Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1876-05-03
THE BOON JOKE.


THE BOON JOKE el
THE REPORT OF THE INvEsTlGATIN0 CON
MITTEE or THE HOUSE ON THE SUI
/ JEcT. H
Monday evening, April 9th, was
kind Of "field day" in the lower brancl
, Of our state Legislature. The dam
boom bill, which seems to have beel
the controlling and leading measure o
the session, was brought TO the suriac
in all its 'crookedness,' and the tru
"inwardness" of many members expos
ed to the views of their constituents.
Mr.. YealSle submitted the followin.
for the consideration of which tn
House refused TO suspend the rules
WHEREAS, IL is pretty clearly dem
onstrated that corrupt and imprope
means were used to influence member
OF this body TO vote on Senate bill No
2l, entitled an act to regulate tn,
amount of toll and other charges TO b,
levied and collected by boom compa
nies within this Commonwealth, sale
bill having been acted upon in thi,
House on Tuesday, April 4, 1876:
And tohereds, This bill has been the
cause of delaying the more important
and urgent legislation of the Genera
Assembly of Pennsylvania, and as an
impression prevails that an effort will
be made the coming fortnil lht to resus.
citate said bill and thereby reopen the
subject TO the detriment of important
legislation; therefore, be il
Resolved, That all the proceedings
in relation to said bill Dc expunged
from the journal of this House and that
its re-introduction at The present scs-
sion be prohibited.
Mr.. Hays chairman boom investi.
CATION committee), presented resolu-
tion authorizing the Sergcant-at-A Arms
to place the testimony taken before
that committee on the desk Of the
members, separate from the other files.
Agreed to.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF INvEsTI-
CATION ON THE BOOM BILL.
Mr.. Hays, Chairman Of tho commit.
tee TO investigate the alleged bribery
in connection with the boom bill, made
the following report
After rcciting the resolution by au-
thority of which they acted, tho com
mittee say:
That the original committee, con.
sisting of Messrs. Hays, Reighard,
Smith (Berks), Christy and Wolf, met
on Wednesday, the 5th day of April, in
committee room of the House No. IL,
and organized for tho discharge OF
their duties by clecting Mr.. Hays, Of
Allegheny, as Chairman, and Mr.. Wolfe
as Secretary of the committee.
Subsequently, by permission of the
House, Mr.. Reighard withdrew from
the committee and Mr.. Gnnster of Lu-
zerne, was substituted in his stead.
Tho committee as then constituted met
on Thursday, April 6, in committee
room No. II, and proceeded to examine
in public, the members of the House,
taking them in alphabetical order from
the head and foot of the list OF mem
bers, and continued their examination
in public until Friday, April 7, when,
by resolution of the House, the mem
bership of the committee was increas-
ed by adding thereto Mcssrs. Burnett,
Terry, Reyburn and Chaplin, and the
committee as thus constituted contin-
ncd the examination ofmembers of the
Legislature in open session.
The committee subpmnaed all such
witnesses as they bad any reason to be-
lieve had any knowledge of tho mat
ter that was submitted to them for in.
vestigation.
All the persons for whom subppnas
were issued with the exception of
Mcssrs. Hcrdic and Embick (ior whom
together with Others subpenas were
issued and placed in the hands of the
Scrgeantat-Arms of the House on the
day after the appointment of the COM
mittcc, to wit the 9Th day OF April)
were served and appeared, and all the
testimony of the witnesses thus sub
pGnacd is submitted together with
this report TO the House.
To different portions of the testilno-
ny so submitted and to the conduct of
members and others as thereby evil
donccd your committee call the alton
ton Of the House, as follows, to wit.
The committee submit the testimo-
ny Of Mr. Miller, Of Bcrks, and that
of Mr.. Miller OF Philadelphia, to the
consideration Of the House without ex-
pressing any opinion as to whether
there was any misconduct on the part
Of Mr. Miller, of Philadelphia.
In the case of Mr.. Knight, OF Bucks
county, tho committee would respect
fully report, that while they are not
prepared TO say that he was guilty of
any intention Of offering bribe, or
suggested to Mr., Stewart the member
from Lawrence, that he could obtain
money If he would vote against the bill
on its final passage or Withhold his vote,
yet after careful consideration of the
testimony Of Messrs. Stewart, Dickey
and Theodore Hill, of Williamsport,
they are of the opinion that the con.
duct of Mr.. Knight, was very improp.
er, and they feel that they would not
be discbarging their duty if they did
not call tho attention of tho Houao