Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1873-03-07
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are Iairly stated Dy tue new tOrk limes,
as follows:
Mr.. Collax Is charged, 1. with agreeing
TO buy an improper stock, and, 2, with tes-
tifying falsely with reference TO the pur-
chase. The first charge we believe to be
well founded. He did agree to buy the
stock, and 1t was an improper one for Con-
gressmen to hold-both because 1t was liza
BILE to bias their official actions, and because
the company made its profits by substan-
tal fraud upon the government. Mr.. Col
fax may not have known the facts on which
this opinion is based. He ought to have
known them, however, and his failure to
do so Is not creditable to him.
The second charge Is not proved. 1t Is
based on several specifications. 1t is al
legged that Mr.. Colfax suppressed the truth,
with intent to deceive, in his speech at
South Bend, on the 25th of September last.
The speech does not sustain the allegation.
He bad been charged with receiving Credit
Mobilier stock as gift, and with accepting
large dividends on IL. Those accusations
he denied, but he claimed the right to have
purch sed IL If he chose and that the stock
at par would have been good investment,
and alluded indirectly to the "lawsuit on
top of H." He next appeared before the
Poland Committee al Washington, and his
statements there have been cOntradicted in
most particulars by Oakes Ames. Both
agree tn 1T in the session Of 1867, Mr.. Col
fax agreed to purchase of Mr.. Ames twen-
ty shares of stock of par value of $4,000,
with interest from July 5. Both agree that
the following March sum of S534.75 was
delivered by Mr.. Colfax to Mr.. Ames to-
ward payment for the stock. At this point
the two men begin to contradict each other
and continue to do so to the end. Mr.
Ames says that when this money was paid
he rendered a statement showing that the
stock had earned dividends enough up to
that time 10 pay for itself within that a.
mount, and that the 1884 rs was the final
payment on the stock, and completed Mr..
Colfax's ownership in it. Mr.. Colfax, on
the contrary, says that he regarded this as
the first installment of payment for the
stock, being twenty five per cent of the
principal and accrued interest. There are
no material circumstances to sustain either
side.
Mr.. Colfax says that in the summer OF
1Scccc, he learned from Mr.. Ames that the
| Credit MoDn:;: -oinpany was involved in
| litigation, and therefore desired to with
| draw from the agreement to take the stock
saying nothing of the $500. This Mr.. Ames
partly admits at one time, and denies at
another. Subsequently Mr.. Colfax stated
to Mr.. Ames that, in consequence of that
| gentleman's financial embarrassments
which he regretted, the sum paid might be
dismissed from his mind. This is an i'm
portant point in the case. Mr.. Ames swears
that in 1885, he paid Mr.. Colfax a dividend
of 81 200. and subsequently the interest or
some bonds, received as dividend, to the
amount of $50 75. If Mr.. Colfax had re-
ceived these dividends in 1868, be could no
have offered to surrender the $500 to mes
for Ames would not have owed il. If Anne.
did not owe it, he could not have received
such statement from Colfax. Yet, on th,
2lst of January, Mr.. Ames was asked b.,
the chairniau:
"Q.-Wbat do you say in reference t,
that statement about his making presen
to you of $500, saying that he might kee
the $500 he paid you? Ale made som
remark of that sort to me-"
Mr.. Colfax's statement is sustained b,
that of member of his family, who testi
tes that Mr.. CoJax mentioned his surren
der of $500 TO Mr.. Ames in his family cir
cle
The next point OF dispute is the paymeu
of the 81, 200 dividend, alleged by Anne
and denied by Colfax. Ames testimony
supported by the production of the chec
on the Sergeant at Arms, made payable I
"S. c., or bearer" and by the fact that w
days after its date Mr.. Colfax deposited |
bank, with certain checks, currency to III
exact amount of the check 81 200. I
meet this Mr.. Colfax has two lines of d,
tense. One Is that Mr.. Ames is not a cree
ible witness, he having declared on Jai
20 that he deliberately swore 10 falsehoo
in testifying that he could not rememb,
paying dividend to Mr.. Colfax, though
the time he knew he had paid one of 81 20
The second defense Is that the 81 200 depo
tied In bank on the Odd of June were r.
ceived from other sources. Two hundrt
dollars came from his father-in-law, in pa
ment of a debt. One thousand dollars fro
MIR. Nesbitt, of New York, as a contrib
tion to election expenses. This statemo
is variously confirmed, first by the test
monv of the father in-law to the payne
of the 5000 by him second, by the produ
tion of draft for 81, 900 purchased of II
bank on the day of the deposit, and sent
the chairman OF the State Comm mittee
Indiana third, by the testimony of NJ
Colfax's halt-sister to the receipt OF the r.
n mittance from Nesbitt; and fourth, by
letter from sister in Iowa, testiiying tn
Q Mrs. Colfax had written TO her concerniI
: 81 900 bill sent to her son.
n Against Mr.. Colfax's statement it Is {
/ legged that II cannot be afiirmatively pro
D ed. That Is so. The statement may be tr
nevertheless. 1t Is also alleged that NJ
Colfax concealed In his first statement I
II receipt of two other sums OF 81, 900 ca
q from Mr.. Nesbitt. or this fact it Is to
O said that his counsel advised that the ma
a ter was irrelevant; that one OF these san
81 being received April Is, 1868, and the 9th
July IL, 1868, had nothing to do with I
source of the funds deposited June %, Is,
!. Just after the date of Ames' check.
e To sum up: Mr.. Colfax tells a story co
o siste It with itself. II the circumstances
j. his connection with Ames are correct
Is stated by him, they do not admit OF po
tive proof, and the want OF such proof
n not a fair ground Of suspicion against hi
10 To believe that Mr.. Coliax's account
l. false, is to believe that he and three or 70
membe of his family have conspired
y swear falsely to exculpate him. We
not incline to that alternative. Did, the
Mr.. Ames swear falselyf That Is not II
possible, He admits that he did so In