Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1873-02-21
ViCe-PresIdent COliax's Statement.

M LvI0oWlng Is the statement made
hs,;O Ia; O2liax before the Poland Credit.
TtVoiie1 IteV. ,i investigating Committee, on the
a. 'n: noo sils account of the receipt OF the
$Sa,VvU from Mr.. Nesbit was corroborated
N. uo evidence OF his step.father, Mr..
1laeIneWs, and bis half-sister, who were
present when the letter from Mr.. Nesbit
was opened: \
GENTLEMEN; Last fall / was one OF
nun numVer OF persons in public life charged
Win having been bribed with gifts of stock
IN the eCredit-Mobliier, from which enormous
uavioends had been received and for which
nI,es YLSsin Ieglslation had been procured. re-
biea 20 these chsrges In speech at South
Dend, september 25, 1872 In which, after
ssuoWng that the most important part of
tnis legislation had been enacted four years
@ @pe.ore tne alleged bribery, l responded to
Rereonal attack as follows, which read
from the Chicago Inter. Ocea,, Of the next day:
Viewer having in my life dollar of stock Of
any Kind that did not pay for, claim the right to
tPurchase stock in the t-Mobiler or Credit.
any law prohibiting t. Do need to add that
neither oakes Ames nor any other person ever
gaVe or onered TO give me one share or twenty
shares or 200 shares in the itMobiller or any
Otner railroad stock and that unfortunately have
m never seen @ or received Che value Of iarthing ont
id,vidends In cash, stock or bonds you have read
aoo9t the past month, nor 100 per cent, nor the
shares Of Il could be purchased al par, without
buying into prospective lawsuit, it would be a
sentad ddnYestment as valuable stock as repre-
Iendant In court Of justice, want no stock at
any price with lawsuit on top of IT,"
1t will be seen from these extracts that
publicly claimed, last fall, the right to pur-
chase the stock, and avowed frankly that l
would have been willing to pay for twenty
shares II did not buy into a prospective
law suit but that no possible profits could
induce me to involve myself in litigation,
having, over four years before this speech,
voluntarily abandoned contract to purchase
at rate l had stated, and on the very
grounds had stated. Having no certif-
cate, no ownership of stock in It, my answer
70 the charges then made Is the exact
truth; and then I frankly accepted, also,
whatever odium might attach to Willingness
TO purchase and to hold It's stock as I then
understood It. / will add that what said
last September, that neither Oakes Ames
dor any other person ever gave or offered to
give me any of this stock, has been repeat
edly printed during the session, with the es-
sential word giye omitted, entirely changing
its sense. Ames having sworn, December
nth, In his original statement before the
committee, which he declared (see page 81
of evidence) embodied the exact facts, that
ne could not remember having paid me any
dividends, now declares that In June, 1868,
a check payable IT. The initials "S. e." or
bearer, for 81 200, but not indorsed by me or
any one else, was paid by him TO me as cash
dividend of Credit-Moblier. In answer to
this charge ! repeat again that have not
the slightest knowledge or recollection or
belief that l ever saw this check or any other
check OF Ames' till he presented 1t before
paid or proffered by him, directly or indirect
ly, in check, stock or bonds, twelve
hundred, or one hundred, or one dol
lar, or any amount whatever. I further
state that 1 have not the slightest knowl-
edge, recollection, or belief that ever
heard there was, or could be, any cash divi
dends Of the Credit it-Mobilier till the discus
sion OF last fall, and / am as positive as
can be of any fact in the past, that Ames
never spoke to me Of this last dividend, and
never paid or proffered to me in person, or
through any other channel, any check, or
money, or bonds, on that or any other ac-
count. 1t seeras to me impossible and in
credible that should have received the
check without remembering that addition
to my Income, and especially in q check
drawn so singularly as to initials and not
containing my name at all, nor could l have
talked to him when he failed as did about
letting the $500 go which had paid him on
dividend stock II he had paid me an overplus
OF $700. / must add that until to-day have
never heard of the certificate for 81, 500 of
Union Pacific bonds, $50 interest on which
Ames says he paid me in January, 1859, and
would not have been more astounded to
have been charged by him with the assassi-
nation of one OF his family than l have
been by his charges that he paid me either
$1,000 or $50, or any other amount whatever
on stock that Ihad abandoned. l will add
that for over four years hav9 spoken in my
family of this transaction exactly as de-
scribed 1t in my testimony of January Z,
namely, that l had contracted to purchse |;
had paid about $500; had heard of threats
and acrimonious litigation among its princi-
pal Stockholders; and had therefore aban-
doned 1t without receiving any dividend or
certificate, but at loss of the money had
paid upon it; and Of the face of those con-
versations l will produce evidence.
I come now to the bank deposit of 81, 200 in
bills for June %, 1855, and the Committee
will remember that really invited the ex-
animation Of my bank accounts by stating to
them unasked that ] kept my accounts at
the First National Bank, where all my
checks deposited would be found indorsed
by me whether payable to order or bearer.
Difficult as it is to recall all the transac-
tions of five years In a public mans life,
will state to the Committee where all the
money came from deposited from June go
1868, and will add that 1t was the month i'm
mediately succeeding my nomination for the
office now hold, and the total deposit was
81 $,968.63, and there being no previous de-
post later than the 1st of June, It shows that
the amount was an accumulation of moneys
paid to me during the intervening three
weeks. This is also proven by the dates of
the checks deposited. One check was for
$1S 6S, dated June Is, signed by J. N Sey-
mour, since deceased; one for $3.50, dated
June IL, signed by E. G. Cardin; and one for
$500, dated June II, signed by T. Denny g.
Co., none of them having the slightest con-
nection with the subject of Investigation be.
fore this Committee. OF the deposit bills
for 5000, am positive they were PAID me
by my stepfather, Matthews, on account of
paid s455 for piano bought for his daugh,
ter, the check for which is in the bank,
and l agreed to wait for the most of
It until the summer, when he expected to oe
better able to pay me- After my nomina-
ton iu May, 1868, I had numberless appeals
for contributions for political expenses in
various localities, for professions, bands,
charity, religious aid, etc, and / had prom
ised to contribute as promptly and largely
as possible to liguidate the expenses of the
canvass in my sharply contested State of In
diana. Therefore asked Mr.. Matthews to
pay the Indebtedness as soon as he could do
so, so as to assist me in meeting the demands
Incident to my new position. During
nearly as can fix the time about the middle
of the month, he paid 5000 in bills on ac-
count, and early next month he paid me an
other installment, completing payments be-
fore Congress adjourned, late in July. l am
very confident that this 5000 formed part of
this 1920 deposit, being part of my cash re-
ceipts between deposits of June l and %
About the time of this payment, and, as near
as can fix the date, about the middle Of
June, and very soon after the payment of
Matthews, was opening my letter mail at
the breakfast table, in accordance with my
usual custom, and found an envelope within
another envelope, postmarked New York
On opening the inner envelope 1 found it
contained letter written by George w. Mes
bit, congratulating me most cordially and
warmly on my nomination for the Vice
Presidency, and saying that the writer desir-
ed me to accept, confdentially, the remit
tance inclosed to aid me in the heavy expense
of the canvass, but wished 1t kept quiet, as
atk hta 20 tIxy anxr ar
know unless told them. Inclosed in this
was greenback or national bank note for
$1,000. 1t was as gratifying asi 1t was liberal,
and, holding up the letter and the bill, l
asked the attention of all my family to It,
then read them the letter. The fact of
nandinn, 10 larnn a hill hu mail WAC nnfn.