Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-03-20


you shall be provided for as soon after the
4th Of March as may be practicable, and in
such manner as VIII enable you both 10
leave Louisiana should you deem it neces-
sary. JOHN SHERMAN.
Messrs. ID. A. WEBER and J. E. ANDERSON.
Mr.Anderson produced the above,
which purported to be a copy of the
original, before the Potter commit
tee; objection was made by the Re
publican members of the committee
to its being received as evidence.
1t was determined not to give the
document publicity until the APP
pearance of Mr.. Sherman before the
committee. The following telegram
was sent to him at the Treasury de-
partment by the chairman of the
committee:
SIR: A paper purpOrting to be copy OF
a letter written by you to d. A. Weber and
James f. Anderson has been produced be-
fore the committee, and the committee has
suspended the reading of il until you can
with, see the paper, and state whether 1t be
a copy Of any letter written by you, If you
so desire to do.
In response to this telegram Mr..
Sherman made his appearance be
fore the committee, when the fol-
lowing proceedings took place:
AFTERNOON SESSION.
On the re-assembling of the committee Eat
1880 O'Clock, d. my John Sherman, Secretary
of the Treasury, appeared, and announced
that he had come in response TO a telegram
received from the committee, which he
handed TO the chairman.
The Chairman addressing Secretary Sher-
mani. Do you desire to be sworn as to this
matter?
The Chairman. VIII you be sworn now
sir?
Secretary Sherman. Yes, sir.
John sherman Secretary of the Treasury
sworn and examiEed.
The Chairman addressing the witnessl
James L. Anderson, the witness teStifying
before the committee this morning, stated
that he had received from the hands of ID,
A. Weber a letter purpOrting to be signed by
you, of which that which I now show you
is copy. VIII you state to the committee
whether you ever wrote such letter?
The Witness latter an inspection of the
paper handed to him, the same being subse-
this, that 1 believe, upon my responsibility
and the oath l have Aken, that i never
wrote such letter. have no recollection
OF ever writing such letter. If this letter
was written, it must have been, If am not
mistaken about the dates, on the day when
the returning officers first convened to open
the returns. ! think It was on on the the, 2th
that time / knew but little about the trans
action the papers had not been opened. l
do not believe / ever wrote that letter. AT
the same there are things in this letter that
/ would have written to these or any Other
men who were engaged in the performance
of what believed to be their duty, u mao
been asked, but do not believe wrote
After some time 1.-THE witness having APP
parently concluded his statementl,
The Chairman said: That is all for the
present, Mr.. Secretary.
The Witness. II you want me any further
gentlemen, will come back at any time
you desire.
During the time the committee
were discussing the question as to
the admissibility of the copy of the
Sherman letter, and before the tele-
gram was sent to Sherman, the fol-
lowing cOllOquy took place between
two gentlemen of the committee,
Mr.. Mcmahon, Democrat, and Mr..
Reed, Republican
In the course of the discussion, Mr.. Reed
asked Mr.. Mcmahon whether 1t was taken
in existence.
Mr.. Mcmahon. Not so far as we know.
Mr.. Reed. Have you any better evidence
of il than this; any other copy?
Mr.. Mcmahon. No, sir; no other copy that
was made at the time.
Mr.. Hiscock. The other copies are sim
Mr.. Mcmahon. Simply made from this
one. 1 have no other contemporaneous
copies.
Mr.. Reed. Is there any Photographic
Mr.. Mcmahon. Ifthere is, know moth
Mr.. Reed. Then 1 understand you that
this is the only copy that will be produced
Mr.. Mcmahon. am not going to tell you
Mr.. Reed. My understanding of your an
swer is that there is no other copy to be pro-
duced.
Mr.. Mcmahon. 1 have simply said that
so far as my knowledge extends, there is
Mr.. Reed. You do not know of any such
paper, by hearsay or otherwise?
Mr.. Mcmahon. am not on the stand.
have never seen a Photographic copy ofthe
Mr.. Reed. Have you heard of one?
Mr.. Mcmahon. Yes, often. think that
Mr.. Sherman had better take the response
bility of answering that question.
The anxiety of Mr.. Sherman's
friends to ascertain whether the
democratic members of the COM
mittee had in their possession the
original or photograph copy, by Ell
Their of which they would be able
to confront Sherman's denial with
the evidence of his own hand-wri-
ting, was most manifest. But they
were left in doubt upon this subject,
and under this fearful uncertainty
Sherman took the stand. If he de-
MED positively ever having written
such a letter the original, or at least
it's ghost in the shape Of photo
graphic copy bearing the facsimile
of his handwriting, might rise then
and there to confront him. The sit
uation had no terror for an honest
or an innocent man, but for guilty
man it briStled with danger. Mr..
Sherman met the question prOpoun-
ded as no frank, innocent man
would have met it, and took the
only possible avenue of escape that
a shrewd guilty man could have
taken. The substance of his reply
may be embraced in a few words
81 don't think / wrote the letter,
but l would have had no hesitation
in saying to Weber and Anderson
what the letter contains" Don't
think he wrote it! An honest man
ought always to be able to k7lOlC
whether he has been guilty of a cor
rupt act. The doubt in his own
mind upon such subject is evil
dence to every one else that he was
capable of performing the act
Nothing but the idea that the commit
tee had or migt obtain cOnclusiveev-
idence of his guilt would ever have
forced Mr.. Sherman to defend in
advance the prOpriety and morality
of such a letter. Plainly it was
nothing more than proposition to
two rascals, if they would commit
an act which might render it nee
essary for them to fly from a State
whose people they had outraged,
they should be taken care of and
protected amply outside ofthe State.
Mr.. Sherman sees nothing wrong
in this. He would have told any
men this, he says, who were engag-
ed in doing their duty. An honest
man does not require, and no hon
est man will accept, a bride to do
his duty.
He could not offer such bride
without believing the men corrupt
TO whom he offered il, and they
could not accept II in remuneration
Tor official acts without demOnstra-
ing their corruption. Mr.. Sher-
nan may think there Il nothing
wrong In Offeringa bride TO election
In State to- do a certain thing
This may be visiting-state8ma
but outside Df that extra
ordinary band Of political wander
~ such q Transaction would be |
by universal consent, a. |