The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1880-07-08
HLsBOROUGH HIGHLAND COUNTY OHIO THURSDAY JULY
THE CREDIT MOBlLlER.

| JUDGE j. s. BLACK, OF PENNSYL
VANIA,
{, ENTIRELY EXONERATES . HIM
; As the Democratic press IS at
tempting to blacken General Gar
fields record by proving him guilty
of criminal dealing with Oaksa
Ames, we give the following lettel
from the distinguished Democratic
lawyer, Judge Black, to Mr.. Blaine,
| when Speaker of the House:
PmLADELPH1A, Feb. Is, 1878.
''lIY DEAR SR:-FFOm tie begin
ming Of the Investigation concerning
| lIT. lines use Of the Credit M0Ji-
| Tier, I believed that General Gar
field egns free from all guilty con-
aectj0B a5jtb that business. This
opinion a7as founded not merely on
D1y confidence IN his integrity, 6lt
on some special bnO15yedge of he's
case. I may have told you all about
it in conversation, but I now desire
to repeat it by way of reminder.
"I assert Unhesitatingly that,
whatever General Garfield may have
done or forborne to do, be acted in
profound Ignorance of the nature and
character of the thing which Mr.
Ames was proposing to sell. He
had not the slightest suspicion that
he was taken into q ring, organized
for the purpose Of defrauding the
public, nor did he know that the
stock was in any manner connected
with anything which came, or could
come, within the legislative juris-
diction Of Congress. The case
against him lacks the scienter which
alone constitutes guilt.
"In the winter of 16G9-70 I told
General Garfield of the fact that his
name was on Ames' list; that Ames
charged him with being one Of his
distributes; explained to him the
character, origin and object of the
Credit MObilier; pointed out the
connection it had with COngression-
al legislation, showed him how I'M
possible it was for a member of Con
gress to hold stock In it without
bringing his private interests in con
flict with his public duty That all
this was to him a perfectly new rev
elation, I am as sure as I can be of
such a fact, or Of any fact which is
capable of being proved by moral
circumstances. He told me then
the whole story of Trains offer to
him and Ames' subsequent solicita-
ton and his own action in the prem
ises, much as he details it to the
committee. do not undertake to
reproduce the conversation, but the
effect of it all was to convince me
that when he listened to Ames he
was perfectly unconscious of evil
I watched very carefully every
word that fell from him on this
point, and did not regard his narra-
tive Of the transaction in other re-
spects with much interest, because
in my view everything else was in
significant. I did not care whether
he had made a-bargain technically
binding or not, his integrity depend
ed upon the question whether he
acted with his eyes open. If he had
known the true character of the
proposition made to him he would
not have endured it, much less en-
bracedit.
''Now, couple this with Mr.. Ames'
admission that he gave no eIplana-
ton whatever Of the matter to Gen
eral Garfield, then reflect that not a
particle of proof exists to show that
he learned anything about it previous
to his conversation with me, and I
you will say that it is altogether IN
Just to put him on the list of those
who knowingly and willfulIy joined
the fraudulent association in ques-
ton. J. S. BLACK"
Now as to the whole transaction,
and what General Garfield had to
say Of it:
"The points of agreement between
General Garfeld's testimony and Mr..
Ames may thus be stated: They
agree that soon after the beginning
Of the session of 1867-8, Mr.. Ames.
offered to sell Generald Garfield ten
shares of Credit Mobilier stock at
par and accrued interest; that Gen
eraI Garfield never paid him any
money on that offer; that General
Garfield never received a certificate
of the stock; that after the month
of June, 1868, General Garfield
never received, demanded or was Of
fered any dividend in any form on
that stock They also agreed that
General Garfield once received from
Mr.. Ames a small sum of money.
On the following points they dis
agreed: Mr.. Ames claims that Gen
eraI Garfield agreed to take the stock. |
General Garfield denies it. Mr..
Ames claims that General Gar
field received from him 1929 and
no more, as a balance of dividend on
the stock. General Garfield denied
it, and asserted that he borrowed
from him $500 and no more, and af- |
terward returned it, and that he
never received anything from him on
account of stock.
General Garfield himself has
made a review of the whole subject,
and from it claims that the following
conclusions are clearly established
by the evidence
''Tbat I neither purchased, nor
agreed to purchase, the Credit Mo
bilier stock which Mr.. Ames offered
to sell me, nor did I receive any divi-
dend arising from it. This appears
not only from my own testimony,
but from that first given by Mr..
Ames, which was not oYerthrown by
his subsequent statements, and is
strongly confirmed by the fact that