Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-01-17
CREDIT MORILIER.


u to-day, Representative Schofield mad
ld the following statement: Has been i
u the habit of investing in bonds orstOcks
'h in 1885 he bought of Mr.. Ames som
Is: H bonds of the Cedar Rapids and MissOul
IL railroad; in December next year wante
OF more; Mr.. Ames suggested that he tax
DO Credit Mobilier stock; he (Ames) say
p Ing the company was incorporated il
* Pennsylvania, and he would take SOM
y Pennsylvanians in it; he offered stocl
d at par, and interest from some forme
~ period, or he would guarantee eight pc
Is cent. if he (Schofield) would give {,
es him (Ames) half that it earned over that
Is some one told him that he (Schofield
y would take one thousand dollars of it
ID subsequently,, when witness spoke tC
Ie Mr. Ames about giving him the money
u Mr.. Ames said be thought all the stocH
oi was gone, but If witness would give him
J the money he would try and get the
q stock; witness gave him the money in
Il January and Mr.. Ames said he would
! get the stock; witness told Mr.. Ames,
II however, that he had concluded not to
;, take stock, but finally agreed to take
some OF his railroad securities instead.
: and the balance was settled in money
witness knew nothing of Mr.. Ames de-
string Congressional aid; witness voted
1 against the act of 1854, giving the COM
, pany's mortgage priority; nothing was
: said about legislation; did not receive
any dividends.
? In answer to the question by Mr..
4 Poland, Mr.. SchOfield said he thought
no dividends were declared by the com
pany during the time that they did not
receive any dividends; if there were
any they were allowed at the final set
tlement; witness had no idea that the
, stock tnen was worth two or three times
its par value.
Senator Patterson, sworn, stated that
although he had no transactions with
Mr.. Ames and the Union Pacific rail
road which call for investigation, or
which any respectable business man
would criticise, still he would state all
the facts in which he was concerned:
he was not in Congress until after the
Union Pacific subsidies were passed; he
voted for the act of 1864, and never re-
GREETED 1t; he never owned q penny's
worth of Credit Mobilier stock.
although he would have done so at
one time if he had had the money. He
subsequently purchased of Mr. Ames both !
bonds and stock of the Union Pacific
railroad, which he afterward sold in New |
! York, making fair profit, but regretted |
his investment was not larger, as the |
transaction was honorable and honest: |
he never received nor purchased any
property which, directly or indirectly. |
was connected with his vote.
Ing answer to the questions of Mr.. |
Poland, Mr.. Patterson testified that /
ms hrst purchase was in 1859, and /
Others in 1871.
MIR. William d. Kelley testified that
he agreed with Mr.. Ames to take some
Credit Mobilier stock as an Investment
only, but the matter was dropped, and
he never received any dividends
or profits from the Credit Mo
bilier; had never seen any
Credit MDbilier stock; had borrowed
money from Mr.. Ames on one or two
occasions, but had not had an offer from
Mr.. Ames of Credit Mobilier stock to in
tiuence legislation; if witness had been
able to purchase stock he would have
dene so; saw no more impropriety in A
member of Congress buying that stock
than in buying flock of sheep and then
voting upon the tariff on wool or woOlen
goods. He borrowed one thousand dol {
lars from Mr.. Ames at one time but il !
was nothing in connection with that
which referred to the Credit Mobilier.
Hon. Henry Wilson was then sworn, {
and testified that his wife had been pre- l
sented with three thousand eight hun f
dred dollars on the anniversary of their !,
silver wedding, portion of which was
invested in Credit MobiIier bonds. which S
were purchased for her benefit at the t
suggestion of Ames; witness knew ,
nothing of the organization; Ames said
he would guarantee it to pay ten per
cent, and advised witness to take it: 4
witness asked Ames at the time if it Il
was not likely that the road would be II
coming to Congress for legislation, as he
had made 1t rule never to have dol
lars worth of stock in any L
road wanting legislation. Mr.. t.
Ames replied that the road wanted p
no legislation, and expected none; wit q
pess told Ames if the road ever should ?
apply for legislation, he would want his y
money back, and did give the bonds I'D 3
witness learned that there 1
was some difficulty about the concern, a.
and he spoke to Alley, Ames, and 9TH y :,
ers, about 1t, saying that he wanted to
get out of it; Ames laughed at the anx-
ETY. of the witness to get out, and said p
ne would return him the money and Il
'aneeI the bargain; witness never re- rt
'eived dollar as dividend, but backed cl
lut of the bargain, and If ten thousand "
lot touch one cent of il; his
wife got her money back, and witness -
lever received any benefits from it. | i
The only speculation he had ever en- u
cred into since coming to Congress was
little lot of land in his native town,
md he would sell what he had to-day,
Exclusive of his house, for thirty-fivel
hundred dollars. He had done nothing
le did not feel he had right to do, and I'm
elt outraged at this attack made upon III
i'm. He thought a great wrong had nj
cen perpetrated.
John A. Bingham was then sworn. 4,
nd testified that he placed great conf "a y!
ence in the financial Judgment of Mr.. tI gL
Ames, and upon his advice invested Vi
wo thousand dollars in the Hubbard
liver Mining Company, corporation WI
rganized under the laws of Massachu- al
etts, but which had no connection with WI
ne Credit Mobilier or Union Pacific
abroad; in December, 1857, he was ad- in
lsed by Mr.. Ames to invest in Credit 81
loblller, and did invest two thousand err
ollars, giving Mr.. Ames the money
1me time in February, 1868, for which ioe
lr. Ames then gave him a written r. r.
greement to account to him for the 90
iyidends and proceeds of twenty shares
the Credit Mobilier stock; subse- >.
1enuy witness agreed to take one oI
lousand dollars in stock in the Iowa WI
alls and Sioux City Construction Com % %le
any, paytny Ames six hundred and Ia
fly dollars, for which Mr.. Ames gave
4 agreement similar to the one men thi
oned; witness never received nor held Ca
ny stock in the Credit Mobilier, Iowa dc
obstruction Company or the Union an
acitic railroad from Mr.. Ames nor any da,
le else; Mr.. Ames was the only per 7
N he knew in the contracts, and he ma
I'd perfect faith in him, and witness saI
,lieved he had lawful right to make YES
ese Investments. In 1865 witness re- bun
lived from Mr.. Ames two Pacific rail- rise
ad bonds, each for one thousand dol u
rs. In pursuance of agreement all sub Iast
quent dividends were in money or na;, CO.
MON Pacific stock. The Credit Mo- S,ar
lier contract was closed in December, snn
40, as witness then wanted money, rcd
Id he received from Mr.. Ames one tar;
ousand six hundred and fifty dollars, n
ace which time he has had no interest,
rect or indirect, in the Credit Mobilier JSIi "a
Union Pacific. The bonds which he " W
ceived from Mr.. Ames as dividends u Tue
sold in 1859 at eighty-eight and one eI, tne
lrth cents ON the dollar. The oOu
wa construction contract was acr'
tiled in the spring of 1872, III
d witness received nine hundred A
liars thereon, since which time he has ed I
d no further transactions with Mr.. at
mes. The aggregate amount received In
him on the two contracts was about wer
, thousand five hundred dollars from VIII
e beginning to the end of his deal ing
g with Mr.. Ames. He had no inti- the
alton that any other member of Con- repl
ess had any contracts or dealings with dea
N in relation to the Credit Mobilier. q