The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-05-23


llth that he offered any explanation Of
the source from which he had gotten the
$1,000 On Feb. llth he appeared be-
fore theCommittee, accompanied by Judge
Hale, whom he had retained as his Coun.
sci, and made statement under oath
that the $1,000 which he had deposited
in cash In the First National Bank, Wash
ington, on June 22d, 1868 was compoRed
of two sums 5000 and 5000 respectively
The $1,000, he stated, he had received
from Mr., Geo F. Nesbitt, of New York
who had written him letter congratula-
ting him upon his nomination for the
Vice Presidency, and enclosing $1,000
bill to be used for political purposes dur
ing the campaign. Mr. Nesbit died few
years ago, aud the letter in which the
money was sent had, Cofax stated, been
DESTROYED. Colfax submitted the evi.
dence Of several members of his family
in proof of the reception of Nesbitt's let
ter. They swore to II recollection of 1t,
and stated the incidents connected with
its reception. The other 5000 Colfax sta
ted was from his step father, Mr.. Mat
thews, in payment of money borrowed
from COlfax some time before. Colfax
repeated his former denials concerning
the stock and Ames's check.
This statement of COfax was not ac'
cepted by the public as satisfactory. II
amounted to this in part: That lead
ing business man of New York had en-
trusted to the mail letter, bill for 81
600, without making any note of it, the
man was dead, and the letter could not
be found Against this explanation was
Ames's sworn statement, the proofs af.
forded by the books Of the Sergeantat-
Arms, and the suspicious deposit Of the
exact amount of Ames's check. The N
Y. Evening Mail, candid and indepen'
dent sheet, and very friendly to Colfax
in stating the popular judgment of the
case as far as it had gone, said:
"Mr Colfax's explanation Of the $1,000
deposit which was made to his credit al
the time when Ames swears that he had
given the former that amount has been
received with general disbelief, not unac'
companied by moCkery and ridiCule. 1t
was certainly a remarkable coincidence
that Colfax should have received at that
particular time 5000 from his fatherin-
law, and a $1,000 note from an entire
stranger, Geo. +. Nesbitt, of this city, the
latter, besides, congratulating Colfax on
his nomination for Vice President.
"The whole course of COlfAx' sexplana
tions has been of such character as to
excite the apprehension, that every one
of them was an afterthought, and dew
ice more unworthy by far than the orig |
inal offence. Therefore it has been gen.
orally assumed that the strange story of
receiving $1,000 note from a man now |
dead and out of reach of iquiry was mere
ly a desperate and despicable expedi-
ent"
This is the simple truth. Whether Col
faxs statement be true or false, the pub.
lie did receive it with incredibly, if not
with open disbelief
Mr.. Colfax, in order to break down the
of Ames as to the check,
brought forward Mr.. Dillon, the book
keeper of the Sergeant.at-Arms, who
swore that he had an "in preston" that
he had paid the IS. c." check to Ames
himself. He would not say more than
that, this was his impression. The New
York Tribune of Jan. 14Jh, 1873, con-
tanned this statement respecting the evi.
dence of two of the witnesses brought
forward by Colfax:
"Mr. Matthews, the Vice. Presidents
testified that he paid Colfax
5000 about the middle of June, 1868, and
SAID that he went to the Office of the
Clerk of the House, and arranged for OBJ
aiming a part of his salary before the
end of the month in order to pay this
Dill. Ames in examining the accounts
n the Clerks Office finds thatit does not
appear that Matthews received any mon.
sy on or about June l6, of that month.
The young man who pays money to the
members says that it is barely possible
that Matthews got some money on the
10th on a memorandum, but there is no
evidence in his Office of it.
"Mr. Dillon, bookkeeper of the Ser
said he had vague i'm.
preston of paying the $1,000 on the S. C
check to Ames himself, and added, in
,eply to question, that the amount was
10 large he would be likely to remember
t. Ames at the same time called his at.
ention to another payment about the
me time of $1,000. Mr.. Dillon said he
remembered that, and that he paid the
money to Anes in large bills. Ames,
urning to his memorandum book, said
Mr. Dillon was mistaken, as that $1,000
lad been paid with a check to the order
If S. NJ. EIdridge & Co., of Alexandria.
Dillon denied that this could be possible,
ls if such had been the fact it would have
,een noted on the book. To-day Ames
Ound the check drawn to the order OF
J. M. Eldridge & Co., showing Dillon to
lave been mistaken. Ames thinks that
t Dillon was 80 much mistaken in case
where he was positive, and where he de-
,ended on his books to assist his memo.
y, his vague impressions of what occur.
ed at the time are not worth much"
In order to get at the facts of the case,
or it was clear to all that either Ames
n Colfax was guilty of perjury, a mem
,er of the Poland COmmiJtee made an
Investigation Of Colfax's deposits in the
first National Bank of Washington. He
Ound that two checks or drafts from Mr..
Jesbitt to Colfax had been deposited by
he latter in 1868, one in April, and the
ther on July l3 h of thai year. Each
# these drafts was for $1,000, This dis.
overy did not help ColfAx much. 1t
bowed that Nesbitt had twice sent Col
Ak the sum of $1,000, and had taken the
to insure the money against
Oss, by sending each sum in the form Of
draft payable to Colfax's order. This
cry precaution inclined people to doubt
hat Nesbitt would have been so reck less
8 to send Colfax $1,000 in an unregister.
d letter, only a short while before he
ook the precaution to send similar
um by draft
"Mr. Colfax,' says the press dispatch
rom Washington of Feb. 18th, "has no
Iesitation in saying that he did receive
rom Nesbitt, 10 each of the months of
lprIl, June, July, and October in that
ear, a remittance of $1,000 making S4.
90 in all, the April and July remittan
es we're in checks. These were made
artly on personal and partly on polite
! orounIe 1ha lattaro oo.opn M vitr |