or without
his knowledge, the moment he con-
sented to use 1t, in obtaining the dis
missaI OF the case, he made himself
responsible for its procurement The
a trial, because they found it would be
absolutely impossible to get the neces-
sary witnesses; and therefore they can
cluded simply to report the document
ary evidence and give Mr.. Ferguson an
opportunity to explain away the force
of that evidence.
Whether the committee had done
| what should have been done the House
would determine. They had done the
best they could under the circum-
stances they found themselves placed
| in.
In regard to the very mild suggestion
ma1e by three members of the commit
tee-it was not attended to dictate to
Mr.. Ferguson that he should resign his
I seat, or hayethe House impeach him or
command him to resign, for they did
not know whether it was competent TO
| do that; but they thought Mr.. Fergu-
! son being legal gentleman and seeing
light in which it stood before the ccun-
ltry, would feel it his duty to the House
/ to obyiate the difficulty it lay under.
4 He felt that if it had been himself he
/ would have resigned at the commence
ment, and would have refused to occu-
I py the seat day longer till he had
| cleared the matter up The three mem
I bers of the committee had felt they
7, could not clear themselves before the
/ country, with the charge resting on the
| honor of the House that they were as
sOciating with a pardoned thief, on the
I documentary evidence which was not
overthrown and could not be by the
/ evidence before the committee, without
making a modest suggestion that it
would be better for the gentleman to
disem barrass the House by resigning
his seat.
Mr.. Carroll thought there was moth
! ing in the report OF the committee. It
neither declared the man innocent nor