The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1872-03-21
Testimony Of Ex-COlIeetOr Murphy
Before the Custom House Committee.

The Senate New York Custom
House Investigation Committee met
the 18th, Ex-Collector Murphy tes-
titled that he did not now hold any
public Office; was Collector from Ju-
! Iy, 1871, to December last. BENG IN
terrogated on the general order busl-
ness, ne bald he had been IN ONCE DuJ
| 2 month or two when he closed Mason
& Co.'s store, and sent the goods 70
Leet & Stockings store. de closed
the store Of Mason & Co. because re-
port was brought TO him that goods
were on the market being sold at We
~ low prices; that they were traced
| to their store. It was found after re-
moving the checking OF goods tnat
over two hundred bales were on the
Custom House books that were not in
store. Mason then disappeared, and
has not been in New York since to
his knowledge. The goods were re-
moved after consultation with the
Custom House officers. There had
been no consultation with the Presi-
dent, Rabcock, or Porter, on the sub
jeet; none of the parties above named
ever had any influence with him.
Last fall he was at Porter and Bah
I cocks rooms and, afterward saw, the
President. Secretary Boutwell, came
/ in from a room leading to the hall; ;
the President said to him, "Murphy,
/ there is so much noise and scandal
| about the young man Leet in connec-
/ ton with the general order business
on account of his having been con-
nected with me during the war, that
Il I have come to the conclusion that
the Young man had better leave; to
this Murphy replied, 1.-THE warfare on
Leet originated with a steamship
company for the purpose of getting
L the, business themselves :" in his
opinion, Leet & Stocking conducted
/ the business well, and he did not feel
like giving away to the steamship
company; there was no order from
anybody in or out of Washington
that made it obligatory on the Collec-
tor to continue the storage to Leet q
Stocking; witness felt that he could
do as he pleased on the subject.
On being inter- r0gated on the subject
of removals owing tc the course of
certain Republicans on the General
hepuDmcan Committee, he said that
his impression was, that owing to
4 Iu6 lllG ACMGB6BN41 W NAI
effect that these gentlemen were act
ing ut the diction of Tammany they
were removed. Orders came from
the Secretary of the Treasury to the
Collector, Appraiser, ,and,as he heard,
to the Postmaster, that If any mem
Der of the General Committee had act
ed as the newspapers described, they
should be removed. If he himself
did not receive such letter it was be-
cause it was not thought necessary to
send him one. Van Cleft, one of the
parties discharged, was engineer in
the navy yard, and his removal was
made at the instance of the Secretary
of the Navy. The Secretary Of the
Treasury made inquiries Of him wheth-
er certain parties had been under the
influence Of Tammany. Witness an
swer was by letter-he gave the names
Of those he knew to be corrupt in gen.
eral, and so pleased him with the
suggestion about crushing Tamma-
ny that he mentioned the matter to
the President.
Witness never had but one idea on
the subject of the Governor of the
State Of New York, and that was fa-
vorable to Horace Greeley. But if he
had his steps to retrace it would not
be his advice again. He thought
Greeley's nomination would be for
the best interests of the Republican
party, What Townley said about wit
ness having spoken to the President
about COrrigan was absurd, entirely
untrue, made ont of whole cloth.
Money was collected in this office for
political purposes from subOrdinates.
The amount collected in his Office
was from seven to eight thousand dol
lars, and from all other offices the ag.
gregate was about $4,000. No one
was removed for not contributing. He
learned that the city government OF
New York made assessments for pO-
litical purposes. He knew that a
months pay had frequently been ta-
ken from subOrdinates. He had
been told so by those whose pay had
been stopped. They mad been sued to
recover assessments; the suit had
been brought on trial, but the Judge
dismissed the case without going to a
jury.
He is a stoekholder in the bonded
warehouse at the Atlantic dock; but
none of the general order goods were
wise any of the reduction of the Gus
tom forces in New York. 1t should
rather be increased. There were not
doors enough in the public stores for
goods.
Witness said that Senator ConkIing
had never applied to him to appoint
anybody to the Custom House. On
being asked what result he struggled
to obtain in the State Republican
Convention, he replied he did all he
could to have Horace Greeley nOmia-
ted for Governor. He thought pretty
much all those from the Custom
House acted with him. In 1871 he
did all he could to keep officers away
from the convention. He did not
recollect promising any offices to del
egates for attending the convention
of 1870 and 1871, nor did he remove
anyone, nor did he employ money to
affect the conventions. On a former
occasion, however, he did use mon
ey. There was a club called the
Gridley club, in which man named
Bennett was prominent. The man
controlled a majority of the club, who
were working men. On application,
he gave two hundred dollars, with a
promise Of more. This investment
of money was to aid the rival OF Grid !
ley TO defeat him in his own organi- |
zation.
It was the intention of witness to |
arrange the charges Of the general or
der business through the Chamber Of
Commerce. He had been in Office |
but few days, when man named |
Col. Cornwell, "a lobby, at Washington,
threatened him with all kinds of
things in the strongest language, if 4
he did not restore the general order
business to the foreign steamship COM
panies. AS a general thing there is a
failure to trace packages lost after
they landed.