The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-03-03

trunk was being packed to leave at about
midnight Thursday, February "a, when
Dr. Tomlinson arrived at my house. He
said, Il have seen Joe Blackburn, he sa
cousin OF mine, who said be thought il
you Marshl would write letter some
thing like one which he Tomlinson1
would suggest that thero would bs no
| further investigation, and IL there Was
they would ask no Qustions that would DO
difficult tor me 10 answer, and that
Mr.. Blackburn said he thought
if the committee still wanted 10 examine
me- they would appoint subcommittee
and come over to New York and do 80.
He came to my bed room, and l told
him to go into the sitting room and draw
sketch of the proposed letter, and that,
when dressed, 1 would JOIN him, and l
would write the letter As he wanted Il IL
could. wrote the letter from the
sketch OF Tomlinson. The endea-
vor was TO e1culpate the Sec
retary There was nothing in il
untrue 10 the best of ny recollection;
but it did not say the whole truth. II
was very short letter. He took il with
the contract enclosed He said he would
take the letter and contract 10 Black
burn, who would show il to the commit
tee and that would DO the end OF it. lie
left nv house at two o'clock on Friday
morning. At midnight l was reused up
and had the subpoena OF the committee
served on me- Saturday morning about
eight o'clock DR.. Tomlinson again ap'
peared. He ssii he bad been
to Washington. He wanted TO know the
first thing if ! bad been snbp@naed.
| told him yes; no began talking tho
whole thing over again still wanting mo
10 say before the Committee what WAS
suggested at the Secretsry's At the inter-
view on Thursday night. He wanted
ME TO telegraph to the Committee before
whom | had been subp@naed by tele.
graph TO appear next morning, Friday,
that my wife was sick and
| couldn't attend, my wifo
being sick. ! consented 10 do so,
and did telegraph referring TO the in
terview, again on Saturday morning.
said could not make the statement ho
desired. lie said no had seen Black
burn in the interval, and had shown him
the letters OF Thursday night He then
returned il and the contract 10 me. /
said, "Dr. Tour linson, | have thought OF
this thing SO much that It has nearly
made mo crazy. / am not going
to talk about il sny more.
We will go down to my
lawyer and consult him. my object be-
ing to have lawyer TO tell him how
diculous the story he wanted me TO tel
would appear before the committee. We
went down and called on Bartlett l
told him the whole truth in the preseacs
OF DIR. Tomlinson. Bartlett said ] could
not manufacture any story IL / wanted
TO and must not il | could. DR.. I. In.
sisted that if | could swear that General
Belknap knew nothing OF the arrange.
ment with his sister Mrs. Bolknap, de-
ceased. and # | could swear that at the
time was at her funeral ] made an NJ
rangement with Mrs. Bowers, the present
Mrs. Belknap, by which was TO send
her all this money through the Secretary,
that the whole thing would be settled. l
replied that | could not state II for II wA1
not true. Nv impression 10 that being
there nj the funeral had said something
about the matter TO General Belknap.
Tomlinson said TO me III you cant swear
to that you had better leave tho country
Mr.. Bartlett said, -
..This H. n Had business.
Il is not legal question you have sub
mitted 10 me, and in the position OF
affairs the Secretary Of War should decide
whether you should go 10 Washington
or leave the country" DIR. TomliDson
said he would return to Washington, and
he propos cd two forms Of telegrams which
| would understand One was ~ hope
your wife il well and was 10 be inter
preted to leave the country, and the other
was, ~ hope your wife s better, which
meant 10 come TO Washington. We then
parted. On going home in tho street
cars, thinking the whole thing was over
about the onversation st the time OF the
funeral ] made up my mind that
although ! had stated 10 Mr.. Bartlett
that thought bad had the ,nms con-
versGtion at the time Of tho iunors! with
the Secretary Of War, about sending this
money vet was 20 undecided about II
that | was certainly willing 10 give tbs
secretary the benefit OF the doubt. ]
thought / would see Tomlinson and tell
him. He was 10 leave tor Washington
at 3 o'clock ] went 70 the depot and
met him. and told him that on thinking
over the matter ] was so undecided
about tho conversation with the Secre-
tary Al the time Of the funeral thst
would give him the benefit OF the doubt.
He said II am very glad 70 hear this.
Halk
this was the fact" That Saturday even
ing got tslegraphic dispatch from
Mrs. Belknsp, which said: "Come 10
Washington tonight; 1t is necessary"
received II in the evening. Tho neIt
morning, it wss Sunday, received DIS
patch from Dr.. Tomilnsoo, as follows
~IHope Yonr wife 10 BETTER"
which according 20 our agreement mean
Come 10 Washington" In the aftsrt
noon go. Ascend dhpstch fIom Tom
linson saying As follows: Come with.
out fail Answer Ianswered, Il shall
come tonight without fail" | was very
glad that | would not have 10 leave
the country. The conviction hav-
ing grown on my mind that il would do
no good. ! reached Warrington yester-
day morning and stopped a. the Arlington
Hotel. Ny wife beng With me and
was shown 70 q temporary room about
! o'clock. ] lsiI down, being greatly
fAtigued and about O'Clock Dr. Tomlinson
called me 20 the door Of the room. He
said be htd se~B Blackburn and that bs
still thought this matter would be nIsd
up without any trouble. be asked me
il had the letter / bad written 10 the
Committee on Thgndsy night. Laid
/ had not. He sad that Blackburn ssys
you had better write another Of the same
purpor, and send il up 10 the Com mmittss
with 4 note explaining Why / did not
come sooner. ] did "a. The note aud
letter were marked B. e. Shorty be-
fore two o'clock in the afternoon ysstsr-
day came 70 the Capitol 70 mees the
Committee and Or. l~nlinson
met me in the corridor