Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-08-31

TO make the matter worse, he found
he could not raise money enough to
. pay interest and taxes on his inn
! proved property. And, too, the
fact stared him in the face Grants
face) that he had proved himself a
failure as politician, and not a
success as a speculator.
GRANT AND HIS PARTNERS LOSE
MUCH.
Both Grant and the notorious
Rufe Ingalls, are reported to have
! sunk money in the st. Domingo
, job. Gf course they did, but Con-
gress reimbursed them. The black
Friday business was very damaging
, to Grant, and at least two of his
private secretaries. Both he (Grant)
and his secretaries lost money at
that business. The Seneca Sand
stone venture was not only a dead
loss to Grant, but a serious damage
to his reputation. That stock farm
in Missouri was a very disastrous
concern, financially and otherwise.
have it on very good authority
that the loss on that stock farm
alone, In two years, was nearly
thirty thousand dollars. Add to
this the fact that Grant had to dis
pose of his Thirteenth street Circle
property at sacrifice to relieve
himself of financial embarrassment,
and you may form pretty correct
idea of the manner of his miSfOr-
tunes at the close of his administra-
ton. For President he was too
! frequently a borrower of money
but the taxes and interest on his un-
improved property had to be paid.
| am of opinion that Grant left
the White House comparatively
! poor man, bankrupt in reputation
and nearly everything else. Indeed,
Grant went out of the White House
soured with disappOintments, per-
sonal, and political, and financial.
! He saw only political and personal
! enemies in those who differed with
| him on matters of public policy
and he made cOnfidants and asssoci-
ates of men of the Shepherd, Spen-
Ger, Dorsey and BabcOck stamp.
| / again come to Grants attach
ment for little Mullett. This was a
very difficult thing to explain, one
neither believed in a devil nor
OCOg W IllIC tiiC WIS dlI
the time seeking salvation through
the Methodist Church.
ItWas OnbOard an ocean steamerOn
his way back from England, that
Mullet made himself offensive to
the passengers by his profanity, his
bOasted influence over Grant, and !
his scandalous abuse of Secretary !
Bristow. Here, again, he declared |
his ability to get Bristow out of the
cabinet in two months. This same |
man Mullet was frisking about in
Cincinnati, during the sitting of the
convention that nominated Hayes,
making himself conspicuous for his
profanity and abuse of BristOw. He
declared he spoke by authority
when he said BristOW would be out
of the Treasury in little more than
a month. To such an extent did
this sulphuretic little man carry his
abuse of BristoW that a stalWart
Kentuckian threatened that unless
he stopped it he would double him
(Mullett) up and cram him into the
ice-bOX.
KICKED OUT BY BRISTOW.
Mullett was right in his predic-
ton. But the question arises, where
did he get his information ? He
could only get it through the conf
dence of Grant. And we all knew
the chord that bound Grant 10 Bah
cock; Babcock to Shepherd, and
Shepherd 10 Mullett. When Bris-
tow kicked MulIett out of the Treas
ury Department the blow fell heav-
lest upon Shepherds shoulders, but
the vibration of it was felt at the
White House. Mullett out of the
Treasury, Shepherds loss was at
least thirty thousand dollars year.
lie (Mullett) and Babcock were the
great financial props Of this once
national plumber and gas-ftter.
Had BabcOck, as Commissioner of
Public Buildings and Grounds, been
dismissed at the same time Mullett !
was, the loss 10 our great and very
enterprising fellow-citizen would
have been enormous.
PLAYING INTO EACH OTHERS
HANDS.
I will give a single instance of the
way these Republican patriots, ]
into each others pockets. Mullett {
gave Shepherd the plumbing and t
gaS-fitting Job for the south wing of 8
partments. Shepherds bill for this |
paid that bill, but allowed his dear {
friend S1,995.30 extra, making $22,-
093.48. AT this rate the plumbing i
job on the whole building would
have reached the sum of $4,000,
the east and west fronts requiring I
much more work than the wings. {
This, it must be remembered, is in
dependent of the bronze fixtures, on I
which the Tucker Bronze Company t
paid Shepherd twenty per cent. j
commission, am assured by f0m=
petent plumbers and gaS-iitterS that
four and five prices were charged by t
this distinguished patriot. q
A Republican Congress took this
mammoth granite structure out of
the hands OF the Supervising Archi-
tect of the Treasury and turned it
over to the War Department. That !
was a movement, and a very clever .
one in the in the interest Of the old 3
ring. Belknap was Secretary Cf :
War, and as the bosom friend of !
Shepherd and his ring associates, :
placed the building under the charge }
of Babcock, The arrangement was :
entirely satisfactory. Itmeapt that +
jobbery was to be encouraged and :
sTEAL4NG CONTINUED, l
Babc0ekis career subsequent to /
that is too well and painfully known z
to the country to need any further
comment from me. He Is now on }
the Lighthouse Board, in charge of !
the fifth division, headquarters at I
Baltimore. This is about the soft
est duty an able-bOdied Major of I
Engineers, United States army, I
could get assigned to. In short, I
there is little or nothing to do, and |
this enterprising Major has a good q
time generally, He has steam I
yacht, too, fitted up in sumptuous
style, of course at Government ex- 1
pense, on which he gives his old
ring friends extensive sails down
the Chesapeake, entertaining them =,
in elegant style. He is just at this I
time entertaining a number of con- !
genial spirits, that have resolved E
themselves into :