Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1873-02-13
The Credit MObilier.

The Credit MObllier.
A Washington dispatch of the goth says:
Judge Polands Credit Mobiier Investigation
Committee was largely attended to-day, it being
popularity expected that Cakes Ames would not
only exhibit his original memorandum, but also
letters, receipts and statements from Congress
men which would cause something like the
sensations attending the production of Pat
terson's letter and Colfax's bank account. But
few of these were presented, how
ever, those offered being additional receipts
from Patterson, and a statement of figures in
Garland's handwriting, wherein the latter
makes Ames his debtor for %, 400 on account
of his Credit Mobilier investment. Robert s.
Hale put in an appearance as the attorney of
Vice-President CoHax, and proposes, on the
behalf of his client, to establish that the 81, 200
deposited in the First National Bank the day
after Ames gave him a check on the Sergeant
alarms for that amount, was obtained from
an entirely different source.
"In the Wilson committee, Joseph B. Stew
art, of Washington, who received several hum
bred thousand dollars in connection with the
legislation of 1864 on the Union Pacific rail-
road, was critically examined. He was finally
driven to the point as to whether he had paid
any newspaper publishers, when he declined to
answer on the ground of the relations of clients
to attorneys the fact was reported to the
House, which ordered thatStewart be compelled
to answer tomorrow or stand committed.
Stewart says tonight that he will go to jail be-
fore he will answer. He distinctly testified
over and over that not a dollar was ever paid
by him to any congressman or newspaper cor
respondents, but the committee insist that he
must tell to whom he did pay it,"
Horace F. Clark, President of the Union Pa
cific railroad, was examined before the Wilson
committee on the 30th ult. He showed that
he had never permitted the expenditure of a
cent to influence the action of Congress. He
introduced in evidence letters and dispatches
written to him by one of Gen. Buffers secre-
taries, which he considered as an attempt to
blackmail the company.
The Poland committee was devoted princi-
pally to hearing an explanation from Hon. Job
Stevenson, as to his assertion that J. F. Wilson
and Speaker Blaine were connected with the
Dubuque and Sioux City railroad.
The Poland committee was mainly occupied,
o nthe 31st ult., in listening to the revelations
of Thomas G.. Durant. He showed how the
election of the Board of Directors had been
controlled by fictitious subscriptions and legal
maneuvers. under the direction of Gen. Butler,
and threw additional light upon some of Cakes
Ames' contracts. He said that Gen. Dodge,
the Engineer-in-Chief of the Union Pacific
railroad, was a member of Congress and spent
his time in Washington, where, it was asserted,
he could do moro good than elsewhere. He
received a salary of $40, 600 a year, and his wife
held 100 shares of the Credit Mobilier stock.
Alley took the stand, and met Mr.. Durant's
statements by the somewhat familiar remark
that the CRY of "stop thief" was raised by
the thieves themselves.
Considerable evidence was taken by the Will
son committee, but none of it was important
except an incidental admission from President
Clark, of the Union Pacific railroad, that Gen.
Dix, now Governor of New York, received q fee
of 800, 600, while he was Minister to France
during the johnson Administration, to nego-
tiate a sale of the Union Pacific bonds. He
failed to sell any bonds, but kept the fee hand
ed him..
Washington dispatch of the LIST inst. says:
1.-THE work of taking evidence has been prac-
tically completed by the Poland committee,
there being no more witnesses to hear except
Ames and Colfax, and the committee have
made up their minds that nothing more can be
got from either of them of vital Importance to
theinvestigation. The committee held a private
session this afternoon, and determined to pro-
coed directly to the work of preparing their re-
port. This will take a week or ten days, and
in the meantime, Mr.. Colfax will have an OPP
portunity to present any evidence which he
may obtain, and Mr.. Ames will be expected to
produce his memorandum book. Whether he
Will do SO is an open question, and if, when he
returns, he says that he cannot find his papers,
the committee viii not press him.
There Is much speculation and a wide variety
of opinion as to the report of the Poland COM
mittee. 1t is argued by some of tho ablest
lawyers in Congress hat no charges of bribery
have been proved against Cakes Ames, nor
against the men who took stock from him, and
that if such charges were proved, it would be
out of the province of the Forty-second Con-
gress to discipline any members for what was
done during the session of the Fortieth Con-
gress. Nevertheless, Judge Poland has openly
declared that the committee would not white
wash anybody, and they may perhaps declare
MIR. Cakes Ames unfit to occupy a seat in Con-
gress, and indirectly recommend his expul'
sion. The feeling against Ames is so great
that he would be expelled in a moment if a
decent preteXt could be found.
A Washington telegram of the Sd inst. says
The sessions of the Wilson committee are
drawing to a close, and it is probable that by
the time the testimony is closed the report will
be ready for presentation to the House, as the
members have kept themselves thoroughly in
formed from day to day of the Importance of
the testimony, and the bearing of the informa-
ton furnished by one witness on that of an
other. The testimony is printed from day to
day, and thus it is before each member of the
committee. The Chairman, Judge Wilson, left
for the North tonight, and will take testimony
and Boston. In the former city the records of
the courts, where the Credit Mobilier trials oc-
CURED, will be examined, and all the books in
the New York and Boston offices of the Union
Pacific road will be gone over. While the
Chairman is absent Mr.. Alley will be examined,
and also Gen. Dodge, if he arrives from Texas
in time.
The Wilson ommitte had an uninteresting
session on the 4th. John B. Alley was the
only witness, and his testimony related almost
wholly to the dry details of the Union Pacific
railroad, and in an effort to show that nothing
has been made out of the road; that those who
built it look bankruptcy in the face, and all
that. Pending the return of Cakes Ames, the
committee is engaged in preparing a report on
the evidence already in. This report will take
up the case of each Congressman, and make
special reference thereto. The report will be
accompanied by no resolution, but will simply
leave the House to take such action as the
evidence submitted may justify.
The Poland committee reported to the
House the evidence taken with regard to Sem
ators Wilson, Harlan, Patterson, and Vice
President Colfax, and it was unanimously GER
titled to the Senate for its action as the latter
body shall deem proper.
An Episode of the Louisiana Inyestiga-
ton.