The Republican journal., 1871-01-26

war vessels. whose enlisting papers he had bought.
In the latter he makes oath that the whole number,
not varying 10 from 49, enlisted and mustered
into the army in the vicinity of Washington. In
the former he plainly implies that he bought the EN-
listment papers Of Simpsons, Gaslm'S, Emery's
and NIanleys men. In the latter ne admits that ne
bought out Emery's and ManleVs men, and it is
otherwise proved that he did not buy Simpsons.
In the former he makes no complaint of misman-
| agement loss Of men. He was so successful
that he had men to spare, and after generously
donating ten or fifteen men which the Adutant
General assigned for political purposes at his writ
ten request, he sold what he had left so as to get
back what he had paid out and little more. In the
iaterhe complains under oath that he lostsome 5O or
| GO men by the msmanagement of the State auth0rl
ties and more than $50, 700 which he had disbursed
for them more than what he got back by sale ana
PAYMENT and that the State authorities repaid TINS
| loss by turning over to him 60 or more men from
| the general naval credits.
1t is difficult to reconcile these two statements or
to make them appear like yeritable recitals OF the
same transaction We conclude that the men sold
| by Farwel to the towns of Sidney, Mercer, VIM
throp, Starks, Norrdgewock and Greene, were
taken out of the category of general naval Credits
where they first Stood and put to the credit of these
towns either in the manner that Delany effected
his assignment of the same class of men, or In the
manner the 251 list assigned of which we
| speak next.
THE TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-oNE.
The names contained in the 251 list. and claimed
| to be the names of recruits in the navy, although
|
seem to have been regarded as the property OF j.
II. Marley, and were probably bought by him OF
some persons connected with and referring to John
p, Heath. We desired to obtain the testimony OF
Mr.. Manley himself as to this list, but have been
disappointed. Perhaps, however, there is US much
| light thrown upon the acquisition distribution and
sale of this number of men as upon any other class
of suspicious enlistments We have the testimony
| of Mr.. Simmons. partner OF j. L. Deerlng u Co..
substantiated by the books of the firm, who sold
over 100 of them; a fragment OF Manley's state
e1,t..,
a copy of paper which will be annexed to this re-
port which Gen Hodson thinks shows the actual
distribution of men to these towns.
1t appears that the list containing these men was
procured by J. II. Marley through j. P. Heath !;
that it offered to the State authorities to OBJ.
tain their sanction ofits assignment to the credit of
towns with which bargains of sale had already been
made, or were expected to be made; that the State
board the receiving ship and reports that he found
all the names on record there as enlisted men, a
fact, however, which would in no wise prevent
their being sold and assigned on the credit OF other
States. The men were not residents of Maine OF
aliens enlisted i'll Maine, and there was no law or
general order by which they could be put to the
credits of towns i'll Maine. 4 special order, how
ever, from Provost Marshal General Frye was OBJ
tanned, under which the assignment actually made
seems to have been justified We append copy
of this special order dated Dec. 10, 1864.
| Perhaps it is fairly nferable from what we have
of Manley's testimony that he had some agency in
procuring this special ordor. 1t turned out that he
had very strong personal interest in procuring
such order for he seems to have alone 121 of these
men, at SAT 400, and if he sold the rest at the same
rate, his gross sales must have amounted to more
| than 100000. The abstract accompanying the
report shows the sales of this list far we have
| been able to trace it.
| THE MARINE LIST.
Mcssrs. Pike & Colby seem to have managed the
list of men claimed to have been enlisted INTO the
United States Marine Corps 1t was originally
brought to Maine, os testified to by MIR. FarWell
and General Hodsdon, by one Capt. Forrest, ana
at that time was collection of sheets OF fools
security against being Indefinitely added to. and
was signed only on the last of several sheets. The
proposition made to General Hodsdon and MAJOR
Gardiner, to sanction the assignment OF men on
this list to towns in Maine, was declsyely rejected.
The list was taken away. but was presented some
weeks after to Major Littlcr, successor to Mayor
Gardiner, and special order from Provost Mar
shall General Frye having in the meantime been
obtained, to credit them to districts and sub-dis-
tricts of Maine, they were distributed in strict ac-
cordance with arrangements made with Messrs.
Pike 4 Colby. Mr.. D. L. Pike, the surviving men,
Der of that firm, has testified before us with great
frankness, minuteness and candor, and all the main
points of his testimony with his published account
of his connection with these transactions and with
such other evidence we have collected. The
only considerable discrepancy, that occurs to us,
is that Mr.. Pike states that these men were en-
listed in the District of Columbia, and bases his
claim to obtain credit of them for towns IN Maine
credited to any other State, whereas 1t appears
from the data obtained from the Navy Department
that only 81 of these men were actually enlisted IN
Washington the rest being enlisted in Philadelphia,
Chicago, Boston and other cities.
Our abstract shows only 33f OF these men dlspoS-
ed of by Messrs Pike & Colby, their agents and
assgnces. 1t is not likely however that the num-
Der was less than 400, as Mr.. Pike would have no
disposition to eXaggcrate the number. The rest of
| them must have been sold to some other towns,
whose officers we have not been able to put our
| selves in communication with, or who, being con-
tent with having them count on their quotas, made
no claim for disbursement to the Equalization Com
missioners, and so no clue is furnished as to their
| disposition.
GRAND TOTAL.
| Surprising the list sent to the Adjutant General
by John Il. Hull to have contained 600 names, and
the list managed by Pike & Colby to have contain
ed 400 names and adding the 251 list, we have a
pretty definite record of 1851 names; but besides
this, there was the list of Marine Corps men,
brought to Augusta by one Higgins and sold to G.
T. Cochrane in January. 1855, and out of which
80 men to towns. The rest, numbering about ITO.
were left in the Adjutant Generals office and the
sale and distribution of them was managed by
particsl unknown: That is to say, we conclude
they were sold. because there was special order
of the Provost Marshal General to assign them up
on the quotas of towns, and in the eagerness of
towns at the time to procure men they would not
be likely to remain in the market. Then there was
at the time of his arrest, which he says were dis
posed of by Major Little, and a percentage upon
the sale of which amounting to 1904 was paid to
him. Delany names among the towns to which
this lot was disposed Of Nobleboro, Waltham and
Mariaville, and we find that the town of Nobleboro
made claim for reimbursement for eighteen men,
not named. which it is presumed were acquired in
| this way. These together make an aggregate of
1890 names after deducting the 271 said to have
been gratuitousy distributed by the Governor from
the General Credits" for which the towns must
have paid to private persons not less than half a
million dollars.
THE SOURCE OF THE FRAUD.
We shall not have fully discharged our duty, I'M.
less we indicate in some general way the concl,l-
sions we have unavodably arrived &c, as to the
persons upon whom the responsibility for these
unauthorized credits rests. When the Provost
Marshal General in his letter of July 8, 1864 an
| pointing Governor Cony and Major Gardiner to
the Naval Commission, instructed them that Sin
determining the credits of the State of Maine and
different subdivisions Of it were entitled to, the
State in which naval enlistments have been made
is entitled to credit for the enlistments unless it
shall appear by more direct evidence that the cred
its belong elsewhere He seems to us to have
transcended the requirements of law. The terms
and mtendment of the act were to throw the bur-
den OF proving residence upon the towns; the eff
feet of the instruction to assume the residence
to be at the place of enlistment and throw the bur-
den of disprovng it upon the town, making an adj
verse claim. The instruction from the same officer
to Governor .Cony and Major Little, of Dec. 10th,
| 1864, authorizing the credting of the Psi naval
recruits is of the same force, and refers to the fore
going instruction. The mere private endorsement
upon the marine corps list in the hands of Messrs.
Pike g. Colby, authorizing credit of the names it
contains to districts and subdistricts of Maine,
and the similar instructions authorizing like
credit OF about 200 names upon list held by G. P.
Cochrane, to district and sub-dstrcts in the State
| does IN nod thn