The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-12-14

committed to his care. How long Mr. Har-
rison and other gentlemen similarly situated
will remain in position where they share
the responsibility and have no share Of pow
er, they alone can decide. If Mr.. Harrison
has not changed his mind since he was last
in Charleston, he may be expected to sever
his connection with the company in very
short time.
We turn now to the part played by Governor
Scott in the matter OF the contract. The
InteUigencer says that "if Governor Scott
"made arrangements to obtain nice little
"o5 with these contractors it is somewhat
"singular that he should be among the first
"to relinquish and advise o discontinuance
"ofthe contract" This is very poor preach
ing. Governor Scott became q partner in
the Blue Ridge Railroad Company in order
to make money. THE NEWS succeeded in
keeping down the price Of State bonds and
in making it doubtful whether the Legisla-
trre would cancel the S4,OOO,0 900 guarantee
and give guarantee for $4,000, 900 in its
stead. This and the tardiness OF the con-
tractors made Scott believe that more money
could be made by ballooning State securi-
ties than by fighting the battles of Crissvell
& Co. Out of the Senate resolutions not to
grant State aid to railroads, the gold inter-
est bill. the bill to fund the new bills OF the
Bank of the State, and the bill requiring GER
tain companies to deposit State bonds with
the Comptroller General, Governor Scott
hopes to make more than he expected to
realize out of the Blue Ridge Ring And
this brings US to the assertion made by the
Intelltgencer that cit may be true that the
estate officials arere Interested with the con-
"tractors, but we respectfully submit that
"ule sequence to this contract does not fur
"nish ecidence to that effect" We say that
it does furnish ample evidence, and that if
the beginning Of the contract was only as
bad as its end is, THE News was fully justi-
fed in treating the whole transaction as q
swindle and cheat.
The last meeting Of the Blue Ridge Rail-
road Company, held in Charleston, was not
open to the publc-Scott and Pillsbury, by
proxy, represented the people and the s3,-
900, 900 spent upon the road. The first
news of the result of the meeting came from
Columbia. Two of the Charleston directors
had resigned, and one had been dropped,
and the Crissvel & Co. contract had been
carefully discussed Subsequently meet
ing of the directors was held in Columbia.
They sat with closed doors, and every men,
Der was pledged to secrecy. The htelligea-
Ger, however, admits that "they agreed to
''pay seventy-flve thousand dollars" to Criss-
''vell g. Co., who had done 'about fifteen or
''twenty thousand dollars worth OF work on
''the road" This is part OF the truth, but not
the whole truth. Is the Mtelliqencer aware
that the value of all the work done by Criss-
veil & Co. on the Blue Ridge Railroad is set
down in the public prints at fifteen hundred
dollars? Has the Mtelligencer heard that
the Attorney-General, consulted by the
Board, gave his opinion that Crissvell d Co.
legally forfeited their contract and could
claim no damages? Does the Intelligencer
know that, besides paying $4,000 for work
which cost only $500, the Board agreed to
settle with the sub-contractors The truth
OF this statement is not denied, and we say
that this last job, this settlement with the
contractors, is to the full as bad as the first.
This paying $4,000, where not cent tcdS
legally due, is the natural sequence" OF the
Crissvell & Co. contract, and does, if there
is anything in the reasoning ofo contem-
porary furnish evidence that the original
contract was corruptly and improperly
made
And we desire the MteUiyencer to under
stand that there are other 'nice little Jobs
connected with the Blue Railroad besides
those which this paper has already publish
ed. Does our contemporary know how many
of the $4,000, 900 bonds authorized to be
guaranteed have been delivered to the Blue
Ridge Railroad Company, and how much it
cost to get them? Ugly rumorS upon this
subject are flying thick and fast. And, per-
haps, the Inteiligencer can inf form US au-
thoritatively whether one of the signatures
necessary to make the bonds negotiable was
very hard to obtain, and what was the
amount thousands or tens of thousands p
of the official fee We know enough al
ready Of these schemes of plunder, but the
Mtelj!gencer is not easily convinced 1t
says that it will 'heartily join TIE NEWS in
exposing rascality of every sort, and thatit
can "never allow its prejudices to outweigh
Judgment for the purpose ofcreatins SEN
sation" We now ask the Inte9hgeNcer to
join TIE News in unearthing the jObDeries
of the Blue Ridge Ring, and beg that it will
not allow its prejudices in favor of great
public work to outweigh what is due to it
self and to the State.
Hubbard.