The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1873-02-20

custom, and found an envelope with
in another envelope, postmarked
New York. On opening the innes
envelope found it cOntaind a lettes
written by George w. Nesbit, con-
graduating me most cordially on my
nomination for the Vice Presidency,
and saying that the writer desired to
send me cOnfidentially the remittance
enclosed TO aid me in the heavy eX-
penseS Of the canvass, but wished it
kept secret, as neither his family nor
any one would ever know it unless 1
told them. Enclosed in this was a
greenbaek or a national bank note Of
81, 900. 1t was as gratifying as it was
liberal, and holding up the letter
and bill, asked the attention of all
my family to it, and then read them
the letter. The fact of sending so
large a bill by mail was commented
upon, and the magnitude of the gift
was discussed, when Mathews re-
marked that it came in good time,
either he or I referring t0 the ap-
peal Of Conner, chairman of the Iu-
diana Republican Committee, for
money to aid in arranging for the
canvass, already in active progress
around from hand to hand, and ex-
amined. I am sure | deposited it
| with the $500 / had received from
Mathews, and purchasing on the very
same day, as the bank books show, q
draft for the exact amount of this re-
mittance, and in exact accordance
with the donors wish, and exactly as
discussed at my table at the time,
sent it at once to the chairman of the
Republican committee at Indianap0-
lis. Fortunately this does not rest on
my own testimony alone. Living
| witnesses will tell the committee they
! remember the receipt of this bill and
| the contents Of the letter in which 1t
was enclosed, and that it was at once
discussed how it should be used 70
carry out Nes5itt's desire, and the
draft presented and sworn to by the
cashier of the bank, proves that the
day I deposited 81 200 in bills, / bought
and remitted out of my deposit draft
for 81, 900 to the Chairman of the Indi-
ana State Committee. That draft, en-
dorsed by Conner, was found in the
0ank here and laid before your COM
mittee, the next day after the bank
deposit was testified to, my counsel
at the time promising to connect it
with my evidence. My family at the
time consisted Of my mother, since
deceased, my stepfather, Mr.. Mathews,
and my half-sister, Mrs. HOllister,
whose residence is in distant city be-
yond the Rocky Mountains.
1 said it was fortunate there were
living witnesses to this, besides my
self, for on q thorough examination of
the accounts and papers of Nesbitt,
made by his executor at my request.
Nesbitt having died the next year, no
trace of it is there found. He had
carried out exactly what he wrote.
that it was intended to be confiden-
tial, unknown even to his family, apd
by me, and nd 6ee' evidently sent it in
more surly to accOmplis his object.
During the last eight or ten years the
accumulation of my Letters has been
so extraordinary that it has been my
regular habit to destroy fully nine
| tenths of them. Those that are not
destroyed are not filed, but kept in
their envelopes, until they crowd my
drawers and tables, and are then tied
up, but not chUnOlOgically, to be
slowed away wherever room for them
can be found. Indeed, Mr.. Chauncey,
Of the House employees, after l had
left that wing, of the Capitol for the
Senate wing, in 1869, happened TO
find box full of such old letters thus
tied up, the loss of which had en-
tirely overlooked. 1 have gone three
times over all the letters l have pre-
served, and have not found this letter,
or any political letter, for June, 1865.
a raf r,F no of
| 81 900, sent to Indiana, cannot be
found. though fortunately, the bank
was able to find the draft itself. The
letter accompanying the three checks
/ deposited on the 22d of June have
also been destroyed, so that am un-
able to produce either of the five let
! ters relating to the business of that
day. remember distinctly that after
my nomination my mail increased
enormously, amounting to fifty, if
not sometimes one hundred, letters
per day, and their preservation seemed
so impossible that I remember, as
others do, more than once almost fl
ling waste basket with the fragments
of destroyed letters; but as 1 said to
the deposit of the draft, which testi-
| fies for itself, there are living witness
es to prove that 1 received at the time
this 81, 900 bill, one of them having
made three thousand mile mid-win-
ter journey to tell this committee her
recollection of it.
When my bank account was exam
ined here, the cashier was asked what
| the forty-five thousand dollar fOotings
meant, and he replied to the inqui-
ry, that it was the amount of the
debts and credit, when the accounts
were finally balanced. 1t was tele-
graphed to the New York Tribune
hat night, that the books showed
that l deposited 200 in one year,
aud the inference of course was, that
I could therefore easily have forgot
ten the 81, 200 in question. As my
general accounts have thus been made
the subject of discussion, and as l
have no secrets in regard to them, I
feel it my right now, to correct this
mis-statement. This total was for
three years, not one year, namely: from
December 1865, the October 1868 in
elusive, and embraced, besides other
| cash accounts, the changes made in
my investments, the avails of labor
iOus life, and which changes were
mainly on the advice of valued friends
in New York, Baltimore and the
west. On the debit side are purchases
of S., 900 of seven-thirties of the bank,
between December, 1865, and April,
1866, mainly from receipts for lectur-
ing; one share of New York Tribune
stock at $1,000 in January, 1867; 3
present of 81, 600 in the early part of
same year to my mother, then the
head of my family; an investment of
! 5000 in an iron company of Lake
Superior; an Investment Of 5000 in
bonds of the Pennsylvania Steel Co. /;
a house and lot in South Bend, near
the post office, which: 1 am glad 10
state is worth now nearly double the
$1,000 I paid for it loan of S455 to
Matthews'as stated an investment of
five thousand dollars in a Western
rolling mill, and payment of 81, $50
to Mr.. Rickstein Burroughs for mon
ey borrowed of him. This amounts
to $50, 900 out the SIS, 900 transactions
of these three years.
| The deposits on the credit side that
enabled me to pay these amounts
were as follows: During these years
I was lecturing on my s:aye-coach
ride of 1865 across the continent dur
ing November, in the holiday recess,
on Saturdays in the early part of the
session and during the spring, when
Congress adjourned in March, reeeiv-
ing 500 to 500 per lecture. I re-
ceived in ali over $4,000 from this
source, Of which I estimated about
$4,000 was deposited here. Isold the
5000 in 1905, and also, the Tribune
share at $500; and Matthews re-
turned me the S455 he owed me. Be
sides these items, L sold sixty-two
shares of Adams Express stock, at
72i, and a lot of second mortgage
bonds of the Alton & Terre Haute
Railroad for S4, $40, making about
S3l, 900 in all, which offsets the So, 900
in Investments, charged against them.
OF course the committee understands
that in bank accounts, where changes
Of investments are made, the same
money alters the figures three or four
times over. Thus I deposited my
lecturing money, bought seven-thir-
ties, sold them at an advance, and
used the proceeds for another invest
'ment. I bought a Tribune share