Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-03-14

We also Ind an order, Whlch, Mr. Jones
says, appears to be in the handwriting of Mr..
Briggs, a member from York county, for the
following: VIM. Riley, clerk of committee;
R. Finnegan, clerk Giles Foxworth, messen-
ger Jonas Wilson, messenger
We especially refer you to the testimony of
Mr.. r. Finnegan, resident of Columbia,
where he says that B. F. Briggs, whilst a
member of the House, endeavored to induce
him to endorse certificates, which he refused
to do. Afterwards he insisted on the certi6-
Gates being destroyed in his presence, and
Briggs informed him that he had already de-
stroyed them. After this he saw them pub
lished in list of claims brought before the
Senate, whereupon he wrote Clerk Woodruff
letter, which is attached to his evidence. In
said letter he stated that he denounced the
certificates as fraud, as he had not rendered
the State any service; again demanding that
they be destroyed in his presence, and that his
name should not be used for the benefit of
those who desired to steal.
We also refer you to the letter of B. F.
Briggs, annexed to the evidence, addressed to
Senator White, in which he says, "the certi6-
Gates were for Reuben Finnegan and not Robt.
Finnegan; forbade White delivering the GER
tifcates, claiming that he had paid a valuable
consideration for them" We only cite this as
one of many hundreds Of like nature. We
call attention to others of similar kind, re-
ferred to in evidence of A. o. Jones, especially
that payable to w. H. Gardner, member from
Sumter county also to a certificate collected
by T. Hurley, made payable to T. Harling-
ford, a fictitious name, the initials of which
represent T. Hurley.
Jones, continuing, says: "The joint certii.
Gates exhibited, amounting to $40 0,425.56, and
the House certificates amounting to $l31 ,O94.-
80, have examined, and in my opinion not
one of the joint certificates would stand good
upon close scrutiny. Of the House certif-
Gates, do not regard as valid any that were
not issued to some known person. This would
throw out about thirty thousand dollars as in
valid. Of those issued in the names of known
persons, fifty thousand dollars at least would
not bear too much light"
Sergeant Williams, of the House, in his
evidence, says, "out of one hundred and fifty
certificates issued to persons styled as clerks
of the House, not one such person served,
and every dollar paid on their certificates
was direct fraud upon the State" They
called for amounts ranging from $500 to
$642 each, aggregating $4,000. Williams
says that "there we're only eight porters en-
ployed," yet we find that in one session alone
certificates were issued to
TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIvE PoRTERs.
We gave this witness over seventy certi6.
Gates for inspection, made out in the name of
persons styled porters, in reference to which
he testifes that mot one Of them serued," add
ing that "the House only employed about ten
messengers" Notwithstanding this, we find
that, during one session, certificates we're is
sued to one hundred and forty, and at another
for two hundred and twelve messengers. Will
liams testi6es that "the House actually en-
ployed eight laborers and from five to ten
pages" yet we have certificates from the
treasurer's Office showing that as many as 159
laborers and 124 pages were paid during one
session. For several sessions certificates were
issued for about 30 pages. many of whom
were children Of the members We submit
ted to the inspection of the same witness
twenty-five certificates, drawn for the pay
ment of supplies made under the head of
"Sundries," aggregating about $4,000. On
a close examination, he said that "the State
received no consideration for them, no such
persons ever performed any service or fur
nished any supplies to the State-I have ex-
amined a large number of certificates drawn
in my name, and pronounce nine out of ten
fraudulent"
PATTERSON AND MOSES.
From the testimony before US, we find that
the largest transaction of this kind at any
one time was between John j. Patterson, who
never made two bites at a cherry, and Speak
er F. j. Moses. The latter testi6es as follows:
"Some time during the session of 1871-72,
John j. Patterson came to me and proposed
that if I would turn over to him blank pay
certificates, he would have them filled up with
fictitious names to the amount 1850, 900, and
if would sign them as Speaker and have
Jones attest them as clerk, he would pay me
$4,000, he to keep the certificates. I accepted
the proposition, delivered to him batch of
blank pay certificates, and he returned them
to me filled out, think, in the handwriting
of F. S. Jacobs, cashier ofthe South Carolina
Bank and Trust Company, to the amount
above stated" The evidence further shows
that they were duly signed and that Patter-
son paid Moses, in cash, $1,000 at one time
and $4,000 at another. Moses was recalled
and says:
"Certi6cates shown me I recognize as some
of those to which have just alluded. The
names are all fictitious, and do not know that
such persons ever existed"
The number, date, amount, &c, are as fol.
lows: