The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1869-02-26

"a: ): !; d. !:
ment of my connection with The So
much-talked-of School Fund. In the
il2aaSa- takan- .haGora- .tha, Legislative
Committee my fiatflc is made Use Of
quito freely; and to show that was in
no way connected with, either getting
rne mUmey scmt ~ Nfesnpiffs.- Urrryfng'
tprsteat " His.BpsenEjatsjtqf&sritwys
sept propose to make Az exact state
fnelit OF my conduct md CONNECTION
WITH the nritter. I wasoa, member OF
the Senatt in May 1850, - when the APP
propriationI bill WAS nassed, and rv9s
amended giving the Treasurer. Of the
State authority to select a Bank 10 be the
fiscal i,yciit Of the Sthtc. Iinevcr WAS
TALKED to- omrthe nsubioct sof, the Sthbol
Fund at thGtitifnu rcither did lf,knOw
Mrl dRutter,nor hnd,I cYtcr heard OF his
Blink. Irncyersaw Mi Ruttor tn know
him until Il.mct him in Nvasllih gtoh in
June or duly. q S67---ncarlv7a ! ear after
the School iFhnii Ind been Deposited
withhin. nLiwasfnot in my scat in the
LoEislaturcJfroni May. 1S66--at the adj
journiment.-uhtil aF,ebrunryl ID, 1867,
md thclJ Onrnals 81 show.ij / wasp alb
seiit, i'm lGepuSid, andrwasl not present
when theTcs6lttiUn Of the 4 ItlpDecem-
Der! 1856, oNas passed., which led to the
appointmGntot the Committee to ulves-
tieate, the nffnirvd The first that ever
had to do wiiththis matter in any shape
or form, was in June, or July, 1861 Il
Cominittee,as may be
inferred from Mr.. Ruttes's Testimony.
The Committee consisted. L think. .IOf
Spence and Bosson on the part of the
Senate, and Norman, Elliott and Wines
forithe House bfweit tow ashingt0n
at the instance of Mr. Spence. 1IG ttie-
graphcd to me to meet him at Murfrees-
boro anil go With himi to Wasliiigton
/ went with the understanding that, if
the matter was, settled Withlall parties,
the stock made good, and the franchise
Of the Bank restored, was to be made
the Trustee Of the Bank Mr.. nRufter
and Mr.. Spence, representing tho Com
,nittee,, could not, agree, and, there the
matter ended. Mr.. Spence gave. me the
money to pay my expenses, and no
more! Tn my deposition before the Com
mittee | said / received one of the let
tiers spoken of 'by Mr.. Rutter as having
been written to- me BY Mr.! Spence.-L
| now think that the first time Ilcver
saw the letters of Mr.. Spence to fine was
when saw them in the hands Of Gov.
Brownlow.i Neither Mr.. Spence, nor
any other man., ever made any PROPOSE
ton to me to accept position I'M the iaf-
|. fair, or to do'an act that could be i'm any
limanhcr construed into defuudiiig the
State or any individual; and had been
appointed tho Trustee, as was expected,
all |, was to, be benefited BY the, position
was what my legitimate compensation
would have been. AS ]. returned from
Washington stopped at Knoxville and
saw Gov. Brownlow. He showed me
the letters, of Spence directed To- me
They had been handed, to him, by Nr,
Rutter. The Governor then appointed
INC as agent ON the part Of the State OF
Tennessee to settle all business matters
and interest the State might have in, OIL
connected !With!th Tennessee Matt ona
Bank, at Memphis, Tennessee. This
commission is dated August Goth. 1867
T. then went to Memphis, and filed. the
claim of the State against the Bank and
took an inventory Of the assets and lila.
bilities OF the Bank, and reported all
1.-THE facts and figures to the Legislature
The report wasreferred to o Joint Com.
mittee Of both Houses, and was by that
Committee turned over to the Finance
Board, together with all other matter in
the, hands of the Committee. BY ,resplu.
btion of the Senate. with instructions tc
the Finance Board to settle the whole
Heard no more, and had nothing more
to, do with the matter until April, 1868
when Mr.Swan. Tspoken of by Mr.. Ruttel
as my relation" came, to me and told mt
that MIR; Rutter wanted me to come, tc
Memphis, and he would pay, my expense
AT the same time, Mr.. Henderson,, Sena
tor, from the 18th District, came, to mt
land said that he had been appointed by
| the Fipauce Board to go to Memphis anG
Hook after the School Fund matter, .anG
that the, Board had instructed him tc
take me with him to, assist him, as !
knew all about the affair, having inves
tigatcd it .before.iI went,to Memphis
with Mr.. Henderson at the request, as
nance Board. We did not attempt tt
iiakc any llndl SctIlcIilcuI, Dut w HuteScl
settlement We Mightmake. was to DO re-
ferred to the tEinance Board, for theil
approNabJ before it became binding, VIZ
agreed upon terms of n settlement, and
Lit was to DO submitted to the Finance
Board ), and before that was done i was
nptifed that Gen. Smith, of the Senate
Twas appointed by the GoYernorto settle
the matter Aspromised by ME Rutter
he gave me thirty dollars. in Memphis
to pay my expenses. That was the frs
money, / ever received from Mr.. Rutter
In September, 1868, Mr.. Rutter tele
graphed to- me from Memphis to come
there ] answered him thatII could not
that Lwas going to Fast Tennessee Ht
Then, telegraphed me atl Athens to NEE
him at Chattanooga, and j done so, an(
went with him to Nashville. lie sale
he wanted me to- go to Memphis, anG
would pay my expenses. lie neverIdi6
Itell me what he wanted with me il
Memphis, but / supposed it was about
the Bank business. 1'ho next day 'aftel
t'ourarrival in. Nashville 1 had d letter
handed to me'by h clerk at the Stacey
House, from Rnttei! stating that he had
gone to Cincinnati, and that lie Womb
imeet me at Athens, Tennessee; aHG
fherai xyprn tyy tx,F t1OllavS Oau cln SA1 In