The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-03-09
The Case Of Secretary Belknap.
In his evidence before the House Inves-
tigating Committee, on the Goth, Caleb P.
Marsh made the following statement:


Marsh made the following statement:
" 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 pres
ent wife of the Secretary, the former having
died in 1870 by our invitation came for
visit to our house. Mrs. Belknap was i'll
during this visit some three or four weeks,
and, suppose, in consequence of our kind
ness to her, she felt under some obligations,
Tor she asked me one day in the course OF
conversation why did not apply for post
leadership on the frontier. | asked what
they were, and was told that many Of them
were very lucrative officers or posi-
tions iii the gift of the Secretary OF
War, and that if | wanted one she would
ask the Secretary for one. Upon my re-
plying that l thought such offices belonged
to disabled soldiers, and besides that l was
without political influence, she answered
| that politicians got such places, etc, etc.
do not remember saying that if had val
liable post of that kind l would remember
her, but l do remember her saying some
thing like this: If l can prevail upon the
| Secretary of War to award you post, you
must be careful to say nothing to him about
| presents, for 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 downstairs Remembering,
as | do, this story, i presume the
antecedent statement to be correct. Mrs
| Belknap and Mrs. Bowers returned to Wash
ington, and few weeks thereafter Mrs. Bel
| knap sent me word to come over. / did so.
She told me the posttradcrship at Fort Sill
was vacant; that it was valuable post as
she understood and that she had either
asked for it 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 can remember made
application for this position-a regular print
ed form. The Secretary said he would appoint
me if l could bring the proper letters and
recommendations, and this said could DO.
Either Mrs. Belknap or the Secretary told
me that the present trader at the post, John
S. Evans, was an applicant for rcappoint-
ment, and that ] had better see him, he being
in the city, as it would not be fair to turn
him out of office without some notice, as he
would lose largely on his buildings, mer-
chandise, ETC., if the office was taken from
him, and that it would be proper and just
| for me to make some arrangement with him
| for their purchase If | wished to run the post
myself. I saw Evans, and found him
alarmed at the prospect Of losing the place.
| / remember that he said a firm of
| Western post-traders who claimed good
| deal of influence with the Secretary Of War
| promised to have him appointed, but he
" I, ,l,;
| be entirely without influence. Evans first
| proposed partnership, which | declined,
| and then bonus of Il certain portion of the
| profits if | would allow him to hold the posi-
| ton and continue the business. We final
| ly agreed upon $4,000 per year. Evans
| and myself went on to New York together,
| where the contract was made and exc
| cutcd, which is herewith submitted. During
our trip over, however, Mr.. Evans saw some
| thing in the Army and Nary 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 sum, and, before
the contract was drawn, it was reduced by
agreement to $4,000, the same being pay
| able quarterly in advance. When the re-
mittance came to me, say, probably in
November, 1870, 1 sent onc-half to
Mrs. Belknap, either, | presume, by
certificate of deposit or bank notes
by express. Being in Washington at
| funeral, some weeks after this, had a con-
vcrsation with Mrs. Bowers to the following
purport, as far as / can now remember, but
must say that just here my memory is ex-
ceedingly indistinct, and judge in part per-
| haps from what followed as to details of the
conversation. went upstairs in the nurs-
cry with Mrs. Bowers to see the baby.
said to her: This child will have money
coming to it before great while She said
Yes The mother gave the child to
me, and told me that The money com
ing from you she must take and keep
for it, I said All right and it
seems to me said that perhaps the father
ought to be consulted. l say it seems so,
and yet can give no reason for it, for as
far as l knew the father knew nothing of
any money transactions between the mother
| and myself. l have faint recollection of
remark of Mrs. Bowers that IL l sent the
| money to the father that it belonged to her,
and that she would get it anyway. l GER
tainly had some understanding then or SUBJ
sequently with her or him, for when the
next payment came due and was paid sent
one-haf thereof to the Secretary of War,
and have continued substantially from
that day forward to the present
time to do the same. About, I
should say, one and one-half to two years
after the commencement of these payments,
! reduced the amount to 5000 per annum.
The reason of This reduction was partly be-
cause Of combined complaints on the part of
Evans and his partner, and partly, SO far as
! now remember, in consequence of an arti-
Gle in the newspapers about that time re-
flccting on the injustice done to soldiers at
this fort, caused byexorbitant charges made
necessary on the part of the trader by reason
of the payment of this bonus. To the best
ofmy knowledge and belief, the above is
true statement of all the facts in the case,
er% as complete as l can remember the oc-
currences of SO many years ago."
In reply to questions, the witness further
stated that subsequent to the death of the
former Mrs. Belknap, in 1870, the pay
ments were sent according to the in
structions of the Secretary of War,
sometimes in bank-notes by express, some
times by certificates of deposit, and some
times he had paid the Secretary in
person, in New York. The payments
thus made would aggregate about $40 900.
The witness further stated that, in response
to the summons to appear before the COM
mittee, he had, on the 23d of February, 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