American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1879-02-22
CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIONS.

Samuel J. Tilden appeared before the Com
mittee on the sth and testified substantially
AS follows: The publication and translations
of the cipher kilograms lin the New York pa
pers have read. did not recognize single
dispatch either I'm cipher or translation which
had ever en- before. neter entered into
any arrangements to purchase the vote of
south Carolina or Florida. had no inform
ation suspicion that any such communi
cations were being carried on until saw the
dispatches published in the New York
dealings with parties to these ne
such negotiations in any form whatever.
On the morning of November 20, 1876, Mrs. Col.
Pelton mentioned in my presence that her
city He went to Phiiadeiphia, / believe.
er, who was on the way down town, and was
told by him that he had received an offer
from some party Offering Ito to obtain, for
! said 1 would authorize no such tran
saction, nor spend money for any such
purpose. The whole conversation occupied
only few minutes obtained Col. Pelton's
address in Baltimore and Photographed him to
come home. i knew nothing of ciphers that
had been passing between him and others
and could not have translated them. With
regard to Florida, never saw one of the tel
egrams, either in cipher or translation. l
did not know-I was not informed-that
negotiations were going on In regard
the Returning Board Some time Mr. Marble
called and told me in a casual kind of way
ABOUT the cOrruptlOn OF the Returning BOaru
of Florida ! never saw any of these dis
patches relating to Florida either in cipher
or translation. In regard to the Oregon dis
patches, did not know they came in cipher
until after the meeting of the committee to
investigate them. Some of the dispatches
were addressed to my residence, Is Gramercy
Park. l don't know that any of these dis
patches were ever received there.
e When did you first ,a hear OF s the Florida
toned the circumstance after he had returned
from Florida: He gave me no details and
Q. Did you make any inquiries from your
nephew about these corrupt propositions to
q. Then you had no interest in it? A. Only
sssd, and caad h sSs
had been engaged in transactions con
toral votes in North and south Carolina. Did
you not feel called upon to find out Col. Pei:
A. Thought the best way to act in the matter
was to stopit. thought the same thing of
Q. You have said if you had any idea of in
fuencing these Boards vcnaliy the last per-
son you would have chosen would have been
to call Cooper's or Hewitt's attention to the
matters lest Pelton might compromise the
first place supposed they had full knowledge
and would be able to take care that
nothing wrong should be done. Civil
are embodied in actions. The Church pun
ishes the purposes of criminals even If they
are not carried out. The atmosphere at that
time full of rumors of fraudulent Re-
turning Boards. Ideclare before God and my
country that the votes of Louisiana and
Florida were bought meaning by Rcpubh-
cans. 1 would scorn and condemn my
righteous title if the Democratic party had
secured my seat by fraud. Hinder
no circumstances did enter into any compe-
tition Tor seeking certificates by venal induce
ments. There never was an hour nor minute
that 1 entertained such thought. To the peo-
pie who. as l believe, elected me President Of
the United states-to four millions of citi-
Zens who were defrauded-I owed it to
proclaim that would not yield one jot or tit
tie of my right. Whatever evil may result
from this subversion of the electoral system
and of free government, I resolved l would
enter into no auction for the purchase of
Chairman suppressed.l / was resolved that
L would continue to protest against the
wrong by which the people were defrauded
out of their rights.
George W Smith, Mr.. Tilden's private
secretary, was called to testify regarding his
knowledge of the cipher dispatches, but
swOre that he knew nothing at all about
them.
The committee adjourned to meet in
Washington.