The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-03-22
The Reason why Marsh ''Peached''
Oh Belknup.

The Reason why Marsh .'Peached''
Oh Belknup.
washington Correspondence of the Phlladel-
phia Times.
A great many people who recognize,
unconsciousiy to themselves, the noble
sentiment lin the abstract) Of taking the
side of the under dog in a fight, without
regard to the merits, are loud in their de.
nunciation OF Marsh for doing what
thieves and thief-takers call ''squealing
on his pa!,'' Belknap. They say, and
the New York Graphic is the ablest ex-
ponent of this thought which runs
through people minds-or rather hearts,
for it is an affection of the heart and not
of the head-that have been guilty Of
bribery and the attendant small vices of
robbing soldiers and Indians necessary to
make it profitable to keep up the bribery
continuously for series of years, Marsh
could very easily have given another
strain to his conscience by committing
perjury before the investigating commit
tee. He could have denied all collision
between himself and Belknap, or at least
hc'could have regarded the confinement OF
the lawyers maxim: Aliud celare, ali.
I'D tacere-it is one thing to conceal,
another to be silent, and gotten out of the
country anu let the Democrats howl their
suspicious, which the act Of flight would
have given rise to, as much as they
pleased, but nobody would have been
hurt. Now, though II grant yo.r wor.
ship Marsh is knave, yet, God wot, a
knave should have some audience" and
there's way Of looking at it in the light
of a bottom fact which is in my posses
sion that may put different complexion
MARSH S SEEMINGLY TREACHEROUS CONDUCT.
1t will be remembered how Marsh
squirmed and twisted before his actual
appearance before the committee in his
effort to save Bclknap; how he offered to
leave the country, and how he sent false
reasons for his non.appearance, at the
suggestion of Belknap's friends, and how
finally, when he did appear informally
on Monday afternoon and Nuke his state
ment to Clymer and few others Of the
committee who happened to be present in
the committee room-Clymer being then
acting in the capacity Of prosecuting
officer learning for the first time what
his chief witness would say prior to his
official appearance before the sitting com.
mittee the next morning-he, Marsh,
spoke so guardedly that his statement
was satisfactory to the relatives Of Bel
KNAPP, and they actually consented to his
going before the committee the next day.
So up to Tuesday morning, before the
committee met, Mr.. Marsh had fulfilled
all the conditions which the
MOST PCSCT1ILoUs HONOR AMONG THIEVES
would have required. He had said moth
ing which directly traced the money into
Belknaps hands with knowledge Of is
corruption. elf Marsh had left the
country Monday night" says high and
influential member Of Clymar S commit
tee, s'and left his written statement be-
hind him, statement which Belknap's
friends were satisfied with, Belknap
would have defied the committee; he
never would have resigned; the President
would have considered him under fire
and stood by him, and with the aid of his
plant Attorney General would have
frightened every witness who had any
knowledge of the case out of his boots
and out of the reach of the subpoena Of
the committee. There was not enough
in that statement to convict Belknap.
and the valiant General would have hid.
den himself behind the petticoats of a
woman and held on to his portfolio. But
your Pennsylvania man, Clymer, had in
his breast secret which he dared not
tell even to his fellow committee men
he couldn't tell it to Mrs. CoudIe, for he
lives in Washington en- garcom. He had
gotten in some mysterious way 4 think
it was from the lips of heavily yelled
woman, who might have been seen to en-
ter his house late on Monday night the
basis for the questions which he addressed
to the witness Marsh on the fatal Tues.
day morning, after Marsh had given his
harmless testimony in chief. These ques-
tons were so startling in their character
that they made all the rest Of US open
our eyes wide, and the witness
MARSH NEARLY SANK TO THE FLOOR.
"These questions betrayed Clymer's
intimate knowledge of the secret visit of
Marsh to Washington on the Friday
night before, and Of all the efforts on the
part of Belknap, his wife and Tom!inson,
to get the witness to commit perjury and
so fix his statement that the money could
not be traced beyond the woman. We
committee men had seen with the law
yer's eye that unless we could connect
Belknap more directly with the transac.
ton, he could legally stand on the de-
fcnsive and be assisted by Grant while
under fire. So when Clymer showed
that he and he alone knew that he could
connect Belknp with the effort to make
Marsh commit perjury, every one saw
that he had the fox on the dead run and
all the dogs in full view. No one saw
this more quickly than the witness. and