Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-01-23
But Not a Word duplicating Governor
Brown or Comptroller Bureh.

I Of COmptrOller, had beaten him, but Wit-
ness insisted on House making further e.
forts, 80 that by ballcting a few days he
eould get up again; House came to him
/ and asked him 10 vote for Taylor, Of Mem
| phis, but he let him know that be was
/ MS friend and could not be transferred
| 10 ANYBODY; that whenever he stopped
/ voting for him, he would vote for Renne-
baker; the next day House came to him
| with a different proposition, IN which he
| said that it h3d been agreed between him
and Hobbs that bis friends should vote
| three ballots for Hobbs, and if be was not
elected on the third ballot they were then
| to 60 to House, and asked him to vote for
Robbs; McAdO0, Habbs' friend, was pres
eat during the conversation, and consented
to the agreement; Hobbs was not elected
on the third ballot; witness then
/ told McAdOO that Hobbs friends
we're to come to them on the next ballot by
agreement. and McAdOO said, ssNO, We are
/ going TO elect Hobbs this time;" he told
/ AIcAdOo that be had broken faith, and he
would not support Hobbs, and then COM
menced voting for Pennebaker; witness now
/ thought that the agreement as to the bene-
| e which House was to receive from Hobbs
the chief elerkship In the Office-Was en-
tered into between House and Hobbs before
| the election; after the adjournment Of the
LEGISLATURE, Hobbs met him in the capitol
| and told him that he wanted to see him at
| his room; did not remember how long af-
ter the adjournment Of the Legislature /;
| bat thought it was somo little while !;
Hobbs opened the conversation by stating
! that they were comparative strangers 70
each other, but that he knew Of him
through a mutual friend, Gen. WhitthOrne,
and stated that he was in great trouble,
and that his health was impaired,
and asked bis advice; there was
money on one side and life on the
other; the money had reference to the Office;
1 Hobbs said that he had an idea Of getting
some man at a salary Of 1900 to ran the
Office, while he would stay at home and
only come up once a week; witness told
Hobbs that that would be very Unsatisfac-
" to the people Of Tennessee, and certain
| " unsatisfactory 10 his bOndsmen; Hobbs
then said that he had proposition from
parties to run the Office on halves,
but did not mention the names Of
the persons making the proposition;
witness told Hobbs that be did not think
that was a good plan; Hobbs then
asked him whatfhe thought Of Billy Dun
| can. and he told him that Duncan was a
man whom be knew very we'll and who
was perfectlV responsible; Hobbs told him
that there were other parties who had
been talking to him about it, but he
/ did not mention any names, and -that
! Duncan had offered him 5000 to resign,
but that the Office was as much as $4,000;
in speaking f his transaction with House,
Hobbs impressed witness with the
idea that he thought House was taking ad-
vantage Of him, and that he did not re-ard
himself as having made the agreement or
trade that House insisted upon; nothing
was said BIZ Hobbs in that con-
versation as to who would be his
successor; there was no expression
of a desire on the part of Hobbs or
witness as to who either Of them wanted to
be the successor; the next time they met,
Hobbs told him that he and Duncan had
concluded the agreement, but that he was
not perfectly satisfied that Duncan would
pay him the money upon resigning; wit
ness told Hobbs that Duncan was incapable
of anything Of the kind; Hobbs said that
Duncan had proposed to give him $4,000,
and seemed intent on having that amount;
so much of Mr.. Duncan's testimony as re-
ferred TO witness as acting as an agent was
clearly a mistake; was not Duncan's agent;
Hobbs had mentioned the matter to him
before Duncan did; witness did not tell
Hobbs to take the money, as that was
something that he would have to fix ac-
cOrding to his own ideas; witness met Dun
can on the street one day, looking very
sombre, with his head hanging down,
and asked him what was the matter;
Duncan replied that he had Just
been to see that dOg-gOned idiot
(Hobbs), and that he (Hobbs) was willing
to trade, but that for some reason he
(Hobbs) wOuldA't conclude the matter;
witness told Duncan that Hobbs believed
that Duncan would not pay him the money
if he did resign; Duncan replied that be
would pay the money upon Hobbs resigna-
tiOn; Hobbs had asked witness if he
thought Gov. Browns brOtheT-in-law, Mr..
Childress, would be appointed his
successor in case he resigned, and be
told him that he did not know
who would be appointed; witness was
very uncertain about It; Duncan and him
self had spoken Of Mr.. Childress, Of COlum-
bia, cashier Of First National Bank, Mr..
BuIch and Mr.. Duncan himself in cOnnec-
tion with the succession 20 Hobbs, and the
name Of Dempsey Weaver might have
been mentioned in the same connection; if
so witness has no recollection of it; did
not care who was appointed as successor to
Hobbs, so that he was a good man,
and witness thought that every good
citizen in the State had an in
terest in having a good Comptroller;
witness gave Hobbs no assurance, evidence,
paper, memorandum, check, order, draft or
any sort of writing over his signature, for
the sum Of $1,000; honestly believed that
Hobbs never saw the signature Of witness
in his life. unless on the register at the
Maxwell House; there was no understand
ing, directly or indirectly, between Duncan
and witness, whereby witness was
to share the payment Of any
portion Of the $1,000 did not
consider himself bound to pay any part
Of It; did not expect nor intend to pay one
cent Of it; had a conversation with Gov.
Brown, while riding on the train on the
Decatur Railroad, in reference to the fit
ness Of his friend Childress for the posi-
tiOn, but the conversation referred back to
the misfortune in the election of
Hobbs instead Of Childress; Childress
was not in the race, but a great
deal Of electioneeriAg was done for
him, and if House had quit the
race squarely witness would have put Chill
dress in nomination; in the conversation
had with Governor Brown there was moth
ing like an application for the appointment
of Childress-for, in fact, there was no va
cancy, it having existed, as he understood,
only an hour before the appointment was
made; this conversation was held before
the resignation Of Hobbs; ChildIess was
discussed as an extraordinarily good busi-
ness man, and the remark was made that
it was unfortunate he had not been elect
ed instead Of Hobbs; Gov. Brown spoke
favorably OF Childress as faras he knew him;
did not know him well at that time; wit
ness had never approached Gov. Brown, or
requested any one to approach him, to Sc
cure the appointment to that position Of
any particular person; he had not made any
mention of these facts to Col. Burch;
Burch had never offered any inducement
at all for the position. Burch had never
said anything to him about wanting him
to aid him in getting the Office;
did not know that Burch would
get the Office; heard that Pennebaker