Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-04-25

Ee4i. Inese STATEMENTS are lpluflUu!
both to MT. Blaine and 70 the Union Pa
cific railroad company. There were
never any facts TO warrant them, aud
think that statement to the public il
due, both from sou and myself 1 de,
sire, a3 president Of The company, to re.
Pa any such inference in the most em-
/ phatio manner, and would be glad tc
hear from you on the subject. Very
respectfully, SIDNEY Dill ON,
President.
OFFICE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD -I1 r COY
Hon. Jas. G. Blaine, Washington:
DEAR EIR-As I advised you some
days ago, I wrote Colonel Thos. A. Scott,
and beg leave to inclose you his reply.
rector Of the company and member OF
the executive committee in 1871, and to
add my testimony to that of Colonel
Scott's, in the verificasion Of all that he
has slated in the iDcl0sed letter. r.
spectfully yours.
SIDNEY DILLON, President.
PHILADELPHIA, April q, 1876.
Sidney Dillon, Esq, President of tue Union
Pacific Railroad COMPANY, New York;
MY DEAR s-cR-I have your letter un-
ger cate of New Tors, April Is, 1875,
stating that the press Of the country are
making allegations that certain bonds
o! the Little Rock and Fort Smith rail-
road, purchased by the Union Pacific
railroad company in 1871, were obtained
from Hon. J. g. Blaine, of Maine, or
that svsils, in some form, went to his
benefit; that there were never any facts
to warrant the statements; that it is
your desire, as president OF the com.
pany, TO repe any such inference in the
most emphatic manner, and asking a re-
ply. beg leave to say, tha', much as
dislike the ides Of entering into any Of
the controversies that are before the pub
lie in those days OF scandal, from which
but few men in public life seem to be ex-
empt, l feel Ii my duty to state that the
Little Rock and Fort Smith bonds, pur-
chased by the Union Pacific railroad
in 1871 were not, purchased or received
from Mr.. Blaine, directly or indirectly,
and that Of the money paid by the Union
Pacific railrosd company, or OF the
avails Of said bonds, not one dollar went
to Mr.. Blaine, or to any persons for his
bsnefi., in any form. All statements to
the effect that Mr.. Blaine ever had any
transactions with me, directly or indl-
1ectly, involving money or valuabies of
any kind are absolutely without founds'
ton in fact. l take pleasure in making
this statement to you, and you may Use
1t In any manner you may deem best for
the interests Of the Union Pacific rail-
road company. Very truly yours,
THOS. a. SCOTT.
And in this close testimony l have
wished to offer several newspaper az
ticles. Some of them, doubtless from
friendly motives, have urged that
should AK for a com mittee to invesi-
gate these charges. l might have done
that and awaited the delay Snd slow
progress that inevitably attends all con-
gressiOnsl Investigations. Three and a
half years ago moved the appointment
of committee to investigate the credit
mobilier charges, and though every par
ticle of proof in complete exculpation of
myself was before the committee in
thirty-six hours after its first meeting,
l was compelled to wait for more than
two months, indeed seventy full days,
before got public report eXonerating
and vindicating me from the charges. Ii
l had asked for a committee to investi-
gate the pending matter L should have
been compelled to await it's necessarily
slow action. With the charges all the
while hanging over me undenied aud
unansWered ana pendlDg the pro-
ceedings of an investigation which
1 had myself asked, propriety
would have forbidden my COL
Letting and publishing decisive
proofs which / have now submitted.
For these reasons l have deemed the
shortest and most expeditions mode of
vindicRtion was the one which YVES
bound to choose by every consideration
of myself personally and OF my official
relations. have not omitted the testi-
mony of single material witness to the
transaction on which the accusation
against me is beged, and unlC IS missp-
prehend the scope and force Of the testi-
mony, it leaves no charges against me.
In any and ell eventj, am ready to
submit the whole matter to the candid
Judgment of the house and the country,
and if the house thinks the matter
should be further inquired into, l beg to
express my entire readiness to give all
the assistance in my power to make the
investigation as thorough, and rigid,
and impartial as possible. To give
seeming corroboration or foundation
to the story which / have dis
proved, the absurd rumoIs have lately
appeared in certain newspapers that l
was owner of from one hundred and
fifty thousand to two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars worth of Little Rock
and Fort Smith bonds, which received
without consideration, and that 1t was
from these bonds that Thomas A. Scott
received his seventy thousand dollars.
The statement is grstuitOusy and utter
ly false. No responsible author appears
anywhere for this upfounded story, but
in di5missing it desire to make the fol-
lowing explicit statement: More than
twenty-tbree years ago, in the closing
days of Mr.. FillmOre's administration,
the government granted to the State OF
Arkansas some public lands within its
own limits, to be appropriated to the
construction of railroads in that State.
The legislature of Arkansas ineorpOra.
ted the Little Rock and Fort Smith rail
road company the same ye2r, and gave
to the company a portion Of the lands
it had receiyed from the general govern
ment to aid in the construction of the
road-abOut five thousand acres to the
mile, thlnk-but the company were
unable to raise any money for the enter
prise, though they made most strenuous
efforts, and when the war broke out in
1861, eight years after the State had
given the lands to the company, not a
mile of the road was built. OF course
nothing was done during the war. Al
ter the war all the grants Of land pre-
viously msde to the southern States
were renewed in gross. In the session
OF 1865 aud 1866 the Little Rock and
Fort Smith company again received a
grant from the State, and again tried to
raise money to build their road. The
years of 1865, 1856 and 1867 passed
without their getting dollar. Finally,
toward the close Of 1868, q company Of
Boston gentlemen, representing cOnsid-
ersble capital, undertook its constrUc-
ton. In raising the requisite means
they placed the bonds Of the company
on the New England market in the
summer of 1859, offering them on terms
which seemed very favorable to the pur-
chasers, and Offering them at tune
when investments OF this kind were
fatally popular. In common with hum
dreds OF other people in New Eng
land and ether parts of the country, L
bOugh. some of these bonds, not very
large amount, paying for Them
at precisely the same rate that
Others paid. never hesrd, and
do not believe that the Little
Rock company which I knew as
being controlled by honorable men, ,ever
parted with a bond 10 a person except
4, 70