Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-01-11

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ment but to aid him in mercantile way, or
of that kind; do mot remember the
exact language =
Further on he said:
By Mr.. Howe-Q. Where is Mr.. Grinncll
now? A. He is in Europe.
@. | wish to read to you what he said about
this letter on his examination formerly, to see
if this statement of the contents OF Gen. Grant
letter correspond with yours.
HE then read TO the witness Mr.. Grinnell : |
statement that he inferred from Leets CONVEX |
sation that if he could forward his views in bus
would be agreeable to the President and Mr.. |
GrjnnelFs account of the letter, which was sub |
stantially the same given by Porter.
The witness-That is the substance of what
said in the first place; l never had any idea |
from the start that President Grant made any |
demands on Mr.. Grinnell for any position for
Mr.. Leet or any other person | have ever |
known; some others may have done 1t.
Mr.. Pratt-Q. Mr.. Grinnell, in the same tes-
timony, says he did nothing for Leet for num-
Der of months Did you not say that he be- |
came interested in the General Order business
soon after Mr.. GrinnelPs appointment? n. l
cannot tell you the exact date without refer
ring to my paper, which l will produce to-mor-
row, if you wish.
Q, Was Mr. Grinnell mistaken in the state
mcnt which he made? should think not.
Q. He states that he did nothing for Col. Leet
for several months. and not until he had de-
termined on changing the location of the Cen
eral Order business? a. 1t may have been
several months; l know that during Mr.. Grin
nelFs administration, Mr.. Leet got his position
under Mr. Bixby, but am not positive as to the
dates.
Colonel Leet so we'll knew the feelings
of the President that he tried in every way
to conceal from him his connection with
the custom house, when some months
ho
interested in the General Order business.
For this purpose he persuaded Mr..
Lindsay to give him the use of his name,
and to remit his proceeds of the business
to him secretly at Washington. This pro-
gramme was carried out as appears from
the following evidence of Mr.. Lindsay:
"At Mr.. Leet's own request it was kept
from the public and / substituted my
| name, but never received a dollar or a
cent from it; the money passed through
| my hands; / can show you the checks
with Mr. Leet's Endorsement"
The testimony thus far, then, shows
that the Presidents only connection with
| this General Order business is that he gave
| to former faithful staff officer, who rep
| resented to him that he wanted to leave
the army and engage in business in New
York, a friendly letter to aid him in his
new field of labor. This testimony,
so far from showing any improper mo-
| tive OH the Presidents part proves that
| he objected to Leet doing anything
| that would involve him in any seeming
| h0t
| cognizant of the Presidents wishes did
| conceal from him his connection i'll the
matter for, be it remembered that Leet
did not become interested in the custom
house business until sererdL months after
the Presidents remOnstrance through Gen.
Porter was given to him. This evidence
proves conclusively that the charge, so far
as the President is concerned is false.
Let us now examine it as to his private
secretaries, Porter and Babcock, who stand
charged by the World with sharing in
these eXtortions. The charge is made pro-
fessedly on the evidence of Mr.. Lindsay,
and yet he distinctly swore as follows:
at was generally understood with me that
| Mr.. Leet was part of the mess in Washington,
L
| were members; that he had TO contribute to tie
support there; that was where he resided while
| in Washington; but in no instance do l recol-
lect of his saying directly that either Porter or
Babcock had any direct interest with him that
is financial interest.
The chairman-Q, What connection has this
| mess with the General Order business A.
was asked the question if / had any knowledge
| of their having been together in Washington !;
| | answered had-the three parties but in no
1 M | hnar from Loot +ho+
| or Babcock had any interest in the profits he
derived from the General Order business
Q. Have you any idea that Babcock or
Porter had any interest in the General Order
business? a. E",Ph0ticouy, no; hare no
| such idea.
z. Then the result Of the statement is that
| while you did understand from Mr.. Leet that
his receipts from the general order bus ness were
| not equal to the discharge of his portion Of the
expenses of the mess, you never did understand
from him, nor from any body else, nor have you
any idea now that General Porter or General
| Babcock, who were his partners in the mess,
had any interest ina. (interrupting )-Ena-
phaticeUy, no nerer that either of these t,ro
men acaS aParty to 1t.
Just here we ought, perhaps, to say that
General Porter has sworn that he never
has been in any way directly or indi-
rectly interested in this business. Gen.
| Babcock, on seeing the charges of the World
promptly asked the committe to investigate
the charges as to him, and requested that
the Democratic members of the commit
tee prosecute the inquiry to the end, that
it might not be claimed that it was not
thorough. We have now examined the
charges preferred against the President
and his secretaries in the light of the very
evidence upon which they are based and
we ask every impartial mind to say if we
are wrong in prOnouncing them grossly
| false.
The testimony thus far taken leaves Col.
Leet in an unfortunate position, but we
have lived long enough to know that there
are two sides to every question, and before
passing an opinion on his conduct we pre-
| for tO hear his exclamation If no oopDo+