Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-05-03

| lncre were never any IuctS 10 war
rant them, and I think that q state
ment to the public is due both to you
and myself.
| desire, as President of the compa-
my, to repel any such inference in the
most emphatic manner, and would be
glad to hear from you on the subject.
Very Respectfully,
SIDNEY DILLON, President.
OFFICE UNION Pacific RAILROAD,
NEW YORK, April %. 1876 Hon.
JAMES G. BLAINE, Dear
SIR: AS / advised you some days
ago, wrote Col Thomas A. Scott,
and beg leave to enclose you his re-
ply. desire further to say that l
was director of the company, and a
member of the Executive Committee
in 1871, and to add my testimony to
that of Col. SCOTS in verification of
all that he has stated in the inclosed
letter. Truly yours,
SIDNEY DILLON, President.
PHILADELPnrA, April 2l, 1876. -
| SIDNEY DILLON, Esq, President Union
Pacific Railroad, New York nv
Dear SIR: have your letter under
date Of New York, April l5, stating
that the press of the country are max
ing allegations that certain bonds of
the Little Rock and Fort Smith Rail-
road, purchased by the Union Pacific
Railroad Company i'm 1871, were OBJ
tanned from Hon. J. G. Blaine, of
Maine, or that the avails, in some
form, went to his benefit; that there
never were any facts to warrant the
| statements +; that it Is your desire, as
President of the company. to repel
any such inference in the most en-
phatic manner, and asking me to
make a statement in regard to the
matter. In reply, beg leave to say
that, much as dislike the idea Of en-
tering into any of the controversies
that are before the public in these
in public life seem to be exempt, l
feel ii my duty to state that the Little
Rock and Fort Smith bonds pur-
chased by the Union Pacific Railroad
company in 1871 were not purchased
or receivd from Mr.. Blaine, directly
or indirectly, and that OF the money
paid by the Union Pacific Railroad
company or Of the avails or said
bonds, not one dollar went to Mr..
Blaine, or to any person for him, or
for his benefit in any form. All state
ments to the effect that Mr.. Blaine
ever had any transactson with me, di-
rectly or indirectly, involving money
or valauables Of any kind. are abso-
lutcly without foundation in fact.
take pleasure in making this state
any manner you deem best for the in
terests of the Union Pacific Railroad
company. Terry truly yours,
THos. "A. SCoTT.
And this closes the ties stimony have
wished to offer. Several new spapers,
some of them doubtless from friendly
motives, have urged that should ask
for a committee to investigate these
charges. might have done that,and
waited the delay and slow progress
that inevitably attend all congress
sional investigations. Three and a
hal: years ago I moved a committee
to investigate
THE CREDIT MoBILIER CHARGES,
and though every particle of proof in
complete exculpation of myself was
before the committee in 36 hours
after its first meeting, l was CON-
PEELED to wait for more than two
months, indeed, full 20 days, before
gotta public report exonerating and
vindicating me from the charges. If
had asked for committee to inves-
tigate the pending matter | should
have been compelled to await its nec-
essarily slow action with the charges
all the while hanging over me, undc-
MED and unanswered, and pending
the proceedings of an investigation
which had myself asked, propriety
would have forbidden my collecting
and publishing the decisive proofs
these reasons have deemed that the
shortest and most expeditions mode
of vindication was the one which l
was bound to choose by every consid-
Grafton to myself, personally, and Of
my official relations. 1 have not
omitted the testimony of single ma
terial witness to the transaction on
which the accusation against me is
based, and unless l misapprehended
THE SCOPE AND FORCE
of the testimony, ii leaves no charge
against me. In any and all events, L
am ready to submit the whole matter
to the candid Judgment of the House
and country, and il the House thinks
the matter should be further inquired
into, beg to express my entire read
iness to give all the assistance in my
power to make the investigation as
thorough, as rigid, and as impartial
as possible. To give seeming cor
roboration or foundation to the story
| have disproved, the absurd rumor
has lately appeared in certain news
papers that was the owner of from
100000 to $250.000 of Little Rock and
Fort Smith railroad bonds. which l
received without consideration, and
that ii was from these bonds that
Thomas A. Scott received his $4,000.
The statement is gratnitiously and
UTTERLY FALSE.
No responsible author appears any
where for this unfounded story, but
in dismissing it 1 desire to make the
following explicit statement: More
than 23 years ago, in the closing DAYS
of Mr.. Filmore's administration, the
Government granted to the State
of Arkansas some public lands
within its own limits to be ap-
piled to the construction of railroads
in that state. The legislature of Ark
ansas incorporated the Little Rock
nrt Dni
the same year, and gave to the COM
pany portion of the lands il had
received from the general govern
ment to aid in the construction Of the
road-about 1900 acres to the mile, l
think-but the company were unable
to raise any money for the enterprise,
though they made the most strenuous
efforts, and when the war broke out
in 1861, eight years after the state
had given the lands to the company,
not mile Of the road was built. OF
course nothing was done during the
war. After the war all grants of
land previously made to the southern
states were renewed i'm gross. and i'm
session of 1866 the Little Rock and
Fort Smith company received grant
iECH lhC stute uuu again IrIcu 10
raise money to build their road. The
years 1866 66, and 81 passed without
their getting dollar finally, toward
the close of 1868, company of Bos-
ton gentlemen, representing consid-
cradle capital, undertook its construc-
ton. In raising
THE REQUISITE MEANS
they placed the bonds Of the compa-
ny on the New England market i'm
the summer of 1869, Offering them on
terms which seemd very favorable to
the purchasers, and offering them at
time when Investments Of this kind
Were fatally popular. = In common
with hundreds of other: people in
New England and other parts of the
country, bought some Ofthese bonds
not very large amount, paying for
them Mt precisely the same rate as 9TH
ers paid. never heard and do not
believe that the Little Rock company,
which | know Is controlled by highly
honorable men, ever parted with a
bond to any person except at the reg