The Portland daily press., 1878-10-18
New York Tribune.l
The Story OF South Carolina.


The story of the travels Of Mr.. Smith NJ.
Weed in South Carolina is in some respects
more remarkable than the narrative Of the
wauderings of Moses, Max, and Fox among
the Everglades. When this experienced poll
tician stated for the South he had apparently
no idea of "getting at the truth" or prevent
ing Frauds" he simply went on business. On
the morning Of his arrival at Columbia he
telegraphed for permission to "place q few dol
lars in the Returning Board'';in the afternoon
he inquired about 'buying 1t absolutely for
$4,000. He never pretended for an instant to
believe that Tilden had been elected. He tcld
that gentleman frankly, from the first, that
the majority was against him and the case was
desperate His negotiations with certain mem
bsrs of the Board lasted six days, and at the
end of that time the terms of purchase were
fixed. The sum of Ss5.0OO was to be sent in
five-hundred and thousand-dollar bills by the
hands of q trusty messenger, and paid to the
canvassers on the delivery Of the vote.
There was little hesitation at Gramercy
Park about accepting these terms, and on the
Goth of November Mr.. Weed was in Baltimore,
where it was arranged that he should meet the
man with the money. That he did meet this
unknown person is pretty clear from the dis
patches, but why the plot failed after all is not
obvious. We only know that there was, as
usual in Mr.. Tilden's transactions, "a little de-
lay" and that two days sfterward the Canvass
ing Board, pressed by an extraordinary manda-
mus from Chief-J ustice Moses, suddenly counted
the votes declared the result for Hayes, and
then put an end to its town existence. Ii may
be that the money was actually deposited ac-
cording to agreement, and was not paid be-
cause the Board found itself unable to give the
votes bargained for; and it may be that the
"interceder" mentioned in the kilograms was
only a STRIKER" who, having no authority to
deal for the members of the Board, deceived
even the austere Smith M. Weed into Q wholly
ilusory contract. These questions are now i'm
portsnt. 1t is enough for the present that the
confidential agent from Grsmercy Park con-
cluded this bargain, and that his principals
ratified il.
After brief interlude, during which Mr..
Weed in New York carried on lively cipher
correspondence with persons in Columbia about
the expenditure OF comparatively small sum
of money. bribery began afresh. This time
Colonel Pelton provided himself with new
agent and new dictionary, and Sc. about the
purchase of "four State Senator'S" "a couple
new negroes" and other properties ecsssary
for the performance of an entirely fresh pro-
gramme. The final plan was to seizs the State
Of South Carolina by means of Judge Moses's
court, hduptOh tillo Cluu5, auu Darrtl Oh
money. and when all was In readiness to force
the Hayes electors into committing q contempt
Of court, and TO throw them into jail until the
day for counting the Presidential votes had
passed. 'It would be humane" telegraphed
Colonel Peton in cipher-at least it was pre-
sumably Pelton-''to imprison them separately
during Wednesday ay'-separately, for otherwise
they might organize a college in jail This
scheme failed, because the four State Senators
needed to com plete it could not be purchased.
And with its failure Mr.. Tilden passed from
the arena of practical politics to become the
great Victim of Fraud.