The sun., 1873-01-27
The incidents and Characters Of this Memo
rable Investigatiob.

courage 10 perform tnls sau anu YET sdcfoo
dutyY
The Incidents and Characters Of this Memo
rable InvesiigatioB.
Ccrrespondence Of The sun.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25.-The revelations
Of Oakes Ames are a bombshell In Congress,
which Is scattering terror in all directions. One
Of the main motives which impelled Ames to
let out so much OF the truth as he has-for II is
not all out yet-was that the Wilson committee
was opening up the whole budget OF the Pacific
Railroad fraudulent contracts aud expenditures
wherein Ames had hgured, and he wanted to
hedge by showing his hand In all the matters in
yolVed In the inquiry before the Poland com
mittce. The other and the minor motive was
that some Of the members implicated In the
credit Mobilier bribery were beginning to talk
Of expelling him as the scapegoat for their sins
in dabbng in Mobilier shares and Pacific bonds
This cut through the tough hide q Ames and
II he was TO be expelled from the House ne de-
termlned he would so place" things that he
would carry ou: pretty large crowd with him.
reference 10 "memoranda" as the reason why
he did not tell these damaging facts when he
a mere subterfuge he knew the main facts all
the time; and at the outset was willing
p,tnTsan S snea oSis sas,s WILLY
and the rest Of the Republicans, far as he
could without admitting that he was "A liar and
equiyocating and half eKtenuating testimony,
these very virtuous Senators and Representa-
tives put their heads together to drive their
bcnefictor to the wall. he pretended to refresh
his memory from " mem moranda" which he knew
by heart all the time, and turned upon them
with a vengeance.
WHAT THE PUBLIC THINK.
Public opinion here regards the recent dis
closures as the political death OF the implicated
parties; The worst feature OF their case Is the
Presidential campaign, from WHICH It might be
supposed that they hardly knew there was such
ier-much less that they had ever had the re-
motest connection with 10. ThetestmoIy before
the committee blasts them, and they can hardly
bear up under IL.
HOW AMEs LOOKS.
Ames Is the most cheerfui-looking person OF
the whole sorry lot; see THE SUN calls him
tnat " great and good man" Great he certainly
Is. II is the most ponderous member OF either
House. He stands about six feet three inches,
and weighs well on toward 800. He has i'm
mense arms and feet, and his long jaws and
part Of his person above the broad, round,
STOPPING shoulders. He Ia pointed out a hun
dred times from the galleries every day a. old
Hpbilter II was an amusing spectacle to see
him recently with his great feet resting on the
arms Of neighboring chair iooking over in his
with he was going to corner and crush 'olfax
and the others who had taken his stock and
while III remote corners Of the hall some Of his
victims could be seen neryously watching his
aged eye and bobbing about like birds under the
charms of a serpent.
HOW oAKEss VICTIMS LOOK.
Dawes tries 10 put a good face on things. But
as he Is the leader of the House, and has to he
ire o4uentN ON TIE moor, II Is PLAIN that he feels
very uncomtortably. lie has heretofore been so
pretentious in his honesty that the less ostenta-
tlou: and more slippery Of his colleagues were
wont TO swear by him, and II they could get
the endorsement OF the ascetic gentle
man from Western Massachusetts they
YSHsee, Dawes ddn 6,"s dees S into Crs%. u"sn. Mn
bllier.. lilo just Dipped IN. Tits was. perhaps,
| an air Of offended virtue, osnied with an oath
that he knew c, NJ. oven by name. Poor Dawes !
Ames pulls his tail feathers all >ut! And worse
| than the loss OF his plumage, hewil lose, prob
| ably N consequence thereof, tn, senatOrship
from MsssaGh1set!s Then there !. oily PattsrE-
| mouth College. Having asserted dl-ina the
Senatorial contest at Concord last June Shat he
80 had TO stick 10 that assertion, now how l.nas
| sticks him While Old Mobilier was looking Der
his memoranda, Patterson came over from IT,,
| Senate and eyed him with u vicious glare. I'm.
| like his cousin Billy. he knew who had struck
hlm, and that his name was oakes Ames., Per
| haps the most 1orlorD person was Garfield. He
| was formerly, like Harlan, sort OF preacher
II he had owned up In manly way and said he
had been lod into mistake, people would have
| let him on easier. But he denied and protest ed
with with SO much unetion last fall, and thereby got
| reelected by so big "A majority on this showing
Of character that his present plight is pitiabie
| AS Ames's immense feet hung across the chail
mos g9se lay buried IN tn,
Kelley who Is sometimes called call the Ned iFSSR Forrest
voice, and SO theatrical his air tried to bristlt
up and appear as II nothing in particular had
no felt that tho Ancient Mariner Of the cane
| Cod Distrlct-Ames Is nearly seventy ears old
| ana has represented that district ten Years was
| going for him, and poor Gar1eld wllted into his
| chair.
coLFAx, THE sMILER.
| Perhaps tho worst crushed spirit OF all these
| choice spirits, Is the Hon, Smier Colfax. Thal
| Sl"O1 check of Ames, payable to s. &. or bearer
mas, as Charles Lamb said about thai last bit OF
roast pig done the business for him. As Sergeant
lluzfuz a"erred in the leading case OF Bardoil VS.
! Pickwick joy has departed from that counto-
| nance forever Oakes Ames's last TESTIMONY
| CHARS failed to dot has finished him. Eyeu
| ne himself gives up the Casc-though he hangs
| on TO the Sl2W-and retlres to South Bend a
s9jder, wiser, and a richer man-to the amount
| WHAT Will POLAND nor
| Polands committee Is IN trouble. They mean
| TO be pretty fair, hut they don't know what Ia
| do. Some Of the implicated members curse
| blalhe Tor taking such course as 10 have the
| committee made up OF two Republicans. tive