The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1876-03-17
SECRETARY BELKNAP.
The Evidence Upon which He Will BO
Impeaehed.


In his evidence before the house in
vestigating committee, on the Goth, Ca
! leb r. Marsh made the following state
ment:
In the summer Of 1870, myself and
wife spent three weeks at Long Branch,
and on our return to New York Mrs.
Belknap and Cher sister) Mrs. Bowers
(the latter the present wife of the secre-
tary, the former having died in 1S7O) by
our invitation came for a visit to our
house. Mrs. Belknap was i'll during this
visit some three or four weeks, and, l
suppose, in consequence of our kindness
to her, she felt under some obligations,
for she asked me one day in the course of
a conversation why did not apply for
post-tradeTship on the frontier. asked
what they were, and was told that many
of them were very lucrative Offices or po-
sitions in the gift of the secretary of war,
and that if / wanted one she would ask
the secretary for one. Upon my reply
ing that thought such offices belonged
to disabled soldiers, and besides that
was without political influence, she an
swered that politicians got such places,
etc, etc. / do not remember saying that
if had 4 valuable post of thai kind
would remember her, but do remember
her saving something like this If can
prevail upon the secretary of war to award
you post, you must be careful to say
nothing to him about presents, for a man
once offered him $4,000 for leadership
of this kind, and he told him that if he
did not leave the office he would kick
| him down stairs" Remembering, as /
do, this story, presume the antecedent
statement to be correct. Mrs. Belknap
! and Mrs. Bowers returned to Washing
ton, and few weeks thereafter Mrs. Bel
! KNAPP sent me word to come over. | did
! so. She told me the leadership at
| Fort Sill was vacant; and that it was a
valuable post as she understood, and that
she had either asked for II for me, or had
prevailed upon the secretary of war to
agree to give it to me. At all events L
| called upon the secretary of war, and as
| near as l can remember made application
| for this position-a regular printed form.
The secretary said he would appoint me
if l could bring the proper letters and
recommendations, and this } SAID l could
do. Either Mrs. Belknap or the secre-
tary told me that the present trader at
the post, John 5. Evans, was an appli-
can't for reappointment, and that / had
better see him, he being in the city, as
/
office without some notice, as he would
lose largely on his buildings, merchan-
disc, etc, if the office was taken from
him, and that it would be proper and
lust for me to make some arrangement
with him for their purchase if l wished
to run the post myself. / saw Evans,
and found him alarmed at the prospect
oflosing the place. remember that he said
firm of western post-traders who claimed
a good deal of influence with the secre-
tary of war promised to have him APP
pointed. but he found, on coming to Wash
ington, this firm to be entirely without
influence Evans first proposed part
neIship, which l declined; and then a
bonus of certain portion OF the profits
if l would allow him to hold the position
and continue the business. We finally
agreed upon $4,000 per year. Evans
and myself went on to New York to-
gether, where the contract was made and
executed, which is herewith submitted.
During our trip over, however, Mr.. Evans
saw something in the Army and Navy
Journal which led him to think that
some of the troops were to be removed
from the fort, and that he had Offered
too large a sum, and, before the contract
was drawn, 1t vas reduced by ageement
to $4,000, the same being payable quar-
terly in advance. When the remittance
came to me, say, probably in November,
1870, sent one-half to Mrs. Belknap,
either, ] presume, by certificate of de
post or bank notes by express. Being
in Washington at a funeral, some weeks
after this, l had a conversation with Mrs
Bowers to the following purpOrt, as far
as | can now remember, but must cay
,cF IL q
indistinct, and / Judge in part perhaps
from what followed as to details of the |
conversation. l went up stairs in the
nursery with Mrs. Bowers to see the |
baby. I said to her: "This child will |
have money coming 10 IL before great |
while" She said, " Yes. The mother |
gave the child to me, and told me that |
the money coming from you she must !
take and keep for it." said "AA right" |
and it seems to me L said that perhaps !
the father ought to be consulted. ] say |
it seems so, and yet can give no reason |
for it, for as far as / knew the father knew I
nothing of any money transactions be- |
tween the mother and myself l have |
a faint recollection of a remark of Mrs. |
Bowers, that if ] sent the money to the !
father it belonged to her, and that |
she would get it anyway. / certainly (
had some understanding then or subse-
ouently with her or him, for when the /
next payment came due and was paid | .
sent One-half thereof to the secretary of
war, and have continued substantially ,
from that day forward to the present .
time to do the same. About, should .
say, one and one-half to two years after
the commencement of these payments, |
reduced the amount to $4,000 per an
mum. The reason of this reduction was
partly because of combined complaints
on the part of Evans and his partner, and
partly, so far as / now remember, in con-
sequence of an article in the newspapers
about that time rejecting on the lnJus-
tice done to soldiers at this fort, caused
by exorbitant charges made necessary on
the part of the trader by reason OF the
pavment of this bonus To the best OF
my knowledge and belief, the above is
true statement of all the facts in the case,
and as complete as ] can remember the !
occurrences of so many years ago.
In reply to questions, the witness fur
ther stated that subsequent to the death |
of the former Mrs. Belknap, in 1870, the /
payments were sent according to the in |
structions of the secretary of war, some /
times in bank-nOtes by express, some |
times by certificates of deposit, and some |
times he had paid the secretary in per
son, in New York. The payments thus
made would aggregate about $4,000. |
The witness further stated that, in res |
ponse to the summons to appear before |
the committee, he had, on the 23d of Feb |
ruary, been at the secretary's house and |
spent the night there. He then detailed |
at length the efforts made by himself, !
the secretary of war and Mrs Belknap to |
contrive some plan by which full ex-
posure would be avoided, his own Propo- |
sition being to leave the country, which
act, the secretary said, would ruin him
(Belknap). To this the witness re
sponded that, if he went before the com
mittee, it would also ruin him, for he
(witness) would tell the truth. After
returning to his home in New York, wit
ness received a dispatch from DIR. Will
liam Tomlinson, brother-in-law of the
secretary, telling him not to leave the
country, as he had good news. Think
ing they only wished to fix up some new
story, witness continued his preparations |
to leave. DR.. Tomlinson subsequently