The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1875-10-21
ANOTHER CHAPTER of TAYLORISM
Efforts of our Reform" Governor to
Suppress the Record of his At
tempts at Bribery.
An Office and an Indefinite Sum of Mon
ey Offered for the Bribery Letter.
Voters, Read This and Then Vote for Taylor if
You Can.

MADISON, October IS, INSTALLATIONS
State Journal My attention has been
called to an article in the Madison Dem
ocrat, of Sunday morning, headed
s'Hugh H. Brereton, ''Ihe kind of n
man he is, ETC., etc.
Inasmuch as the editors OF the paper
want little more light ON the ':brib
cry" case, [ will proceed to give it, and
the means they attempted to us to sup
press it. They commenced about the
first of August, when MIR. son-in-law
Bashford, one of the editors aforesaid,
came to my house, in the town of Dane,
and introduced himself to me as such.
He said he came to me by the direction
of Gov. Taylor, to see If he could not
arrange to suppress the facts about the
bribery matter that occurred in the
county board, and to get possession OF
the letter. He wanted me to show him
the letter, but declined to do so. At
this time, some further conversation oc-
Cured on the subject, when he left.
On or about the 4th day of Septem-
Der last, I was in the city of Madison,
and was on my way to feed my horses
and when near the Methodist Church,
in said city, I noticed Gov. Taylor
standing on the park side of the street,
and near the moth corner, reckoning
for me to come over to him. 1 went and
met him. He said he wanted to see me
at his Office in the Capitol. After car
ing for my team, [ went there and saw
him. He asked me if [ had his certain
letter with me. l answered yes. He
aked me to show it to him. I said, I
would if he would give it back to me.
He promised, and then I handed it to
him, and he looked it over and finally
handed it back to me. The Governor
thanked me for not exposing him at the
election two years before, and said if l
would do the same this year, he would
give me a good position. That he was
sure of his election, as the railroads
were all going to support him. He
wanted the letter to keep 1 refused it ;
then he wanted copy l refused that
also. Then he wanted me to promise
not to show it to any one until [ saw
him again, which [ did. He said that
the letter did not amount to much, as
such things were done, and letters writ
ten to members of the Legislature every
winter that he had seen about fifty of
them last winter He said his son in
law, Bashford, wanted to see me, as
understood, that day. He said, or
Bashford said, J cannot positively state
which, that he wanted the matter fixed
up before the convention in Milwaukee,
as Sat Clark and some other sore-heads
were trying to defeat him, and if they
got hold of this they might do it.
promised it should not be used against
Taylor before the convention.
On OF about the 9Th day of September
I,fo Inv
Bourke of Madison, requesting me to
come in and see him.
(Here follows copy Of the letter
which, as it is not OF special Importance,
we leave out.
answered Bashford's letter on his
own envelope, that could lot come il,
as [ remember.
A few days after this Bashford came
out to my place again. He was very
anxious to fix it up. He then and there
offered to give my boy a position in the
Capitol if 1 would give mp the letter and
make statement indicating Gov. lay
lor. At this time +. wanted TO see the
letter. l told him had promised the
Governor not to show it until L saw him
again. He said he was there as Gov.
TaylOr's representative. [ then showed
him the letter. At this time he. showed
me statement he wanted me to sign.
He read it to me. [ declined to make
such statement. Then he wanted
my permission to make q statement Ill
the Democrat denying the charges. l
refused to give my consent. Very soon
after he left, saying he wanted to see me
in Madison soon.
next saw Bashford in Madison dur
ing the Fair week, at which time he Of
fered me position for my son in the
Capitol, worth from 5000 to $500 per
year, for the letter. He said the salary
of the position could begin October LIST,
but no services would be required till
November LIST, because there was then
an occupant of the place, doing the
work and getting the pay. | would not
accept his proposition, as [ told him, af-
ter good deal of talk on his part.
About October list, after this, Bash
ford came out to my house again, and
showed me an article from the Baraboo
Republic, and wanted to know if au-
thorized its publication. I told him [
stated the facts to Weirick about the
bride, and that said to Weirick that I
intended to make,,a full statement ahut it.
Bashford then asked he if [ had the
letter? L said had the letter whore [
could put my hand upon it. He then
offered me $500 and the position here
tofore alluded to for it, and aaid it
would be nice place for my boy, with
chances for promotion. He then pulled
out the statement again and read it to
me, and said he would modify it to suit
me if [ would sign it. 1t was the state
ment vindicating Governor Taylor. 1
declined to sign the statement OF to dis
pose of the letter.
Bashford then said, Snow you have
declined all my PROPOSE tons now will
you make one and if have not money
enough with me to satisfy you, get into
the buggy with me and go into Madi-
son, aud will satisfy you" L then told
him no amount of money would induce
me to violate my conscience that no
act or word of mine should be used to
keep Taylor in position he was so I'M
worth to fill.
Bashford said they did not care much
about the Tn ter-Farr matter; they
would squelch that but this transac-
ton they could not answer, but that it
would defeat Taylor.
again told him L would not give I'D
the letter OF make a statement, for any
consideration. He then complained
that l had not treated the governor we'll
as he would not have been a candidate
for denomination, if he had not suppos-
ed ne could have got the letter. That
he, the governor, could have retired as
well as any governor ever did at the end
of his term.
Bashford said this interview was very
unsatisfactory to him, as he was afraid
he had left me more unfrieudly than he
found me. Bashford then tried to get
me to promise not to expose the trans
action for week, but l refused. Then
he wanted ME TO come into Maids IN
again to see more about 1t, but | de-
cliued to be Interviewed Lu Lin, anr