The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1879-03-06

not intend, however, to comment upon the fes
tlmoDy of particular Witnesses wider audi
ence than will ever listen to this report had long
since passed Judgment upon them The evi.
! dence that lllden was ignorant of these transac-
! tons was limited to the denials of Tilden and
| Col. Pelton, and that the latter should endeavor
to shield his uncle, upon whom he was depen
dent, was natural; but the idea that penniless
man, living III the house and sitting at the very
table OF his wealthy uncle (Mr Tildenl. should
have conducted negotiations involving such
large sums without word or hint to the man
most deeply interested, or to anybody could not
| for moment be entertained by candid men.
.@.If Col Pelton's story be true, he must be re-
moved from the category of knaves to that of
FOOLS But the man who conducted the cam
paign of 1876 as Acting Secretary of the Demo-
cratic National Committee was not fool; nor
did Mr.. Tilden after the election, center all his
interests in the hands of fool.
Mr.. Illden's denial was of course. to be ex-
pected. Precisely what the arrangement was
by which Mr.. Tilden was kept posted as to the
doings of his agents, and yet left in condi-
ton to make a general denial if he was so
| left, the committee will probably never know.
Against these denlals are set all the facts and
circumstances of the case. The mon who went
South-Woolley, Marble and Smith Weed
were on terms of the closest political and
personal intimacy with him. They were Sc
lected by his nephew, furnished with a pher,
which contained supply of substitution words
| fitted for the very transactions for which they
were afterwards used. One at least of them
had an interview with Tilden before his de-
parture 1t was arranged that WooIey and
Smith Weed. who were pretty we'll known
should send their kilograms to Hayemever
while Marble, heretofore of good repute, should
send to Gramercy Park. 1t may be said that
if Iilden had contemplated wrong. he would
not have had the dispatches come to the house;
| and yet, if they were in cipher known to the
National Committee, he would not want them to
go to that body. His only fear would be not that
the dispatches would fall into the hands of
those who could not read them but into the
hands of those who could
It had been urged in TiIden's behalf that as
| soon as he became aware of the South Carolina
negotiations he promptly suppressed them, and
they were asked to draw the inference that he
was guiltess of all. Had these transactions
ceased when Hardy Solomons went home, and
Pelton been discharged from his plenary super
intendence of Iildens affairs, there might
have been some show of reason for the plea
But Pelton remained in full control; the
Florida negotiations went on; the attempted
bribery of Oregon followed, ell under the
guidance Of resident-nephew Pelton. It seems
more likely it was originally intended that the
plan of Tilden and Pelton was that Cooper
should be called on for the money, which he
was to furnish on the communication of Tilden
Pelton says he told Cooper not to tell Tilden
that night. Cooper did not, but, on reflection,
the next day, probably thinking that he had al
ready overadvanced, and that If Tilden wanted
the Presidency in that way he had better pay
for it himself, he went to Tilden. OF course
Tilden could take part in no such open transac-
ton as it had now become. Add to these cir
cumstances the fact that no demand was ever
made by Tilden for an opportunity to vindicate
himself until the last moment until, in fact. it
l. 10 Lo a1o;a LoAxro
process or appearing to come voluntarily. The
minority were driven to theSconclusion that, if
Tilden had told all he knew of these transac-
tions, they would have been in possession of
material to form an undisputed Judgment
The invest CATION was neither full, searching
nor systematic. They did not say this in any
spirit of criticism on the action of the ma ority
The lateness of the commencement of the in
quiry precluded thoroughness.
The next question to be considered was
whether either the Florida or South Carolina
Returning Boards were for sale. The South
Carolina part is quickly disposed of. The tes-
timony of Dunn, uncontradicted clearly shows
that Smith Weed was played with by shrewder
men than himself for purposes entirely proper
and in q manner entirely UNSUITABLE AS to
Florida, Woolley had not been called, and Mar
BILE had probably not given the full facts of his
attempt So far, however, as he indicated the
source of his proposition Tor danger signals")
it ended this way. Mr.. Dyke, the party named,
telegraphs that he never knew anything about
that Republican Congressman said they could
be bought. Marbles statement amounts, then,
to this A man told him that a man told him
that third man told him that the Canvassing
Board could be bought. This may not be con-
sistent with his preparations for bribery, but it
is all the evidence he vouchsafed. The truth
was, that all the clamor about fraud was made
because the canvass changed the face of the
returns. Now, there was nothing sacred about
the "face of the returns" The very existence
of a Canvassing Board implies that the "face of
the returns" is not safe guide or final ar
bitter of elections In Florida, the "face of the
returns gave but ninety one ma jority to Tilden
on their most favorable construction. The fact
that the final count gave the State the other
way surely could be no ground for charging
corruption without other evidence.
AS to whether there were any Republican dis
patches similar in character to those of Tilden's
agents. the report says there is little evidence
on which such inquiry can be founded; but
from the first there has been going on kind of
shadow hunt for some dispatches supposed to
be destroyed This hunt has not been success
full. In concluding the committees views on
this point the report says: We cannot close
our comments on these dispatches without ex-
pressing at least the hope that, hereafter, the
country may be spared the spectacle of the
hypocrisy which is involved in the literature of
FRAUD written by the men who made ready to
BRIDE"
FLORIDA.
In reference to the election in Florida the re-
port reads: THE Democratic party was COM
posed in the main of the native white voters of
Florida. On one side was arrayed the Northern
emigrants, many Of whom were Union soldiers,
and the lately enslaved colored men; on the
other side, the former masters, Confederate
soldiers, or contributors to the Lost Cause; and
| if Florida elected the Tilden electors the
colored men must be won't to their support and
we desire most emphatieally to deny that it was
ever attempted by peaceful methods Resolu-
tions of conventions for Northern consumption
were passed; but fraud and violence were re-
! sorted to- and even death inflicted. We assert
that the supporters of Tilden to carry that
election did resort to the most open illegal vot-
ing, fraud and personal violence"
After reciting the duties of the Returning
Board, the report goes on to criticize the con-
duct OF the Florida board Threats of perso, al
/ violence, it states, were made against member
of the Returning Board by the Democrats, and
he was followed by armed men at night to his
| house from the sessions of the canvassers, and
| distinguished representatives of the Democrat tic