The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1875-09-24
Ho,C a Bpfber Came to Grief, ana
H0,r Old Vic. PiOtette EEpOSeo
a. Gang Of ScOussdsetS.

a. Gang Of ScOWnttrets.
Certain Radical iournals have already
begun to introduce story that Mr.. fIosette
was once offered and accepted brine on
five hundred dollars, when in the Legis-
lature and say they will show up his
/ .srecord.'' The story Of the bribes as they
fell il. is simply miserable falsehood, ana
all we ask is that they will correctly print
the record Of our candidate. If they do
that, they will be aiding the Democracy
effectually. The facts in this ''brlbe case
are as follows:
4 Certain charges of fraud having been
preferred against the Leltgh county bank,
a .swild cat'' affair instituted by Moses u
/ Beach, of New York, in 1874, ana de-
mana made for the repeal of lis charter oy
/ the leading citizens of Lehigh county, the
! subject wars referred to the committee on
banks, of which Mr.. Piolette was member,
who reported Dill laVorihS tue fePe"i VI
| its charter.
During this investigation, and about
I month before the final report of the com
mi:tee, Beach, who was then publisher
! of the New York Sun and other newspa-
pers aggregating a weekly issue of 3oO.OO
proprietor of several rotten banking lnsti-
! tutions and man Of great poiticai in
! fuence throughout the country, sent bis
agent and one of his business partners,
! Daniel McCook, father of the since famous
! Fighting McCook' family, to Harrisburg TO
! influence the committee on banks to make a
| report against the repeal of the charter OF
! the Lehigh county bank. He founG three OF
! The seven members of the committee VIII
/ ing TO do So and, in order to receive thelco-
! operation of the necessary majority, con
/ cluded to prevail upon Mr.. Piolctte to agree
! to n report favorable to the bank. Know
/ ing MIR. Pioette to be opposed to any such
: report, McCook first sought to procure his
vote through the influence OF his personal
! and political friend, Hon. John Laporte, Of
! fering to Oribe the latter 10y making his son
! a present of 500, on condition that the
I father should influence Piolette to allow
! the committee to report favorably to the
bank. Being repelled by Judge Laporte,
! An attempt was made to induce Clerk OF
I the Senate Goodrich, II citizen of the same
county as Piolette, for the consideration
! Of 800, to influence the latter's vote
Both these plans proving unsuccessful,
! McCoOk determined to approach Piolette
/ in person. At first he undertook to per-
| suade the latter by the argument that
! those favora BILE to the bank were men OF
! his own party, of vast political influence,
! and whose favor it was valua BILE Tor him TO
secure. A few days later McCook informed
! Piolettc that he had written to the latter's
! father to come to Harrisburg to use his in
! fluence in behalf of the bank, ana had
promised him $500 to do
/ Knowing his father to be an old man of
/ -, and no lobbyist by profession, Mr.. Iio
lette was surprised and indignant at the
/ information and gave McCook t" under
: stand that his schemes were useless. But
Z the br;ber was so impOrtunate aud reckless
that he finally offered Piolette directly
/ $500 as q br.be and left him to consider il.
/ Mr.. Piolette at once consulted his friends,
/ Judge Laportc, at that time surveyor
! general, Hon. Jesse Miller, secretary of the
! commonwealth and jeremiah NJ. Burrell,
| ESQ.,, n highly respected member of the
legislature, and advised with them to
the best course to pursue III order to fully
! expose the nefarious attempt to corrupt
! legislator. Though his natural impulses
! led him te repel the scoundIel at rst-buSh,
his better iude ement suggested a more eff
! fective way of exposing him, and apon the
advice of his friends, who urged upon him
( the bene fetal effect shat would result from
such an exposure by permitting it to be
/ cOnsummated by the payment of the money,
! he resolved to accept it and then thoroughly
expose the crime. Accordingly next morn
! ing he received from McCook 500 (the
other 500 to be paid afterwardl, which lie
! request ed him to place in his bureau drawer
/ and to leave the room. As soon as Nc
! Cook was gone, Piolette sent for his conf
! dants. who he found had gone to the capi-
tol. He then summoned his landlord, Mr..
! seal it in an envelope, informing fhm that
/ he proposed to carry it into the House and
/ make a statement in regard to IL. Mr..
J Buehler did so and the money therefore
never touched Piolette's hands. He at
once proceeded 70 the House, made
d.. statement of the foregoing facts and laid
the money on the speakers table.
committee of Investigation was appointed,
! who took the sworn testimony of Piolctle,
Laporte, Burrell, Goodrich, and others,
J which is before us now and which embodes
! the foregoing facts.
! Mr.. McCook, though defended by Hon.
/ Thaddcus Stevens, made attempt 20
impeach these witnesses, and accordingly
the committee eported the facts as herein
given, and resolution, which was adopted,
directingthe Attorney General, or his depu-
ty in Dauphin county, to arrest McCook
, and bring him to trial for attempting to
brbe a member of the Legislature. And
we believe that Cook was tried, found
guilty and sent to Jail. By resolution Of
the house the money was directed to be
deposited in the Harrisburg bank subject
to the order Of the court of quarter sessions
of nauphin county.
In both the minority and ma jority reports
Of the committee, it is agreed that a bold
attempt at corruption had been made.
Mr.. Piolette's course is highly commended
incuding nothing calculated to throw
the least suspicion upon linn as a man. or
representative, land the committee concur
in this opinion that tho exposure and
prompt punishment of tins high handed
outrage will tend to preserve, unimpaired,
the confidence of the people in the purity
OF legislative actioR.''
1t is safe to say that there were no
further attempts at bribery that session.
and no one has been found since foolhardy
enough to undertake to corrupt Victor E.
Piolette.- BelJtfonte IFatchmd7s.
THE STORY OF BLOODY SHIRT.--On
the 18th of May last Miss Wh;tby, living
in Montgomery county, about three miles
from PhGnixville, was found brutally mur-
dered. Nobody was at home at the time
except a boy of eighteen, named Thomas
+. Curley, who was arrested on suspicion