Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1876-03-03
and whereq A. came to washington on

I
| said he supposed it was % state before the
| committee what 1 knew about our tranSar
| lions together. l said l aid not like IN Al.
| pear, because Thought nay testimony Won
| be damaging To or would implicste hi m a.
| give him trOu ble. He said ne thonxnt nof
| and advised me To stay aud meet the com
! mittee. During that evening NV cOnveESa-
| ton was chiefly With his wife. he being pres
| ent part of the time, and understanding the
| general tenor OF our conversation. She ~ug
| gested that could make statement which
| would satisfy the committee aud eNcuip t's
| The Secretary. She wanted me 20 ga befora
| the committee, and represent tnst sue aud
| rad business transactions together for many
| years, and that all this money | had sent
| the Secretary was money that she b al from
| time 10 time deposited with me as Kind
| OF banker. and that she had instructed me
! TO send &c TO the Secretary for her.
| red there and spent the evening. and
staid all night, retiring about u O'CLOCK
| The evening was devoted To discussing this
matter. told her that the statement would
lot hold water before the committee, aui
| even If II would / could not make IL. Al The
same time / vas so wrought mp and ha
such anXieiy-she pressing and pressing me
| about il, and having slept but little since the
receipt OF the subpoena. and sympst hiking
with their cOnottion-I did not give them
positive answer that night / went To bel at
II and don't suppose that slept a wink
They said they would breakfast at 9, cam
down about 5. and met the Secretary alone.
| told him thought had better leave. and
get cut of TIE country, for / would not per
| Jure mysel for any one that could All Iri Ia
have MY throat cut. but not tn peTJuTe my
self. He replied that he did not wish me 10
do that-that we could fix IL in some other
way. said that l thought / had better
leave the country. The Secretary said |
would ruin him IL | left. / said IL go before
tie committee / will surely ruin you. for |
will tell the tru tn. He was greatly excited
When / came down stairs To leave he fol
lowed me and asked me into the parlor ani
said, want To make a last appeal To you To
stay longer. He said If / went he would be
ruined said would ruin him If 1 went
before the committee, and / left and took
The limited express for New York. On
reaching home / consulted my attorney,
asking him if the COMMITTEES could reach
me by subpoena IL / left the country.
stated the case TO him (Mr. Bartlett, OF I21
Broadway He asked me IL was subpe-
naed. l told him l had Geographic dis
patch calling me to Washington. He said
that If a subpoena had been duly served they
could give me considerable trouble, but that
on telegraph message they could not reach
me II was out OF the country. ] asked hi m
how long / would have to stay. He said that
If the committee had leave TO sit during the
recess could not be back until this, the pre-
sent Congress, expired. i then went home
and found there a dispatch from DIR W. Tom
l1nson, the brother-in-law of the Secretary.
lis puTport was not to leave; that he had
good news, and that he was coming over. 1
determined not TO be governed by it-that /
was going and that they only wished 10 fiX
up some new story, and that would no: be
party to IL. My trunk was packed to leave.
AT about midnight TOmlinson appeared at
my house. He said, have seen Blackburn.
you Marsh would write letter something
like one he (TomllnsoD) would suggest, aud
that there would be no further investiga-
ton, and If there was they would ask no
questions il would be difficult for me ID
| answer, and that Mr.. Blackburn said he
thought that IL the committee still wanted
to examine me they would appoint
| subcommittee and come over 10 New
York TO do So. He came TO my bed room
and L told him TO go into the sitting
room and draw q sketch of the proposed
letter. and when dressed /
him aud write such letter rs he wanted, IL
fcuUld. | wrote the letter from the sketch
| cf TOmlinsOn. The endeavOr was ID eXcul
rate the Secretary. There was nothing in IL
untrue, to the best OF my recollection, mt 1t
d.d not contain the whole truth. 1t was
very short letter. He took il with the con-
letter end contract to Mr.. Black burn, who
would show IL to the committee, ami that
would be the end OF it. He left my house at
O'ciCck Friday morning. AT midnight
Friday vas reused up and had the subpoena
OF The committee served on me. Saturday
evening, at 20 o'clock. Tomlinson again APP
peaIed. He said he had been to Washing
ton, and wal ted TO know, the first thing, if I
had been sabFUnaed. L told MIN that had.
| He began talking the whole thing over again,
| still wanting me to say before the committee
what was suggested at the Secretary's. At
the interview on Thursday night he wanted
| me 10 tell the committee by telegraph that
my wife was sick, and that l could not at:
tend. My wife being sick, l consented, and
did so telegraph. Recurring to the interview
| again on Saturday, said could not make
the statement he desired. He said ne hal seen
Blackburn In the Interval, and hal shown
| him the letter o. Thursday night. lie then
| returned 1t and the contract to me. 4 said:
'Ir. TOmlinsOn, l have thought OF this
| thing so much IL Las nearly made me
| crazy, / SIN not go!H Z TO talk about il any
| more; we will go down 70 my lawyer and
| consult him about it,'' my object being TO
| have a lawyer tell him how luGicrOus TN 2
| story he wanted me to tell would appear be-
| fore the committee) We went down and
rI11l- d. &1Il IL. Il
| truth in the presence of DR.. Tomlinson.
| Bartlett said L could not manufacture any
| story l wanted TO. and must not IL could.
| DR.. Tomlinson still insisted that il 1 could
| swear that General Belknap knew nothing
| of the arrangement with his (Tomlinson's)
| sister, Mrs. Belknap, deceased; and that il
could swear that at the time was at her
| funeral i made no arrangement with Mrs.
Bowers, the present Mrs. Belknap, by which
| / was to send her all this money through the
Secretary, that the whole thing could still be
settled. i replied, 81 can't state IL, for il is
not true" my impression then being that at
that funeral mad said something about the
| matter to General Belknap. Tomlinson said
| 'if you can't swear to that you hal better
| leave the country" Bartlett said, "Tnis is
a bad business. 1t Is not legal question
| you have submitted to me, aud in the posi-
| you should go 10 Washington or leave the
| country" Tomlinson said he would return
| 10 Washington. He proposed two formulas
OF kilograms which / would understand.
| One was: II hope your wife is WELL"
which was to be interpreted to leave the
| country. The other was: 81 hope your wife
| is BETTER" which meant come To Washing
| ton. We then parted. One going home in the
| street car, and thinking the whole thing over
| about the conversation at the time OF the
| funeral, / made up my mind that, although
had stated to Bartlett that had had some
| conversation at the time OF the funeral with
| the Secretary about sending this money, We 1
! i was SO undecided-yet was so uncertain
| about 1t that i was entirely willing 10 give
| the Secretary the benefit of the doubt.
| thought i would see Tomlinson and tell him
| SO. He was TO leave for Washington, and
| went to the depot and met him, and told
| him that on thinking over the matter was
| undecided about the conversation; that /
would give him the benefit or the doubt. He
said, 81 am very glad to hear this, because
| my sister, Mrs. Belknap, said this was the
| fact" That Saturday got telegraph dis
patch from Mrs. Belkuap, which said, Come
| TO Washington tonight. 1t is necessary"
| received 1t in the evening. The next morn
| Ing Cast Sunday received a dispatch from
| Tomlinson-'I hope your wife is better
| which, according 10 agreement, meant come
| to Washington. In the afternoon got a
second dispatch from Tomlinson, as follows:
| Leave without fail" answered, II shall
| laava to-piohf xyithnuf WAS varu