Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-04-19

t TO TME PUBLIC.
Ia view Of the garblcd aad distort-
ed statements which the Clymer CON-
mittcc has permitted to go to the
country, and having proper respect
for the good opinion of the people
with whom have lived for over 80
years, I am prompted to make public
the following statement:
On the 9th and 2Sth ultimo was
cxhaustivcly examined before the Jul
dietary Committee Of the House, in
two long sessions, as to what i knew
about Post-Tradcrships. was or
dered to remain in Washington until
further notice, and on the 10Th inst. /
was examined again on the same sub
ject before the Clymer Committee,
this time to furnish newspaper and
campaign fuel, with Gen. Custer sit
ting at the side of Clymer rs his
prompter and suggesting many of
the questions.
The testimony which that Commit
tee permitted to go to the country
was SO misrepresented, as to Mr..
Leighton and myself, that have con-
cluded to make this statement i'm adj
vance of the publication of the testi-
mony with the forthcoming reports
of the Committees. l may remark
here that on my second examination
Mr.. Clymer had before him my testi-
mony delivered before the other
Committee to prompt him, although
L had not been permitted to see it to
refreshen my memory, the evident
purpose of a denomination seeming
to be to involve me in some contra
dictions.
The concurrent testimony of Mr..
Leighton and myself was to the effect
that i'm 1869, directly after the APP
pointment of Gen. Belknap to the
war Office, we were applicants for
certain trading posts that after near
ly years application and waiting he
was appointed trader at Griffin and l
at Concho, in Texas that directly aft
cr these appointment, to-wit: in the
winter of 1901, Mr.. Leighton went
to Texas with n competent clerk to
run these places, we having formed a
partnership in the meantime where
by it was agreed that we were to be
equal partners, Mr.. Leighton having
charge of the business until could
make arrangements to go to Texas
and attend to the business in person
as il was then my intention to do.
He carried with him my power of
attorney approved by the war Office
and upon his arrival there finding
such large and undesirable stocks
and buildings on hand he made
a running arrangement with the
incumbents of these places by which
it was agreed that they should con-
tinue the business in their own names
for six to twelve months to enable
them to reduce their stocks and get in
shape to surrender their places with
out loss, which was an arrangement
made in the interest and at the re-
quest of the traders. Mr.. Leighton
was there much of the time with his
clerk exercising general supervision
of the business, the occupants of the
places dividing the profits with us,
we holding the appointments. Not
long after this was appointed Super
visor of Internal Revenue, and then
resigned my appointment at Concho,
Mr.. Leighton following suit as to
Griffin, we having held these places
about nine months, and / receiving
as my share of the profits i'm the
neighborhood of two thousand dol
lars, out of which my share of the ex-
penses of Mr.. Leighton his clerk, &C.,
were to be deducted.
Subsequently Mr.. Leighton, Captain
Tillotson and myself secured the APP
pointments at Fetterman,in Wyoming,
and Buford, i'm Dakota, i'm which ar
rangement was to be partner and
have one-third interest i'm the net
profits after all interest, clerk hire
and other expenses were paid, and at
a later period, to-wit: in July, 1874,
the post ut Fort A Lincoln was secur-
cd, with Mr.. II. G. Seip as the APP
pOintee and Mr.. Leighton and myself
as partners with him, although from
this place nothing has as yet been
received, the profit ifany accumulat.
ing in old stock which is an extremely
uncertain factor.
1t is i'm accordance with the testi-
mony, that at no one time had we
more than two posts, except since
Lincoln was added, and that from the
latter no profit has been withdrawn
if any has really accumulated and
that during that time we only held
three with four parties in interest,
Mr.. Leighton testified that during
all this time, since 1870, l had drawn
out Of the business some ten thousand
dollars, while my testimony was IL
the effect that from all these sources
| had not realized to exceed $4,000
although was not then or now IL
possession OF the exact data.
Mr.. Leighton was my intimate and
personal friend who had been raised
in this city. He had been engaged
i'm this business for years on the from
tier before our partnership was en-
tered into, which was made on his
motion and accepted by me. 1t was
the understanding at the outset that
as soon as my affairs would permit ]
| was to take an active personal hand
in the business but my subsequent
appointment as Supervisor and re.
tention in Office has prevented. Capt
Tillotson and Mr.. Seip, our other two
partners, were appointed on the. high.
est and best recommendations while
Mr.. Leighton was endorsed by some
of the leading Republicans in Iowa
and Nebraska.
These post appointments furnished
good credit to the appOintee, and
under the experienced and skilful
management of Messrs. Leighton and
Tillotson they have paid their way
without the necessity of borrowing
much capital, the interest on which
however, has been paid by the stores
That the business done has been fair
and honorable is testified to by Gen.
Hazen, one of the few Democratic Of.
ticers in the service, and who has
been in command at Fl. Buford al
most all the time since Mr.. Leighton's
appointment. have a letter of his
before me in which he endorses Mr.
Leighton and his business manage
ment in the highest terms. This is sig
nificant, considering the well known
hostility Of Gen. Hazen to the Presi-
dent and Gen. Belknap. In fact it is
somewhat remarkable that Secretary
Belknap should have kept Gen Hazen
at TT. Buford, and Gen. Custer al
Lincoln, his two well known and un-
compromising enemies, if there had
been any foundation for the stories
that anything improper was being
done at these places, or if it was true
as charged by the New York Herald
correspondent that Secretary Belknap
was deriving profit from those places.
The law authorizes the Secretary OF
War to "permit one or more persons
cat each military post to trade with
f"emigrants freighters and other citi-
'scns," and by implication to trade