Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-05-24
BLAINE.

L n IA f
The Congressional investigation III
Ito the charge against James G. Blaine
!. lin regard to the $4,000 of bonds o
1.-The Little Rock & Fort Smith Rail
lroad, sold to the Union Pacific Com
|pany has been virtually completed
The witnesses before DID Dominiak
were John G. s. Harrison, Of IndiSn
Iapolis, Ind; Mr.. Rollins, the Treas
urer of the U. p. Co. Joseph Mil
lard, Of Omaha, and James r. Wilson
of Iowa, both ,dirdctors4of ths MtleI
company, and Tom Scott Of tn,
Pennsylvania Central--also on,
[Joseph Mcclure. Harrison is tn,
lpcrson who first made public tn,
charge. His testimony, is nothing
more than what has appeared befof,
and is entirely circumstantial and
hearsay, amounting to no more thar
that several yedtrs ago Rollins ssid tt
him (Harrison) that he did not want
the sale of these bonds investigated
because it would involve Blaine, or as
Rollins said in the presence of Har.
rison and Millard, 1t would involve a
prominent and leading Republican.
Rollins testifies that he may have said
something of this kind but Bhaf he
afterwards corrected such statement,
Saying that Blaine was in no way
connected with such transfer, and
this correction Millard also testifies
to as having been made by Rollins.
Miliard, Wilson and Rollins, all unite
in stating, from ample knowledge
coming to- them, that Blaine had alb
solutely uothing in the world tS do
with it. But herecolnes il the whole
secret Of the natter sin# Scott's teeti-
nnony. He says the bonds were his /;
that he was President of the u. P.
Company for time at $1,000 a year
that when he assumed the presidency,
the financial condition of the road
was very low, and he brought it up,
and that his services were worth q
large sum ana that waats 1sysas fics
sired by the directors to not increase
the salary OF the President of the
company, this way of paying him
more, gby the purchase by the U. Z.
company Sof those nearly$wbrtRleas
Little Rock & Fort Smith bonds, was
resorted to in order to compensate
him in a sum exceeding the salary.
Here is the key to the reason that this
matter has been kept off the books
of the U. u. company, and has as it
would appear, been held in the back
ground and not investigated. Prob
ably, Rollins, to stave off investiga-
ton, remarked that it would kill some
prominent statesman to investigate it,
and ont of this has grown all this
foolish, nonsensical story which now,
on the most searching investigation,
is found TO have absolutely no ,connec-
tion whatever with Mr.. Blaine any
more than with any other citizen of
the country. We append the tcsti-
mony of Scott, to show just all about
how the U. p. company came to have
the S64, 900 of the Little Rock & Fort
Smith railroad bonds:
Col. Thos. A. Scott was sworn, and
on being examined by Mr.. Hunton,
testified that he formerly owned those
70 bonds of Little Rock and Ft. Smith
II. II. Co, and he bought them d year
and 4 months previously to his selling
them to the Union Pacific Il. R Co.
lie bought them from Josiah Cald-
well, who was negotiating bonds of
that company. Mr.. Caldwell be-
lOnged to Boston but he didn't know
where he was now. He understood,
however, that Caldwell during the
panic of '73 went to Europe after his
failure in the west, and that he was
there now. lie gave Caldwell eighty
cents Oh the dollar for the bonds. The
purchase was made in 70 when he
had nothing to do with the U. T. Il.
II. Co.
He gave 100000 for the bonds and
sold them to the U. Z. II. II. Company
through Morton, Bliss ~ Co, for
nearly $4,000, when. i'm March, 1871.
he entered upon the duties of Presi-
dent of the company, the stock was
low down, and everything connected
with it depressed. but il was not long
before there was a marked Improve
ment in all its affairs. He had be-
lieved the company would give him
a liberal compensation for his ser
vices. He was pressed for money
which he wanted more than the mere
salary, and it was finally suggested
that the company should buy these 75
bonds of the Little Rock and Fort
Smith railroad.
lie was to have the option of buy
ing them back, and the executive
committee agreed to buy the bonds
atpriccs fixed through Morton, Bliss
u Co, and the bonds went to the U.
+. II. r. Co. I'M this direct waysand i'm
no other. His years salary had not
been paid yet--fhat would be 5000
with interest. If the Arkansas road
had been completed the bonds would
have been worth from 80 to 100 cents
on the dollar. He had rendered the
Union Pacific Railroad Company a
service for which there was no mar
ket value. He was satisfied that if
the Little Rock and Fort Smith Rail-
road had been built its bonds would
have been as good as those Of the
Union Pacific to-day.
The company did not display the
transaction OH their books and never
expected that it would become the
subject of investigation by a Con-
gressional committee. The bonds be-
Ionged to him and were sold to the,
company when he wanted money. l
never had any relations with Blaine
In Little Rock and TT, Smith railroad
bonds, directly or indirectly. Scott
cites cases of ether railroads whiclfl
pay from thirty to forty thousand
dollars to their presidents, but when
YOU come to consider how low down
the stock Of the u. p. Company was
when | became President, and the
prosperous condition of the company
soon afferward, my compensation
WIS WoItn uoAQIC tuC NNtuC vi tuC tC
bonds of the little Rock 4 Ft. Smith
Ry. Go. The reason why my compen !
sation was paid inSthia form was that
the executive committee did not wish
to interfere with or distnrb The fixed
salary of 5000 to the President.
1 haveno knowledge whatever con J
meeting Blaine with the 75 bonds. I
always believed that Caldwell from
whom l purchased the bonds, was
the principal man in negotiating
them.
Blaine Did l eyelT speak or
write to yon i'm behalf OF CALDWELL
on never did. "
b. Have you any knowledge Mt al
that l was Interested i'm the bonds be-
fore you purchased them, or was i'm
any way interested in the proceeds
after you sold themst to the u p. r. II.
Co.?
A. l have 10 knowledgeor belief
whatsoever that you had anything to
do with it.
rsg r. nGn AC n ATlC STATE TAI + VEN