Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1869-02-12
THE LEGIsLATURE.
The ca.e Of speaI.er nlehnrd..

The Case OF Speaker Richards.
The following is d synopsis Of the
proceedings in the House, on Mon
day, in reference to the report of the
COMMITTEES appointed TO inquire into
Speaker Richards connection with
the School Fund Swindle: .et
Mr.. Singletary, Chairman of the
special committee appointed to inyes-
tigate certain charges against +. s.
richards and other members of the
House, contained in the report of the
School Fund nvestigating Commit
tee, made a report of which synop-
sis will be found elsewhere.
Mr.. Doughty moved that the re-
port be concurred In and the resolu-
ton recommended by the committee
be adopted. Ll. 7'if i'lt'o
Mr.. White, Of Greene--The report
had taken short cut in the matter,
just as he had anticipated. How
could they come to a correct conclu-
sion just from hearing the report
read? While the reputation OF Spea-
ker Richards had been brought in
! question in q grave manner IL should
also be remembered that the interest
of thousands of children in this State
were also involved. He saw plainly
enough the lodges which had been
resortcd to for the purpose of reliev-
ing the persons implicated by the tes-
timony of Mr.. Rutter and by their
own letters and dispatches. In the
resolution Offered hy him the other
day he had held tlfat Mr.. Richards
was not, in view of the testimony
heretofore ELECTED, fit to preside over
this House, and he believed so yet
He was for at once destroying the
canker worm which had so long been
eating away the financial yitals of
the state. 1t looked very strange
that these witnesses against Rutter
had been brought before this second
Investigating Committee, as if to
crush his testimony by the very
weight of numbers. Was the party
afraid to have the whole truth known?
Was 1t rotten to the core that the rev.
Citations thus made should not he per-
mitted to go forth to the world? As
for himself, he was not afraid to have
his acts and motions laid bare, in
connection with the legislative rec
ord, and the House owed it to
itself to show the same willingness.
He made full and frequent reference
to the admissions made by Mr.. Rich
ards in his letters to Mr.. Rutter az
overwhelming, in his Judgment at
least, the testimony submitted by the
former in his own behalf, particularly
with reference to the letter written
frnrrN In, a, l.,
Richards intimates that he will rec
ognize Mr.. Rutter's kindness Gin a
practical way" While the rebels
had carried off the millions of School
Fund and robbed the children of the
State, in a case of emergency, and
for the purpose of carrying on a war
against the Government, these other
gentlemen, these wolves in sleeps
clothing, had sneaked in and stolen
the rest, A mean man in one party
was rs bad as u mean man i'm another
party. If they could not sustain the
Republican party without having il
full of cutthrOats, of men who accept
brides and fitch the legacy bequeath-
ed by the state to its children, then
let the party husband he was much
n Radical as anybody. AS regarded
the falsely termed CO Oarte nature OF
the testimony submitted by the first
committee (which was composed OF
men who could not he whitewashed,
who could not be bribed and did not
want hats and gold headed canes), he
would us soon accept the testimony
Of one culprh as Of another. INF.
White evidently referred to the de-
Tense of Mr.. Richards, submitted this
morning, as compared with the testi-
mony of Mr.. Rutter.l He hoped that
the report just presented would not be
adopted as the sense of the House.
Mr.. Welsh here took the floor, but
yielded to a motion to adjourn.
Adjourned to PIP. NJ.
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