Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-01-24

, pressed it, to his family. / became sat-
, isfied, upon reflection, that the shortest
/, and easiest way was for me TO psy him
the amount suggested by him, and thus
get nd OF him and make way for some
other man, who, in all probability, would
, be more competent, and who, under no
, possibility, could be more incompetent
: for the duties Of that office. With Mr.,
Hobbs in the office l saw nothing but
ruin for myself and, as / believed, great
danger TO every one interested in the
credit and good faith of the State. l,
, therefore, agreed to pay, and
J did pay to Mr.. Hobbs three
thousand dollars in his own notes and
seven thousand in currency, making
, ten thousand dollars in all. Shortly
: after that he resigned, and this ended
my connection with the transaction.
: II is probably my duty t. state, IN this
connection, that, in taking the course /
E did, was governed primarily by re-
gard to my own interests, though / be-
lieved then and now that the resigna-
. ton of Mr.. Hobbs w6s an advantage not
only to me but to the State, and L am
. satisfied that the State has been largely
benefited by his retiring from the office.
will state further, / knew the governor
to be so thoroughly pledged to the main
tenance Of the State credit that he would
appoint the very best available man to
the position. FriersOn was not present
when l paid Hobbs the money. In our
conversation with each other we did not
have in mind any one as the successor OF
Hobbs; had no idea who would be
Hobbs's successor in case he resigned;
Frierson had never, directly or indirect
Iy, paid one cent Of that money, and 1t
never has cost him one cent; nobody else
but myself has borne any part of the ex-
pense; not one dollar has been refund
ed, and l have no promises that it
will be. Tennessee bonds were quoted
in the market just previous to the meet |
ing of the legislature along in the seven |
ties, with all the coupons attached !
They reached ninety-one or ninety-two |
| cents. Myself and friends were carrying |
iG the neighbJThood of a million dOlla's J. |
1 had, perhaps, two hundred and Il 81 |
thousand dollars. A decline of ten Per
cent. would have injured me very much. |
| Friends to whom nave alluded did not |
| live in this State. Hobbs led me into the |
idea of getting him out; knew that he |
would be over-reached by anybody that |
had any business in the office, and | was |
afraid that something might be done in
the cOmptroller's office whereby the |
credit of the State might be damaged. |
l really did not hand the money to |
Hobbs; laid it on the table, and be |
picked it up; did net see him count it. |
He seemed to know enough about it to |
take it and put It in his pocket. l re- |
| gard the payment Of that sum of money |
| to Hobbs as personal expenditure OF
my own, and have no promise of reim-
! bursement. 1t was sum expended to
! keep from losing much larger sum. l
had no idea who would be Hobbs's sue
cessor when paid him the money, and
| knew of no act on the part OF Colonel
Burch TO procure Hobbs's election or to
! induce him to resign. Burch never
| knew anything about the transactions
| between Hobbs and from me. Burch
| never paid me anything on any &C
count. He is the hardest man to get
money out of ever saw.
STATEMENT OF JOHN L. HOUSE.
By Mr.. Cummins-I believe you were
a candidate for comptroller of Tennessee
before the thirty-eighth general assem-
bly,?
Answer was.
Question-Please state to the commit
tee anything you may know of any
combination entered into between
Hobbs and yourself aud other candi-
dates, or by yourself and other persons,
relative to Hobbs's election; how much
money was paid; what clerkships were
to be given, and other benefits?
Answer-Before the election of Mr..
Hobbs, and after had been candidate
for several DAYS, | became convinced
that | could not be elected, caused by
some utterances made by my main
friend. became convinced on Satur-
day night before the election that l could
not be elected, and determined to with
draw from the canvass; l never said
anything to Hobbs about it; | told
some of my outside friends about it, but
do not remember telling any member
of the legislature; there was nothing
said between me and Hobbs about
money; / said nothing to him until
withdrew from the race; he asked me
what 1 did it for; l told him that L
would be ruined if took the office, that
l did not like the surroundings; 1 asked
him if he wanted to be elected and he
said he did; then told him / would {
help him all l could; after he was elect
ed he promised me a clerkship; he did
not say word to me about money then;
l said that l would like to be special
clerk and divide the profits of the Of
flee, but this was after the election. / =
think it was the night after the election
that the arrangement was entered into,
and l advised him to go hOme. He did
not give me that clerkship. He paid
me some money. After the election | !
went to Mr.. Morrow and got fifteen rum !
dred dollars and gave him my due-bill
for it, and told him that l would pay =
him the money back within certain
time. DR.. Morrow waited until the speci- :
fed time expired. About this time my l
financial troubles came upon me and /
IL t.
out to Franklin with the note, and 1
talked about filing bill. / told him l
that was unnecessary; that the matter
could be fixed up; that l would be in l
Nashville in few days and see MIR.
Morrow. l came down here and talked !,
with Mr.. Hobbs and told him what l II
would do. He said: "GO on and take ;
the clerkship;" but declined to do it,
and he asked me why, and l told him
that he was too weak for me to work un- y
der. [ said to him that if he would give
me some money, would quit. He gave
me fifteen hundred dollars and the due =
bill. 1t was handed to me in the lower
hall of the building, the money and the y
due bill together. l went down into the =
city and invested it in insurance stock, q
with some other money that had. =
STATEMENT OF TREASURER MORROW.
know Hobbs and Burch, and have II
heard the rumors of corruption in ref y
eIence to the comprehensive. Z
About one or two days after the cleo 8
ton of comptroller and treasurer, House
came to me to borrow one thousand :
five hundred dollars to pay off his hotel II
bills, saying he was to be Hobbs's chief
clerk: that Hobbs would be back II
next week and would replace the o
let House have the money, 81
and took his memorandum due-bill. Y
The money was paid month or so af- +
terward. House and Hobbs had some n
dispute about who was to pay this fif- =, u
teen hundred dollars. Hobbs afterward y
told me that he and House had fixed u u
up their matters, and he was to pay n
House some more money, and assumed Il
to pay said due-bill, and Iafterward paid q
it. l also indorsed q note executed to a.
me by Hobbs for Houses benefit, and III
this note was paid through Duncan, the
banker. These two notes were after
ward brought to me by Godfrey NJ.
Fogg, jr., and took them to Hobbs and
told him that if he could not attend to fo
his business better than that he ought to cC
have guardian appointed. Hobbs paid O,
me the fifteen-hundred-dolla due-bilI hi
within week of his departure from No
y aShVllle, ana MI. fOBS brought me &C
said two notes about the time Hobbs re- of
signed. Hobbs and House settled be- in
fore the legislature adjourned. Mr.. p
Fogg told me he had found M
said notes somewhere about the si
capitol, probably on the steps. House at
never did any clerical duty. had un- th
ierstood, twenty or thirty days before tn
he resigned, that he would resign; had tn
heard Hobbs say he would probably re. to
,ign. had heard various suggestions or
As to who would be Hobbs's successor; W
never had any conversation with Gov tr
srnOr Brown in reference to Hobbs's re- m
iignatlon, or his successor; ] am sure l ps
never did; Hobbs never conferred very W
RELY with me; Captain J. s. Wilkes, ar
he governors private secretary, seemed by
% be HOobs's most intimate friend in III
he capitol; have often asked Burcb, al
how much he paid Hobbs, lie
md he always denied having paid him A
anything; have no recollection OF hav- gr
ng told Mr. Bruce, or any member of ct
he firm OF Wheeler, Marshall d Bruce, ST
hat Burch would be Hobbs's successor; de
always thought Burch would be tn
1obbs's successor; my only reason for al
his was that when Pennebaker once nc
bought of resigning, he (Pennebaker) do
old me BuTch would be his successor: M