Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-04-07

The charge recently made at Wash
ington that Hon. Reuben E. Fenton, Sem
ator from New York, accepted, while be
was Governor of that State, bride Of
5000 from the Erie Railroad Company
for signing bill in the interest Of ths.t
company is exciting considerable inter-
est in the country. Without presenting
qualification to judge clearly of the truth
or falsehood of the charge, we endorse
the reasoning of the following extract
from an article in the Chicago Tribune OF
the 3lst ult:
We know nothing privately for or
against Senator Fenton, as regards the
charge of corruption made against him.
The testimony does not establish charge
of corruption against Fenton by real
proof, for it neither shows that the tweI I.
ty thousand dollars said to have been
paid by the Erie Company We're paid to
Fenton, or to any person authorized by
him to act on his account, or that he
knew at the time he signed the bill that
such money had been paid, or aught of
the transaction nor even that any mon
ey ever was paid A witness (Murphy)
swears that Mr.. Thompson told him that
a Mr.. Thompson told him that Hamilton
Harris had told Thompson that the Erie
bill would be signed within a few hours
after somebody was paid $40, 600 to Hams
ilton Harris, and that he (Thompson)
saw the money paid, and learned that
soon after the bill was signed This is
hearsay testimony at best, and il it were
true, it proves nothing Mr.. Gould, who
is supposed to have paid the money, and
Mr.. Hamilton Harris, who is alleged to
have received it, are both persons of much
more trustworthiness and responsibility
than either Murphy or Thompson. While
Thompson swears to nothing and Murphy
testifes only to what Gould told him and
to what Thompson said Gould told him,
Gould denies paying the money and Har-
ris denies receiving it. The world has
never heard of Murphy before, while
Harris and Gould are well known. Theirs
is the highest and best testimony Covers
" Fenton's friends could bring to es-
tablish his innocence. 1t is the testimo-
ny of the only parties who know the fact
whether money was paid, and, if SO, for
what purpose, and whether Fenton know
of it. We are surprised at the GOODNESS
with which the Ecening Post, usually
so impartial, slurs over the testimony
of these principal actors in the alleged
bribery. il says CHR Gould and Mr.
Harris swore that they knew nothing
about the matter; but then they were
hardly the persons to tell. They were
exactly the persons to tell; and if they
swear that no money was paid, to their
knowledge either the story is without
foundation or t,h,ev are perjured. Even
if money was paid by Gould to Harris,
many missing links must be s"pplled be-
fore that fact would impugn Fenton.
The eooked-up report prepared To-
publication seeks to injure Fenton by
innuendo, whether the facts are against
him or not. The committee who took the
testimony were appointed to investigate
only sin relation to members (of the
Legislature) receiving money from rails
road companies" A Mr. Thompson was
asked Elf he saw $50, 900 paid to person
in Albany after the passage of the bill,
to secure its enactment. This Mr.. Thomp-
son seems to have been very swift wit
ness in the way of making swift insinu-
atoms Instead of answering the ques-
ton or declining to answer, he asked the
committee what was the full purport and
meaning of the word enactment They
replied that biiii was not understood to
be enacted until it had passed both hous>
es and been signed by the Governor
He then declined to answer, on the
ground that this was not pertinent to the
object for which the committee was ap~
pointed. His objection was technically
well taken, as money paid after the bill
had passed both houses could not have
inhenced the votes of members, and it
was only into corruption of members
that the committee was authorized to ia
vestigate. But neither His refusal to an.
swer nor the question itself duplicates
Eenton. We can easily understand that
an officer of the Erie Railway like Gould
who would probably not deliberately per
Jure himself, might In conversation miss
lead an importuuate beggar who came to
solicit S20, 600 to aid the funds of polit-
ical party, by telling him that he could
not afford to do so because he had to hei p
Fenton, and that this story might grow
into the mares nest which we have
thus dissected But Fenton has always
been a friend to the Erie Railway, from
the fact that he resides on its line, it is
the only railway in his county, much of
his support came fron, this section of
the State, and it is exceedingly improba.
able on general principles that Fenton
could need to be bought to sign Il bill in
their favor which the two houses of the
Legislature, coming from all parts of the
State, would think proper to pass.