The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1870-03-09
Aread Amho

Wiekliffe comes out in card published in the New
Orleans Bulletin of the 1st, and talks bold as lion,
or as Warmoth did to the committee. If his state
ments may be believed, he has been made the victim
of his honesty-of his stern and unfnchng determina
ton to protect the interests of the State against such
cormorants and robbers as Warmoth and his " min
ions" These men, approaching his Roman virtues
knowing they could not carry out their base designs
so long as he stood mighty bulwark to stay their
inroads upon the treasury-have bent every energy,
brought to bear every appliance known to the art OF
war; to scale or undermine the walls, storm the citadel
and massacre the garrison, rather than their ends
should not be accomplished. He explains the coupon
question entirely to his own satisfaction, thus
The custom flor until the last session of the Legisla
ture there was no law upon the suhjec) has always
been to cancel these coupons by punching holes
through them, and pasting them in a book kept for
that purpose.
The tremendous amount of these coupons received
by me, through the operation of the per cent tax
well the usually large amount from other sources
made it impossible for to cancel and paste them as
fast received, for this is laborious and tedious
business.
therefore required my clerks to put all such cou-
pons in envelopes and seal them up and endorse the
envelope with the of the party from whom they
received the number of coupons and their total
amount These envelopes containing the coupons were
then placed by me in large cash boz, made for the
purpose, and deposited in bank, where they are.
The amount being large, it was my intention to
call the attention of the Legislature to it, and ask that
joint committee of both Houses be appointed to ex-
anime and count said coupons, and after seeing that
my accounts correct to destroy all such coupons
by fire. But the Legislature passed law upon the
subject at its last session requiring to cancel and
ma ste Suph arSI hava kpp
in bank, as the safest place | could find, until the op-
portunity offered to complete the work of can
ceiling and FASTING them.
These coupons are now in bank and ready to be de-
Vered up to any responsible party. But certainly
was not going to deliver such large amount of public
property to man who had no legal right whatever to
hold possession of my office.
1t is common mistake to suppose that guilt ever
looks abashed in the presence of honesty-although
Wicklife might possibly SO look if there any hon
esty in the leading of New Orleans to confront
Be the latter as it may, conceive that he was wise
man who attacked this generally accepted opinion, by
asserting that rascal can stare an honest out of
countenance any day.
At all events Wckliffe has evidently got the worst
of this controversy with his enemies, at last
counts he taking limited observations of life
Auditor.
Touching Warmoth, we were struck with para
graph taken by one of the city papers from letter
written from there to his paper, by Col Bennett the
talented editor of the Planters Banner. He says that
he had been informed by Democratic member of the
Legislature one of the few honest men of that body
that they found Wckliffe not as deeply implicated in
the wrongs charged against him by Warmoth as they
had supposed-that he has evidently not saved more
than ten fifteen thousand dollars out of his office,
and that Warmoth pushes this crusade against him in
order to divert public attention from his foul
record. Warmoth has certainly made princely for
tune from his Office "They Think" continues Col.
Bennett "that his attack Wcklife is like the attack
on the Democrats before the citizens commttee-the
cry of stop thief raised by the biggest thief in the
crowd"