The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-12-21
Washington Matters.

THE CREDIT MOBILIER INVESTIGATION.
Mr. Alley had the floor in the Credit Mobilier
committee room Thursday morning and occu-
pied most of the time in thorough and search
ing cross-examination of II. S. McComb, the
result of which, from all that can be gathered,
was highly satisfactory to Messrs. Alley and
Ames and confusing and damaging to Nc
Comb. The feature of the examination was
James Brooks alleged connection with the
Credit Mobilier and his receipt of fifty shares
from Mr.. Alley in consideration of his own APP
pointment as a Government director and the
control of tthe Democratic side of the House.
Iu his direct testimony McComb said this trans
action occurred in the fall of 1868. To-day he
stated that it took place either in December,
1867, or January or February, 1868, and finally,
when hard pressed, said he knew nothing of the
dates and would not swear to the time within
year. Mr. Brooks, at the time McComb first
fixed the transaction. the fall of 1868, had been
a government director of the road for several
months "a fact which weakens materially Nc
Combs theory of the reasons for his appoint
ment. McComb also equally contradicted his
previous testimony that the fifty shares for Mr..
Brooks came through Mr.. Ames, and belonged
to him /; in addition to which Mr.. Alley testified
positively that he never gave sold or transfer
Brooks, and as for Nelson, Mr.. Brooks son-in-
law, he had never seen or heard of him. Mr.
Alley also repeated his statement of the hos
tlity between himself and Mr.. Brooks, and his
objections to the latter's appointment as direc-
tor The whole effect of the testimony Thurs
day appears tolbe to quite discredit and dsprove
Mr.. Brooks bribery. and Messrs. Alley and
Ames expect that when they come to the cases
of1the other Representatives they will meet
with equal success in dsposing of the element
of bribery The committee has adjourned to
January 7, and it is now expected that the
doors will then be opened by order of the House.
This would have been done Thursday had not
member named Perez been put forward TO de-
mand the regular order and shut out all resolu-
tions for that purpose. A majority of members
whose names have been used as baving been
approached by Mr. Ames are DESTROYS that the
investigation shall be open.
A statement of some of the individual cases
is as follows: MIR. Dawes wishing to invest niue
hundred dollars in some western railroad bonds,
consulted Ames as to the safety Of the invest
ment. The latter advised him to add one hum
bred dollars and buy ten shares of the Credit
Mobiler. Mr.. Dawes was disposed to decline
the purchase, on the ground that he did mot
know anything about the safety of such stock,
and could not afford to risk the little money he
had in that way. Mr.. Ames then offered to
give Mr.. Dawes written guarantee that the
stock should be worth ten per cent to him.
Subsequently Mr.. Dawes learned what con-
WINGED him that he should not hold this stock,
and asked the return of his money from Mr..
Ames. The latter returned it with the interest
he had promised Senator Wilson's relation to
the Credit Mobilier was as follows: Early in
1868 Mr.. Ames had advised him to invest lit
tie money he had in Credit Mobiler stock. At
ter receiving an explanation from Mr.. Ames
and the assurance that no further legislation
would be asked for or required, he agreed to
take twenty shares upon further offer of Mr..
Ames to guarantee it to be worth ten per cent.
Shortly after the report of the lawsuit among
the members of the company became public,
Mr.. Wilson, on inquiry felt convinced that this
might lead to legislation on the part of Con-
gress, aud that it might also destroy the value
of the stock, went to Mr.. Ames and requested
the return of his money. Mr. Ames gave it
back with ten per cent interest, and offered the
dividends due; but these Mr.. Wilson refused
and only received back the principal AID inter
est No stock was ever delivered to him. This
transaction has no connection with the silver
wedding story, so generally circulated. As to
Judge Bingham, Mr.. Ames said the former
placed in his (Mr. Ames's) hands several thou
sand dollars to invest as he thought best He
purchased various kinds of stock for Judge
Bingham, and among them were number of
shares of Credit .Mobilier. In majority of
cases the stock was held by Cakes Ames in his
own name and not transferred to the parties in
interest. With one, # not two, matters took
the shape of borrowing money from Cakes
Ames, and he carried the stock to reimburse
himself
General Banks states in reference to Mr.
Frank Birds letter that he was never offered
VI "PPAodSuCu3 NioSliy VI iuulICCUly, ny MI.
Ames at any time with Credit Mobilier stock,
and that the only incident which even resem-
bled such transaction was an earnest at
tempt of George Francis Train to induce him
to take some of the stock of the Credit Foncier
concern, operating in town lots along the line
of the Union Pacific road.
THE STATE OF UTAH
A bill for the admission of Utah to the I'm
ion as new State, was introduced Thursday
as an amendment to the pending bill enabling
Colorado to form State constitution. It al
lows the State one Representative until the
next general census, and sets apart two sec
tions in every township for common schools,
fifty sections in the territory for public build
ings, and an equal number for a penitentiary,
seventytwo for state e university INV and five per
lands for public roads and irrigation. No al
fusion is made in the amendment to polygamy
or any other of the Mormon peculiar institu-
tons, the only thing approaching it being a
provision that the laws of the United States,
not inapplicable, shall have the same force and
effect within the said State, as elsewhere in
the United States