Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-02-13


will undoubtedly receive general atten-
don. The testimony is now, II we un-
derstand the intimation of Judge Poland,
all In and the case is substantially closed.
We must confess to a feeling OF disap-
pointment at the nature and extent of
the testimony proffered by Mr.. Colfax.
We ,ish that 1t had been in his power
to present a stronger case. AS the mat
ter now stands, there may be and prob
ably Is room for doubt. The statement
of Mr.. Colfax, even accompanied with
the corroborative evidence, still leaves
the matter undetermined and undecided.
It stands now where it has stood for
some time past, as a question OF veraclty
between him and Cakes Ames, and it is
difficult TO decide which has the most
corroborative circumstances on his side.
Well would it have been for Mr.. Colfax,
when in his speech to his neighbors and
friends at South Bend, Indiana, in Sep
TENDER, had he stopped when he had said,
"Never having in my life a dollar OF
stock of any kind that | did not pay Tor,
CLAIM the right to purchase stock IN the
Credit Mobilier or Credit Immobilier, if
there Is one, nor do know of any law
prohibiting it. Do l need to add that
neither Oakes Ames nor any other per-
son offered to give me one share or
twenty shares or two hundred shares in
the Credit Mobilier or any other railroad
stock" Had be stopped there, he would
undoubtedly have carried the sentiment
of the country with him. The people
would have sustained him on this plat
form. There IS no question, in our judg-
ment, that the feeling of the people
against the holding, owning and dealing
in Credit Mobiler, Pacific railroad and
other railroad stocks by members of
Congress arises, not from the fact of
such ownership and dealings, but from
the haste made to deny such connection
In the face of subsequently developed
facts. That such transactions are not
dlsapproved by the mass of the voters of
the country, is evidenced by the repeat
ed reelection of Cakes Ames and others
to Congress and by the long line of rail
road and business men, who have, from
time to time, been placed in nomination
by all parties and have been elected and
reelected Representatives and Senators
in Congress, Governors of States, and
TO other minor offices. Men may be,
and often are, elected to Congress and
State Legislatures because they favor
certain projects, and it is right they
should be; and no person ever talks or
thinks of corruption in connection there
with. Even now reading, rejecting
man of any party would laugh you in
the face if you should presume to hint
that Mr.. Colfax, or the gentlemen nam
ed, could be bought or bribed; and even
upon the hateful hypothesis that every |
man has his price, no sane, sensible |
man would, for an instant, harbor the |
thought that these men could be bought |
or bribed for such a price. But this is |
neither here nor there. Unfortunately, |
Mr., Colfax was not willing to rest his
defense on this ground, but he must go
on to say, 81 have never seen or receiv-
ed to the value of farthing out of the |
270 per cent dividends or the 800 per
cent dividends, in cash, stock, or bonds, |
you have read about for the past month, !
nor 100 per cent, nor the tenth of one |
per cent" In commencing his state
ment, Mr.. Colfax is weak in placing so
much emphasis on the word give" in
contradlstinction to "buy' or ''receive.
The impression is unfayorable, as Mr..
Colfax seems to endeayor to convey the
idea that he was not denying the pur-
chase, etc., but only the receiving gra-
tuitously. This most certainly was not
his meaning, as his denial of the whole
transaction was, and has been since,
made In the most explicit terms. The
substance, but amplied with details, he
reiterated under oath before the commit
tee. Cakes Ames fatty cOntradiCts it,
and, with other payments, swears to the
payment of a twelve hundred dollar divi-
dend at one time, June, 1868. 1t was
upon this item of twelve hundred dol
lars that the question between the two
hinged or was supposed to hinge. In
support of Mr.. Ames' statement, it was
shown by the books Of the bank with
which Mr.. Colfax transacted business,
that on the 22d of June, 1868, only few
days after such alleged payment, he
(Colfax) deposited some nineteen hund-
red dollars, made up of sundry checks,
and currency TO the amount of twelve
hundred dollars. Mr.. Ames also pro-
duced a check for that amount, payable
to "S. c." or bearer, which he claimed
was given to Colfax for such dividend.
1t Is to meet this state of facts that this
last statement Is made. 1t may be I'M
fortunate for Mr. Colfax that his wit
nesses are dead, but we fear that, as the
case stands without the possibility of OBJ
tanning their testimony, it will still leave
him in bad light. lie claims, and so
swears, that he received one thousand
dollars in a single bill, in letter from
New York; that 1t was received soon
after his nomination for the vice-presi-
dency, but he Is unable to fix the date
that the letter accompanying the money
has been destroyed, and that Mr.. Nesbitt
Is now dead. Admitting the fact of re-
ceiving the money as claimed, the mat
ter is not yet Strengthened, as some days
later there was further deposit of ff-
teen hundred dollars, and, it can and
probably will be claimed, that it might
have been and was deposited at the later
Hat to IL, ,t-N 4 =.
his last defense. We trust it is true, but
the probabilities seem to be as much in
favor of the one party as the other.
Whether Mr. Ames or Mr.. Colfax is in
the right may, and probably will, con-
tinue to be an open question with many,