Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-05-07

The Vermont Central Investigation
q The legislative committee which met .,
!. St. Adams, April 2esh. to continue the inves
tigation into the action of the trustees and
, managers of the Vermont Central, Vermont
& Cinada and the leased lines of railroad, is
composed of Senators D. r. Bailey of st.
, Adams, Jacob Estey of Brattleboro, and John
Nj. Bartlett of Island Pond; Representatives
P P. Pitkin of Montpelier, Josiah Circuit
Jr., of Newport, and Loveland Munson Of
Manchester.
The resolution which shows the scope and
aim of this inquiry, reads as follows:
RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Repre-
senta,ipe,, That committee of three Sena-
tors and three members OF the House be ap
pointed respectively by the President of the
: Senate and Sp' aker OF the House. to /. quire
whether or not it Is true that In A. D 1869,
or at any time before or since that tune
money was paid directly or indirectly by any
trustee, receiver, manager, officer or agent
: OF any railroad company in this Sta'e, to any
member of either House of the Legislature,
Tor the purpose of Influencing Legislation !;
whet her or not it is true that under an Y
power derived from either branch Of the gov
ernment of this State, any person connected
with the aforesaid railroads or companies,
has practIced frauds or speculations; and
fioally, to investigate fully, all and singular
all the matters above referred to, and said
committee have power to send for persons
and papers, and to employ counsel to prose-
cute the investigation to its fullest extent,
and TO make report to the present session of
the LIE isature.
Aeo, to inquire whether any members or
officers of either House of this G neral As
sembly. have written or aided IN procuring
to be published, the articles in the Boston
Traveller touching any measure now pending
before this Leg 81 tture. Also, whether any
members or officers of either House of this
General Assembly are in the pay or employ
ment of any individuals opposed to the pas
sage of any such pending measures.
| Being unable to complete the investigation
and report to the Legislature before the final
adjournment, joint resolution was adopted
authorizing the committee to continue their
Investigations until the first of July. 1873,
and then report to the Governor who is to
cause the report to be published.
At the opening of the hearing, on the 29th
ult., there were present Messrs. Bailey, Estey
and Bartlett OF the Senate, and Pitkin and
Manson of the House of Representatives
H)n. Levi Underwood of Burlington, B. F
Field of Montpelier Messrs. Noble and
Smith and Jasper Rand OF St. Adams ap-
peared for the trustees and managers of the
road: Hon. c. n. Davenport and A G. SAT-
ford, Ed, as counsel Tor the committee
Mr.. Circuit, the sixth member of the commit
tee. was present after the first day or two.
| Mr.. Davenport at the outset claimed that
the fullest investigation should be made while
| Mr.. FIfeld believed the committee would in
qulre into only such matters as pertain to
the public and not TO the mere relations be-
tween these trustees and their cestm que
| trust.
TIE committee through its chairman, Sen
atCr Bailey, decided to give a liberal con-
struction to the resolution, a nd to 90 into
matters in any way citing the dIsch irge Of
the trust by the trustees. Mr.. Underw God
sand his client was ready for "a full investiga-
tiCn.
USE OF MONEY TO INFLUENCE LEGISLAT ION.
The investigation entered into during the
session last fall was into this matter, and
|
peared voluntarily before the committee. At
that time a great noise was made by the
g disclosures of sums paid to men, a part
of whom were at sundry timse members of
the Legislature. The effect of these revela-
tions was not in their own Importance, be-
cause few people supposed that rich corpo-
ration could hire leading men, over the length
and breadth OF the State, to be its steadlast
paltry sums Of twenty-five or fifty dollars
each. But as possible indications of some
deep lying strata of corruption and bribery,
these things attracted great attention. So
that the whole St ate looked with anxiety to
see what should be revealed when the .ssecret
service book - should be produced, and IN
willing witnesses put upon the stand. The
substance of what has been brought out by
testimony of Gov. Smith, of j. D. Hatch and
of the famous book in question is to confirm
the statement of Mr.. Hitch last fall, and tc
give the names of macy other attorneys re-
tanned by the road, some of whom have been
|
not 1t was also shown that there had been
occasion for the legal services of a part o.
these men after they were retained, and for
others there had been no cases where their
services were called in requisition. Toe secret
r service fund itself. which obtained Its name
from part of it being used for detective
3 service, came from various sources whose
proceeds did not properly come in the prov
. lnce of any particular department of The
road.
When this special fund was set aside
the company were very much embarrassed
by thelts along their own and connecting
railroad lines, and we've Obliged to employ
detectives, from New York and Chicago, at
= large compensation. 1t was against the rules o
the company to pay out dollar without vouci
ers, and the trustees had topay these men GU
t of their pockets or stablish some such fund
e But fund arising from the fees of shippers
on bondei goods, it was thought best TO use
e this for the purpose above specified, and thus
originated the so-caled "secret servic
t fund"
., Among the attorneys retained whose name
> did not appear before the committee last fal
were John E. Butler, Judge Kellogg, Chas
, K. Field, Judge Weston, D. G. Denison
Geo. NJ Fisk, Phlander Perrin, Ex-Gov
i Dillingham;. R. Farnham, Hoyt Ii. Wheeler
G. H Heath, Senator Ballard, and others
. As to the employing nt of these men, Gov
: Smith testified
1 cit was on the recommendation of Mr.
. Tracy and myself, that counsel were employ
d ed in various places throughout the State
{ We paid from S25 to 500 each. Though
r this very economical measure for the road
| hooa,,ao nv offan ca ued heavu anira anains