Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1876-05-05
A BOMBSHELL OF BLAINE.
Mr. Harrison Wakes a very Inter.
suing Statement about that
S64,OGO.

esrIng Statement about tina
S64, ,OGo.
CINCINNATI, April 26.
The Gazette tomorrow morning
will publish an interview with Mr.
John Q. 5. Harrison of Indianapolis
Mr.. Harrison makes the fo lowing
statement: At the September, 1872
meeting of the board of directors oi
the Union Pacific railroad, at which /
was present, the president If the board
Mr.. Horace E. Clark, called the atten-
tion OF the directors to a letter from
the president of the Fort Smith aud
Ii tie Rock Land Grant railr ,ad, with
| reference to some bonds Of that road
held by the Union Pacific Con panv,
desiring to know something more
about these bonds. [ made a motion
to appoint a committee of three to in
vestigate and report before tht. ad-
| jOurnmeut of the board as to how they
came INTO its possession, and all mat
ters CONNECTED th"rewith. Inerrupnn
Il. IL. ROillnS, the secretary, took me
to one eide and told NE that l must
! withdraw that motion for an investi-
| CATION Of the bond transactIUn
I rs it would involve James G. Blaine,
| He said the fail elections were near at
hatd nd B.alne was a candidate for
reelection 10 Congress il Maine An
exposure Of the transaction Just At that
time would be sure to def. at him,
With that ! withdrew the motion. Sub
sequehtiy L took j. II. MilIard. of
Omaha-who was and still remains
government direcGor-tO Mr.. Rollins
and in his presence asked R0llin. if l.
understood him correctly in relation
to the bond TRANSACTION involving Mr..
Blaine. He repeated that [ did, and
that an Investigation w~uld 80 sure 10
kill off Mr.. Blaine at the approaching
election afterwards. When The inves-
tlgating committee, of which Jeremiah
Nj. Wilson was chairman, was in scs>
sioH and E. 81. Rollins was on tie
stand, | telegraphed Wilson to ask the
witness certain questions conc rning
the Fort Smith and Little Rock to7ds,
but in noticing the daily reports of the
committee afterwards, L saw that no
such questions were asked. On the
Sd of February, 1873, l wrote to Wilson,
chairman of the committee, more fully |
ahoutthe natter, detailing the facts that |
[ have just stated. but did not mention
B!aine's name. [ Stated that the |
transaction Implicated a prominent !
y. L
letter was copied into my regular let |
ter book at Indianapolis, and can be
referred to at any time. l never re- |
ceived any answer to the letter to Will {
son, but on the Goth Of February, Just |
twenty-three days later, MIR. DeIano,
Secretary of the Interior, wrote let
ter to prominent republican official,
saying 1t WAS deemed best Oh the part |
of the government to change the en-
tire board of directors of the Union
Pacific railroad, and that he therefore
proposed to appoint some one from
Indiana IN the place of J. S. G.. Harri-
son. This proposition ot Delano met
with such strong opposition that it
was abandoned, and none OF the dire1-
tors were removed. We were engaged |
,.b that time III making an active fight
against the Wyoming Coal Company,
which was swln1lIng the Union Pacific
out of $500, 0OC TO 100000 a year. IT
the committee want that letter of De
lano's they can fnd a copy of ii
in tne Interior Department. Bear
IN mind that this action on my
part as governmeut director, aud
the correspondence to which [
hnve referred, and the effort on the
part of Secretary Delano to have me
removed from the board of directors,
occurred in 1872 and early III 1873, just
about the time of the re-electiOn of
President Graut, and when neither
Mr.. Blaine nor any other man was
spoken of III connection with the
Presidency IN 1876, 1t is therefore
unreasonable to suppose that any
body, at that stage of the proceedings,
vas Interested in defeating Mr. B nine's
Presidential piratlOnS. This whole
Little Rock bond matter wouid have
been iuvt st1ga:ed by the United States
Court at the time but for the killing off
of the credit mobiiief suits. | showed
to Mr.. Jeuhs. the govern nent's special |
attorney, who with three others was
charged with invest eating the affair,
this order Of the executive committee: |
New YORK, Dec. IS, 1S7l-Ordered
that Morton, Bliss Il Co. be authori Zed
to draw on the treasurer Of this COM
rany for $64,0 payable Ill forty
days from date. and hold as collateral
security for the company sevonty-hve
land grant bonds of the Little Rock
ank Fort Smith Railroad Company's
bonds, 81 600 each. }
He made a copy of it II my presence
and would have entered su.t upon it at !
nee had not all these credit mobiiier
suits failed III the courts, being ruled |
cut on demurrers. In conclusion, l |
have to say that I am ready and willing
at any time to go before the judiciary |
committee of the House and make |
oatt to the facts IN this statement.