Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-08-11

Additional charges Against Rode
rick X. Butler for Dishonest Prnc-
tices I'm Connection with Soldiers
PensiOnS-He Gets a SsRebeI', Sol
dier, Wounded in the :. RebeI'' Ser
vice, Enrolled as n PensiOner.
Correspondence of the Cincinnati Commercial
WASHINGTON, Aug. 8.-Additional let
tiers and charges against Congressman
Roderick Butler, of Tennessee, for dis
honest practices in connection with sol
diers' claims for bounty, pay and pen
sions, are being received at the Pension
Office. A letter was received there, to-
day, from a gentleman in the South, who
is well indorsed for high character and re-
spectability, in which some disgraceful
conduct on the part of Butler is made
known. In regard to Buffers manner of
conducting the business of a claim agent,
the letter says there is general COM
plant all over the District, but it is from
the poor, the ignorant aud obscure. The
claims of the rich and intelligent have
been paid. The letter charges that DR..
Donnelly, Buffers brOther-in-law, is Ex-
amining Surgeon at Taylorsville, and that
it wonld be well to inquire what he has
done, as it has been observed that
such a robust set of invalids were never
seen as are in that county at this time
Mr.. Butler was the agent who secured
their pensions. A case is cited in (which
Lethy Cram, the widowed mother of
soldier, placed her claim for back pay and
bounty in his hands. 1t was paid in the
summer or fall of 1867 by certificate
from the Second Auditors office, which
Mrs. Cram indOrsed, while Butler was
holding court in GreeneVille. The amount
was four hundred dollars, out of which
the pittance of thirty dollars was soon
after paid her. Although she and her
friends tried for more than two years to
obtain her pay, she had not received it
three months ago, when she placed the
highly respectable lawyer in Greeneville,
who is said to be able to furnish informa-
ton in three other cases in which he was
employed to collect from Butler money
arising from soldiers claims.
1t is further charged that Butler has
said to Col. Howard, of johnson county,
Tennessee, that he could get a bill
through Congress for his relief, but that
his fee would be One-half the amount OBJ
tanned; that that was his custom. The
letter says Howard will testify to this
The writer of the letter gives the follow
ing as a case which he has heard, of one
man whom Butler got pension for, who
lives in Johnson county, was an enlisted
man in the rebel army, had deserted it,
and was hurt in skirmish fighting some
Union men, who were scouting to keep
away from the rebel soldiers. Thus, this
man never fought for an hour in the
Union army. A rebel soldier of his own
free choice, and deserter from coward
ice, he was wounded by some Union men
in defending themselves. Butler got his
name placed on the rolls as a pensioner.
H. NJ. Folsom, of Elizabeth, is given as
a witness who knows all about this case.
1t is also charged in the letter that Butler
and his son have a store, and hold the
certificates of pensioners in their hands,
and pay the pensioners in goods at one
hundred to two hundred per cent. ad-
vance, they getting the money and COM
pelling the poor, distressed creatures to /
sign over the checks. The letter closes
in italics: eff the Department wants to
investigate, here is the road.