New-York tribune., 1873-01-20
THE CREDIT MOBILIER.
A BUSY DAY IN THE TWO COMMITTEES
MORE VOLUNTARY wITNESSEs--oPEN AVoWAL
OF HAVING HELD sToCK-A NEW REyELA-
TION FROM MR.. DURANT-HOw THE CON
TRACT WAS MADE A SHiREwD AND UNsCRCPU-
LOIS SCHEME,

TIOk PROM NIX. DOkANI-hOM lhh WV
TRACT WAS MADE A sHREwD AND UNsCRCPU-
LoUS SCHEME.
IBY TELEGRAPH TO THg TRIsUNRi
WASHINGTON, Jan. 19.Two more self-consututed
witnesses presented themselves at Judge folanos 8
confessional on Saturday, TO put az good lace as
possible on their operations in Credit Mober STOCK.
These were ex-CoDgressmen James f. Wilson OF
Iowa. and Benjamin NJ. Boyer of Pennsylvania. The
former was eight years in Congress- from 1851 to
1869. and was Chairman of the Judiciary Com
Iuittee for portion Of the time. he
was much talked of for the position
of Attorney General when President Grant made his
first candidate and had some support for the Vice
Presidential nomination at Philadelphia last June
Very soon after lie left Congress he was appointed
a Government director of the Union Pacific Rail
road and has held the office since. Mr.. Wilson
got into the Credit Mobiler on the advice of Col
McComb. Mr.. Ames offered him some stock. but he
refused TO take il. Afterward Mr.. McComb urged
him to do So and explained how he had been swindled
ont Of the stock which belonged TO him, asking Mr.
Wilson TO get what he could for him. Mr.
Wilson then applied to Mr.. Ames, and after some
haggling Mr.. Ames consented to let him have ten
shares at par and interest, but without accrued dv
deuds. he wanted larger list, but Mr.. Ames would
Lot let him have il. Mr. McCOmb would not take
these ten shares, because he wanted them ON the
ground floor" which meant with all dividends from
the start. So Mr.. Wilson held them. Afterward
Mr.. MoComb put some papers in his hands which re-
veaed TO him the secrets of the Company,
and the manner in which its enormous profits
were secured. Mr. Wilson thereupon gave a
legal opinion that the Union Pacific directors
were individually liable for all the profits they had
received on the construction contract, as stockhod
eIs in the Credit MOblier The insight he got into
the affairs of the corporation from these papers
induced Mr.. Wilson 10 make haste to get rid
Of his stock, and he gave his friend, Gen.
G. NJ Dodge, a power Of attorney to sell
il for him IN New-York. The stock was
thence transferred at wil and Mr.. Ames
settled the business by paying Mr.. Wilson $1,000
The investment therefore, yielded profit of 200
per cent in less than years time. AT the con-
clusion of his statement Mr. Wilson said that when
he bought the stock the country was ringing with
the praises Of the enterprise shown in the con-
struction of the Pacific Railroad and argued that it
was unfair TO judge of the motives of men who
acted under the of facts then existing by sub
sequent developments which now give direction and
tone to public Judgment, but which were at that
time unknown.
Mr. Boyerwas the Democratic representative from
the Norristown District Of Pennsylvania from 1865
to 1869 He got 100 shares of Credit MObiler stock
from Mr.. Durant about the same time that Oakes
Ames was engaged in securing friends" among the
Republican Members Of Congress. and received the
dividends the same as other stockholders. He con-
sidered il perfectly honorable business transaction
and only regretted that he had not bought more OF
the stock. Mr.. Durant had promised to sell
him the stock before it became profit
able investment, but he had not taken 1t
tin some time in the Spring of 1859. The
Committee considerably refrained from pressing
him with questions as to his knowledge of how the
Credit Mobilier made its profits. He was a member
of the House Committee on the Pacific Railroad at
the time and ought to have known all about it..
Perhaps il would be unchaItabe to suppose that he
was gwen the stock at par, which was worth at
least 200 and on which dividends Of 100 per cent had
already accrued. on account of his membership of
that Committee. II does seem, however, as If he
might have suspected fraud somewhere when his
dividends began TO reach up in the neghborhood OF
1000 per cent within two years.
The last witness examined was George w. Ken
nedy Of North Easton, Mass. Oakes Ames's book
keeper and private secretary. A man with worse
memory never got on the witness-stand. He must
have known at one time all about Ames's stock
transactions but he could remember nothing.
After trying for half an hour, by alternate encour-
aging and worrying TO stimulate his feeble powers
of recollection the combined efforts of the Commit
tee finally extracted from him an admission
that he had seen pocket memorandum
book of Mr.. Ames, in which were some
entries about the stock and he thought there were
some references in il TO Senator Patterson and Mr..
Colfax Mr. Kennedy's name appears on the books
Of the Company as owning 30 shares OF stock. He
said be never owned this. 1t had been transferred
TO him by Mr.. Ames who afterward transferred
II back TO himself with the dividends in Union
Pacific stock that had accrued on II. lie
professed entire ignorance of the meaning
of this mysterious game of pitch and toss. The Com
nittee did not finish taking testimony, as they
had hoped they would be able to DO, and thsy Will
hold another meeting on Monday, when Oakes Ames
will again be put on the stand and asked to explain
what became of the remainder of the 343 shares of
stock that remain unaccounted for, and which he
took TO place where it would do most good"
The Wilson Committee had another long session
on Saturday. Oliver Barnes who was Secretary of
the Credit Mobilier from 1868 10 1865, was examined
without any profitable result in the way of obtain
ing new information. The Committee then resumed
the tiresome task of getting at the transactions and
proft of the Crediti Mobilier from a multitude of
books and documents, and from the unwilling
explanation Of Dr. Durant, who was kept on
the witness stand for over two hours. A new VEN
was struck by question in regard to the Sioux City
branch Of the Union Pacific Railroad. Mr. Durant
explained that tbs road was 10 have been built from
Sioux City westwardIto the Tooth meridian where II
was TO have formed junction with the Western Pa
cifc 1t was the property of the latter rosd, but by
some hoeus-pocus of legislation, the branch was
taken out of its hands and gwen to a new com
pany. who built it southwark in Iowa
70 a point not far north Of Omaha
and thence across the Missouri and westward till it
ioiped the Union Pacific at Fremont. The new com
pany thus got all the Government subsidies Of money
and land for building unimportant local road