The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-05-16

formed by Judge Ould that had legal
right to do so; but at his own suggestion
employed counsel, who told me could do
nothing of the kind. ! have, therefore,
transferred all my property to my creditors,
to be disposed OF as they can arrange among
themselves. . : s,l4 .,st.-
!. 6. Judge Ould is mistaken in saying my
cash-book was kept in my private office;
and I was surprised that he die not know
otherwise, because he examined it frequent
ly, and might have seen that there was hard
ly an entry, or certainly very few. in my
handwriting. 1t lay on Mr. Sleights desk,
ind was kept by Mr.. sleight and the clerks.
MR.. GENNET's TESTIMONY.
:. Mr.. Gennet is mistaken in saying that
the loan from DR.. Rutherford was made be-
fore he came into Office. Whether it is on
his books or not do not know but it is in
the place where it ought to be, on Mr..
Sleight's cash-book and ledger and though
II has been published all over the country
that embeZzled that money, il Judge Ould
and Dir. Geunet will take up the records OF
the committee, and examine the business
agents monthly reports made to the COM
mittee, read and examined by 1t, and Or
dered to he recorded, beginning at about
August l, 1874, and ending with the month
~ statement for JANUARY, 1875, they will
find that the money was paid into the trea-
sury and accounted for to the committee
down to a cent. The same is true OF the
loan OF 1000 which it has also been tele-
graphed all over the country cmbezzled.
s. MIR. Gennet is mistaken in saying that
the method of doing business was devised
by me; il by that he means that it did not
have the sanction OF the committee. 1t was
adopted almost from the beginning, and it
may have been on my motion, for do not
recall the facts. 1t was, however, well
known and acted on constantly by the COM
mittec. So that the intimation or allegation
that these loans ought to have been imme-
diately paid over to the treasurer, and not
kept subject to the uses Of the store, Is un.
Just to me. They were put just where our
regulations required them to be put. The
gross Injustice done me will be seen by 4
single remark made in the annual report
for 1876, which was read and examined
by the committee, and also by SUBJ
committee, with unprecedented care.
Here it is "The committee now requires
that all the transactions pertaining to our
business shall be through the business
agent, 80 that they shall be found in full upon
the ledger. Had the whole transaction been
on the ledger the error could not have oc-
Cured" That is, an error OF $4,000 in our
financial statement to the General Assembly
had been made two years before, because IN
my absence our regular mode OF doing busl-
ness had not been followed. Now it is
charged against me as 40 offence, and flashed
over the country as crime, that I had done
exactly what the rules OF the committee
reauired"; while in the testimony 1t is
not ChQrqed. but insinuated, that these mo-
news had been misused, it is clearly set
forth as an improperly that they were not
paid over to the treasurer Immediately !;
which the committee required should not
be done.
ERRORS AND IMPERFECTIoNS.
9. Mr.. Word testlfies that he made out my
account, which is true, is he did it several
times but his testimony does not develop
the fact that the account, which at the very
first I gave to the committee, was referred
to him for yeritication, and became the basis
OF his own, and that he found it correct to
a cent. My cash-book showed exactly who
the special creditors were.
10. Judge OuId is correct in saying that
others than myself and Mr. Gennet en-
dorsed notes for the committee, and think
said so; but il not, / will now repair the
damage by saying that DR.. Brown num-
Der of times did so, and several times for me
personally, and Judge Ould last January en-
dorsed note with Inc and Mr.. Gennet for
$500 for the committee, and in March we re-
newed $500 Of it. - ~.
II. Judge Ould squarely contradicts me
about my ability to go on till the present or
possibly till fall and then Immediately ac-
knowledges might have continued till the
middle Of April. My letter'was dated April
23d. "-a. ~
- While I see many errors and imper-
iections in the proceedings OF the Presby-
terry, and consider the whole process to be
in direct violation of the constitution OF the
Church and OF every essential principle of
Justice, vet until reversed or modified,
dreadful as it is, my duty is clear; which
is, with reverence and humility, to conform
understand the deeply painful nature OF the
whole transaction; l can sympathize with
the members when they speak Of this; and
l do not doubt the sincerity Of single one OF
them in saying how sadly they felt, how much
they ielt, for me and my family, and all that
Yet haste, undue excitement. and lack OF
calm judicial action are manifest; and some
times some OF the members seemed wholly
to forget that they were court OF the Lord
Jesus Christ. All this simply shows the
necessity Of observing constitutional forms
and Of obeying their limitations. Had
the Presbytery formed the same adverse
Judgment against me on the statements OF
nv paper, whatever might have judged as
to its severity should not have appealed.
Asst is have appealed from the Judgment
rendered, to the Synod OF Virginia. True,
it matters little to me whether the errors
committed by the court are rectitied or not.
The manner OF the proceeding has been SO
exceedingly injurious to me that it is too
late to arrest the evil. 1t has ruined me for
this world, and leaves me to uncovenanted
mercies for the next. .....
WHAT IS LEFT.
13. thank the Presbytery for the prayers
they offered for me and my family. They
have LETT us nothing else. am now home
less, houseless, and friendless; reputation,
position, comforts, property, gone; and
they did all they could, and with great sue
cess. to destroy my good Names In one re-
spect. now, IL in no other, l am like my
Saviour, when He had no place to lay His
head. There is nothng-absolutely no.
to ME and mine but access TO the
mercy seat, which I thank the Lord is be-
vond the jurisdiction OF earthly courts. l
thank the Presbytery for aiding. us there,
and request them still to remember us in
their supplicatiops.
have not mentioned one half Of the mis-
takes injurious to me in the evidence, nor
of the errors and irregularities which charac-
terized q sstrial" in which there was ono
evidence for the defence"; but l cannot
further trespass on your room.
Very respectfully,
ss3Iou 1s. 1877. Z. r. BAIRD.
UNAVAILABLE LETTERS REMAINING IN RICH,