Chariton courier. (Keytesville, Chariton County, Mo.) 1878-current, 1879-03-15
THE POTTER COMMITTEE.
Report Of the Republican Members of the
Committee.

The minority report of the Potter 1nves-
tigating Committee states that "the whole
Investigation, with its 5000 pages of hearsay
and falsehood, had not afforded the slightest
proof of what was asserted. No man had
come forward and said that any bribe was
accepted, or that any member of any can
wasting Board indicated any desire to betray
his trust. Every intimation of that kind had
been traced to some Democrat and there
ends, and TINT Democrat had never Deen
brought before them Mr.; ;,s MeLin, OF Florida, d1
though goaded by sickness and imaginary
wrongs, never for moment admitted I'M
proper conduct at the time. He only thinks.
from alter knowledge, that he may have been
mistaken. Gen. Barlow. whose conduct has
received the compliments of the majority af-
ter a full knowledge of the workings of Cow:
gill's mind admits his honesty of purpose, and
that of all others. As to the South Carolina
Board, the full, free and unconcerned testi.
heard itof the absence of fraud in South Car
olina. These charges, then, of fraud and cor.
ruption with which Tilden and his agents lad
filled the air, were nothing but the unsup-
ported assertions of litigants against whom
the Courts have decided; The tribunals in
three states decided on the Hayes Electors.
Straightway the defeated party with his
agents set up the assertion of wrong doing.
To bolster up that assertion by proof was the
object of the original consultation OF this
committee. They toiled until the lst of Au-
gust, and found no evidence. In october the
publication OF the cipher dispatches showed
conciu5ively that the very men who had been
loudest in their denunciations Of the tribu-
mails before whom they had failed had them
selves endeavored to corrupt with money
those very tribunals. At that very moment the
accusations ceased to be assertions and the
opinions of honest men and became slandels 8
OF foiled and beaten suborners of corruption
The country, which had been deceived by the
apparent earnestness and honesty OF Tflden
and his agents, began to realize the intense
Pelton circulated. This fabric OF alleged
fraud thus fallen was what the report of the
majority is endeavoring to build up again,
nm t0undntlDn9. then
they preferred to make a separate report on
the ciphers. report upon the frauds, of
would be like the play of Hamlet with Hamlet
left out. The facts were too Notorious to be
lett out, and therefore they dissented from
the method of making up the report suggest
ed by the other side"
"The evidence that Tilden was ignorant of
these transactions was limited to the d mails
of Tilden and Col. Potion, and that the latter
should endeavor to shield his uncle, upon
whom he was dependent, was natural, but
the idea that pennilcss man, livi"g in the
house and sitting at the very table of the
wealthy uncle (Slr. Tiideu) should have con-
Quoted negotiations involving such large
sums Wi hout word or hint 20 any body else,
could not tor a moment be entertained by
candid men. If Col. Pelton's story be true he
must be removed from the category of
knaves to that of tools but the man who con-
Quoted the campaign of 1876 as acting Secre-
tary of the Democratic National Committee
was not fool, nor did Mr.. Tilden after re-
election center all his interests in the hands
of a fool"
In regard to the Visiting statesmen" at
New Orleans, the report says that " the evil
dencc proves their conduct, and that of Sher-
man, Garfield, Hale, Kelly, and others, whom
IL sought to impeach, as entirely consistent
and frank. The attempt to single out Sher-
man for a special attack seemed to have no
original foundation but the testimony of
Anderson, and the character of the evil
dence OF such witnesses was shown in his ef-
fort to assail Stanley Matthews. The
minority thought the whole commit
tee should unite in reporting that
ton, as far as this part of the case is con-
cerned, had thus been shown to be false tes-
timony and manufactured documents of a
man totally unworthy of notice. Before the
Returning Board were many aflidavits to acts
of gross violence and intimi lation in the So
c'lied bull doZed parishes. The majority
assumed in their report that these aflidavits
were falsely and fraudulently made and that
this was known to the Board and to the Wis
iting committee. We find the testimony
taken before this committee rather sustains
them than impeaches them"