The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1872-09-05
What did Horace Greeley Do With the.
Money?

that if the report OF the cOmmitte'
should be made, and it should becOm,
! necessary to obtain further aid for th,
passage of the bill through the House
he was to use it. 1 had never con
versed with Mr.. Greeley upon the
subject myself, but he was intimately
acquainted with some of our stock
holders. and, as I had heard, had tax
en- strong interest in the passage o
this resolution. Having made thi:
draft, went home and received the
sanction of the Executive COMMITTEES
for so doing. I have had no othel
connection with the matter.
"By Mr.. Orr-What was that 81 ;O0i
for?
"Witne st was a retainer for cOun
sci and advice to aid-in procuring the
passage OF the bill.
'By Mr.. Orr-Was it merely for
counsel fees 4?
"Witness-The letter / wrote ex
planned it. 1t was to be used entirely in
this direction to aid in the passage OI
this bill. If the bill passed the House
we were willing to pay this $1,000.
"By Mr.. Orr-To whom
! "Witness-To Mr.. Greeley. If the
bill passed the House, we considered
it as good as passed by Congress. II
was necessary to have somebody "a
attend to it. I could stay here nc
longer, and l left it entirely with him
to make such arrangements as he saw
proper.
"Ry the Chair rman-Then this ST.
600 you sent him was to employ per-
sons to come here to attend to the
passage of the bill in the House?
"Witness-NO, sir; not to come
here. I left it entirely in his discre-
tiOn, to be used as he thought best. I
supposed that he was so connected
with Mr.. Hunt, our Treasurer, and
with other members of the company,
that he was a safe man to leave the
matter with.
'By the Chairman-Was not Rev
erdy Johnson employed as the agent
of the company?
"Witness-He was relied upon by
the company as counsel, but thought
he did not pay the matter sufficient
attention. / did not see him while L
was here. The President of the COM
pany, who lives in the city part of
the time, was not here, had no one
to advise with, and, as Mr.. Greeley
had been a strong friend of the meas
ure, 1 left the matter in his charge.
The money was not to be paid unless
the bill passed the House, and had
very little expectation of having to
pay anything whatever.
"By Mr.. Orr-Did you give any in
.structiOns not to dispose of this ST.
600?
"No, sir; I only gave instructions
not to use it except in the event of
the passage of the bill through the
House.
'By Mr.. Warner-At whose re-
quest did you draw this draft in favor
of Mr.. Greeley?
"Witness-At the request of no
one.
"By Mr.. Ritchie-Do you know
whether this 81, 600 was used?
"Witness-Yes, sir; it was.
"By Mr.. Ritchie-DO you know
~ hat disposition was made OF II?
"Witness-I did not know t1at it
had been used until four months af-
terward. did not know what had
become Of it; only have my suspi-
ciOns.
"By Mr.. Orr-YOu say that when
you were here you could not get Il ia
vorable report from the Committee
on Public Lands?
"Witness-I did no. in the four or
five days was here.
HBy Mr. Orr-YOu learned that
there were difficulties in the way OF its
being reported?
"Witness-Yes, sir; they wanted
TO modify the bill. The question was,
in the first place, whether the grant
extended into Minnesota Territory at
all; and then there was question in
committee as to the two prOngs OF the
river-the eastern branch and the
western branch. The government
had applied the grant to one branch
and tine other had been shorter. There
were several difficulties. learned of
obstacles after 1 went away that l did
not know when 1 was here. L learn
ed of opposition which / could not
trace at all. I supposed that il was a
very plain matter; that we were act
ing under the authority of the State
of Iowa; that the State had the grant,
and we were very much embarrassed
by the delay.
"I learned then, for the first time,
that this draft had not been paid. L
have not seen more than twice since
that time, and then not to speak Of
this matter, but I met Mr.. Greeley
some three weeks ago in New York
He told me that he had received the
money, but that he had no personal
interest in it. He did not volunteer
to tell where the money had gone. l
did not like to ask him because l
thought I could find out in some 9TH
er way. I thought the Treasurer of
our company would know Out When
1 saw him afterward he did not know.
Mr.. Greeley stated that he had car
ried the draft for some time, expect
ing to see the parties to give il up ;
that it went to Mr.. Hunt, the Treas
urer of the Company. The matter
had been brought officially before our
Executive Committee; and the mon
ey paid before my arrival. If L had
been present, it would not have been
paid without me knowing something
more about it."
His hearers would recoEect that the
Horace Greeley mentioned here was
! the candidate of party opposed 70
/ land grants, who got this draft for one
| thousand dollars, and did not comply
with the terms, rs the money WAS not
to be paid unless the bill passed the
! House. and the instructions were thai
the draft was not to be used except IN
the event of its passage. The witness
states that he did not know what haC
became of il, only from suspicion
and thought he could find out some
other way than by asking Greeley,
and the matter subsequently came uI
officially.
But I propose to call further atten-
ton to this fact, that in the Journal o.
the committee, Of Thursday May D
! 1857, is recorded an order that Hor
ace Greeley be summoned as a Wit
ness, and on Monday, Feb. 10, th'
Sergeant-at-Arms reported that hC
had diligently sought Horace Gree,
/ lev. and found JuaL ne had gone u
the West, TO Ohio or Indiana, anC
that the time Of his return was uncer'
] tain. He went West and grew VI
with the country [laughter,l j nevel
came back to tell what became Of the
thousand dollars, and the man haC
susDicions. but didn't know where
| it went to the Treasurer who paid i
had suspicious, but didn't know
/ where it went to. Eleven days wa
the Sergeant-at-Arms diligently
! searching for him in the city
of New York, while he went ives
and grew up with the country. AnC
this man, the candidate on a platform
opposed to land grabs, was the agen
Of this movement. a good deal o
comment might be made on this mat
ter, but 1 will content myself VIII
saying that it illustrates the fact tina
/ Horace Greeley occupies q false posi-
ton at the head of this movement
that he is diametrically opposed {,
the whole Of theplatform upon whiel
/. he stands
There is a rumOr Of well-knoWl