Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-02-27
Elegant Extracts-The Presidents Idea
OF Information "-What FuFbu.h,
Sheriff of Lee County, Knows
About 0ysterS.
The Documents UpOa Which the
Drunken President Relies TO Sus-
tain His Partisan and Ex-
tremeIy Radical Recon-
mendatiOns.

these words:
To the Senate of the United States:
Herewith l have the honor to send, in
! accordance with the resolution of the
! third instant, all the information in my
! possession, not heretofore furnished, re-
| iating to affairs in the State OF Arkan-
| sas. Appended to the brief message, in
| which bis excelIency "ventures to ex-
press the opinion" that "all the tegti
| mony shoWsn Joseph Brooks to be the
| lawfully elected governor, and that the
! present government must be over
| thrown, Is the strangest lot Of documents
which ever an American senate bad
gravely referred to it by President.
| On page twenty-three is q letter from
an ardent Brooks man, who writes to
''His Excellency u. ). Grant:D
SHERIFF's OFFICE, LEE COUNTY, ARK,
MARIANNA, May Is, 1874.
SIR-In brief let me state few facts
in regard to matters in this State. In
the first place, there is not man IN this
State that has as much political sense SIS
an oyster. There is no State in the
Union so easily handled, so easily con-
trOIled as Arkansas. Arkansas, in 1872,
was looking for leader; she had none
until Senator Dorsey came here and
made good showing, and we fell upon
him as the man. He built railroad
that was never built, and made the
party believe that he possessed both
money and ability, all OF which he
never had. Now remember, l am Re-
publican, and black at that. He went
into the most stupendous frauds that
was ever perpetrated upon a people, and
he is not the only one in Washington
now representing the people that is
guilty of the same thing. The great
Arkansas combination was formed.
Baxter was the figurehead. They all
. worked for him, and most undoubtedly
counted out Brooks. Secretary Johnson
was brought up to make false showing
he, the senate, ETC., and in fact every
man that was troublesome, was either
bought, or, as they term it, killed off.
They carried the election. Dorsey Sc
cured his seat in tle senate of the
United States, which was the grand OBJ
ject in view. Governor Baxter and ne
could not agree, and hence our troubles.
1t made no material difference who was
governor to us, if we only could have
ty. They have gone
from here to have me impeached,
not because l was Brooks man, but be-
cause I was Republican. You will
remember, by my Dispatch to you in re-
gard to the troubles, that l did not care
as to the governorship; but so il went.
You have the respect Of all the people
in the State, and q word from
you is worth more than m army.
You have spoken, but they nsye mis-
took what you have said, and think
that you mean for them to take the
State government in their own hands
ard do as they please without any re-
gard as to the constitution of the United
States or State. l have never seen
such bitterness in the State since l have
been here. Now, to settle the difficult
ties, let congress investigate. and put il
the proper men, the men that were
elected, and the troubles will end. |
have had to be a political slave ever
since have been in the State, either to
Clayton or Dorsey. l know of all the
trouble in the State, and how it came
about. l hope you will pardon me for
troubling you with this letter, but am
anxious to know our future. Your hum
bic servant, W. H. FURBUsH.
His Excellency U. S. Grant, Washington.
Furbush is a good man to have for
correspondent He don't amount to
much on grammar, but he speaks out
like little man, and when his eXcellen-
cy read Furbush's letter no doubt be
saw that there was at least one man in
Arkansas who has "as much pOiiti-
cal sense as an oyster"
Next comes an appeal from Que who
writes:
1--WE, who are labOring men, want
neither Brooks nor Baxter for our ruler,
for we have considered that neither are
fit for the office Of governor, but some
man who digs his living out of the
ground. Hoping that you will at least
condesceDd to answer us, we are some
of your obedient soldiers of the sixty
second o. V. l., and others of different
regiments, and many southern friends"
No doubt "yOur Obedient soldiers"
pleased his eXcellency. Next comes g
letter from D. F. M'Kibben. president
of the supervisors of Sebastian county,
in relation to one OF his excellency's |
friends and appointees, Marshal Fagan: |
"When he assumed control of the |
Office it was expected that we were to |
have an honest administration of the |
affairs of this district; but, on the con- |
trary, we find him in cOllusiOn with the |
very men whom the law officers Of the |
government are endeavoring to expose |
and punish. The utter failure Of the |
been in session at this place for the past |
four weeks, in bringing to hight the |
frauds perpetrated in this district and eX- !
posing the guilty parties, is a matter Of |
no little surprise to almost everybody |
except those directly interested. Facts |
have lately come into my possession |
which fasten the entire responsibility of |
this matter upon Marshal Fagsn, who |
signed blank summonses to grand |
jurors, and directed the same to r. G.. |
Kerns, Roots's old chief deputy, who |
filed in the names of such persons as he |
knew were friendly to him, and others |
upon whom suspicion of fraud rested, /
and thus the action OF that grand jury .
was controlled completely by the men |
whom the government was endeGvOring |
to expose, and who kept up constant |
communication with members of the .
jury. One indictment was found, and in |
less than one hour thereafter the party .
was notified and left town. J. w. /
Donally, chief clerk under BTitton and /
Roots, although not be seen in the mar |
shal's office, makes up all the returns for .
deputies, and, in short, mRnipulates .
Fagan's accounts the same as under |
Britton and Roots. These are facts which .
can be substantiated if necessary. A .
very large HuLlDcE VI ucpullcs nave bc6l /
commissioned, and among them some !
Of the most disreputable characters that I,
ever infested this country"
This Pagan was appointed United |
States marshal of the western district of .
Arkansas by the President, confirmed /
by the senate and still holds the office. /
M'Kibben's letter is dated December 10, /
1874.
We find also an opinion Of Attorney /.
General Williams, which clearly puts |
Brooks out of court. Mr.. Williams T.
says:
Prospecting the claim that Brooks re- I
ceived a majority Of the votes at the /.
election, it must be said that the Presi- I
dent has no way to verify that claim. /
II he had, it would not, in my opinion, /
under the circumstances Of this case, be /
a proper subject for his consideration. /
Perhaps if everything about the election
was In confusion and there had been no
legal count of the votes the question OF
msjOTities might form an elementof dis.
Gus sion; but where, as in this case, there
has been legal count Of the votes, and
the tribunal organized by the constitu-
ton Of the State for that purpose has
declared the election the President, in
my Judgment, ought not 10 90 behind
that action to look into the state Of the