The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-05-05

+ the heated congressional contest OF 1919
and the proof Of il would have appeared in
the printed testimony in the case. Not only
then but in the severe ordeal through which
he has lately passed, 50 far as | know or be
lieve, he has acted in al eminently honora-
bic manner
1t IS true that an anonymous letter, to
whose authorship there is no clue may
sometimes be properly treated with con-
tempt and ignored by the party receiving
it, but that was not this case. There were
but two individuals in the whole world who
could possibly have inspired or been bene-
fitted by the sending of the anonymous let.
ter in question. to-wit Washburn and Dom
nelly; if it did not come from the one party
or his friends it assuredly did come from
the other, and Mr.. Springer had himself
narrowed the inquiry still further for he de-
clared on the floor of the House
Mr.. SPRINGER-"M Donnelly stated to
me in the Committee room that he did not
think his friend could have done such q
thing. and he attributes it, as the article in
the Post did, to some of Mr.. Washburn' S
friends | said to him there is no founda-
tion for any such supposition; that none of
Mr.. Washburna friends could ever have
. approached me in any such way = and he IS
/ equally positive that it did come from Mr..
! Finley one of Mr.. Donnelly's friends. He
says amy gentleman who desires to com
pare the handwriting of the anonymous let
ter with these two letters Of Mr.. Finley )
can do 50. l have never had any doubt
about the matter" And he further insin-
yates very strongly that Donnelly was privy
to the sending of the anonymous letter, be-
kind of paper as Finley's letter 1t was there
fore clearly his duty, knowing that the letter
came from DonneIly or his friend Finley to
/ lay the matter before his brethren of the
/ Committee. Surely if Mr.. Donnelly was
| guilty of having inspired such dishonora-
| BILE trick that fact would have influenced
very materially the Judgment of the Com
mittec upon the question of giving him
/ seat in the House. And observe the disgust
/ ing baseness of the man! He tells the
| House that he was confident the letter came
/ from Donnely's friend Finley with Dom
neIlv's connyance and then he tells Gen.
| ArmtieId, as Gen. Armheld stated the
! floor of the House, that he (Springer,) was
ready to have voted to seat Donnelly when
ever his vote would have accomplished that
result He knew positively that Donnelly
/ was dishonorable man and he was ready at
| all times to seat him among honorable men
as a member of Congress. And with all this
! he talks about his sense of honor, his indie
pendence and his conscience.
| Instead of demanding an investigation
when he first received the anonymous letter,
| Mr. Springer resented Mr.. Donnelly'z offer
to help him find out the author of it, and
threatened the most direful consequences if
/ Mr. DonneIly or his attorney Hon. Geo w.
Julian Of Indiana Ga man deseryedly held
| in the highest estimation throughout the
whole country should make public the fact
that he had received such letter His
wife, when She, in his absence. opened the
| letter offering her husband bride of s., 900,
| followed the instinct of a thoroughly honest
! heart and at once made it public How
different the course of her husband He
| sought to hide it away. He did not want
his doubts solved or his suspicious confirm
ed
When Mr.. Springer was 50 prompt to
read all the other letters in the case, the
anonymous letter, the two Letters from Fin
| ley, the letter from the editor of the Post
and even from the reporter of the Post,
why did he not read my letter to him of
the lst of April, which he had then carried
in his pocket for nearly a week If he had
! been just enough to do this he would have
| illustrated his own knayishness in trying to
fasten upon me false ISSUE to-wit: that l
had charged him with having received mon
ey from Washburn; when my charge, as
stated in my letter, was that he had acted
with duplicity and dishonor. And of all
men in the world Mr.. Springer was least
| excusable for pretending to misunderstood
what my charge really was, as he had in
his possession an explicit statement oft
Observe also the low cunning of the man!
The issue was did he at any time, before or
after the final vote make any statements or
confessions that would prove that he had
been in favor of seating Donnelly. To es-
tablish this he called upon Gov. Armfield as
one of his witnesses. 1t seems that he had
had no Conversation with Gov. Armfeld
upon the subject before the vote was taken,
but he had made some damning admissions
to Gov. Armfield not more than half an hour
after the vote was taken. He therefore call
ed up Mr.. Armfeld and said:
Mr.. SPRINGER-'I desire to ask the gen
tleman from North Carolina Mr.. Armfield)
to state whether he ever had any CONVEX
sation with him prior to the vote in the
Committee, the final vote, on the Donnelly-
Wash burn case, and if so, what was it?
Mr.. ARMFIELD-Mr Speaker. l never
had any conversation with Mr.. Springer on
the Donnelly-W ashburn. case, until
after the vote was taken. The conversation
had with him on that day, after the
vote was taken, if it is proper that l should
state that.
Mr.. SPRINGER-I desire to ask the gen.
tleman from North Carolina whether Preri-
our to the final rote, in this case | said would
vote to seat DonnelIy.
Mr.. MANNING-Will the gentleman from
Illinois Mr.. Springer permit him to state
all that TRANSFERRED
Mr.. SPRINGER-I ask him to state wheth-
prior to the final vote in this case l stated
that l should vote to seat Donnelly.
Mr.. AEMFIELD-AIr. Springer never told
me that he would or would not vote to seat
Mr.. Donnely or how he would vote, or any
thing about it.
Mr. SPRINGER-Thati is all desire to ask
the gentleman Ho,r The charge in this pa
per is, that I changed my course on this
question.
Mr.. MANNISG-I do protest against this
way of seeking the truth.
THE SPEAKER-Does the gentleman from
Illinois yield
Mr.. SPRINGER-No sir