The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-04-25
THE PERUVIAN COMPANY.
Mr.. Blaine Upon the Witness
Stand.
A SPECIFIC iDENIAL OF SHEPHERDS
STATEMENTS.

WASHINGTON, April "a. : Ex-Secretary
Blaine appeared before the foreign affairs com
mittee this morning, in the Shipherd investi.
cation, and as result there was large crow d
in attendance. He was sworn, and Chairman
Williams put the inquiry.
'Do you know Jacob r. Shipherd? Have
you read his testimony"
The witness replied, '.I do. have read
his testimony and endeavored to understand
it."
Mr.. Blaine then asked that the resolution
authorizing the investigation be read, which
that he never saw or knew of the letters in the
State Department until Shipherd was intro
duced to him (Blaine) by Senator Blair. Until
then he had never seen the man, nor heard OF
him until the 25th Of July. Mr.. Blaine ex-
planned the method of disposing of papers in
the State Departments which would account
for his previous statement. Such trashy mat
ters as the Shipherd letters would never be
called to the attention of the head of great
department, as they were scarcely fit for the
waste basket.
Mr.. Kasson asked. "Do you know how they
came to be missing from the files?"
Answer don't know thing about it. /
know as little of it as child unborn. Those
not addressed to me but simply routine smat-
ters were referred in the ordinary course OF
business. One would suppose had passed the
summer with him. As q matter in regard to
the interview alleged that had with Shipherd
on being introduced by him by Senator Blair
the 26th of July, SO far from that interview
lasting until late at night it lasted only about
Is minutes. Then ] excused myself on the
ground of important business and the inter-
view was postponed until the next morning. L
did not see Shipherd after that or hear of him
until the 18th of October. After Shipherd
has had his full say as to what the policy of
the government was toward him, it occurs to
me that the best course for the committee to
pursue would be to inquire of the department
what that policy was.
Mr.. Blaine then produced what he stated was
the entire correspondence between himself and
Hulbut during his administration at Lima.
He said:
''Shipherd came to me and stated that he was
the representative OF very important claim
called the Cochet claim. / never before heard
of it, and asked him how he spelled the name.
He told me that Blair was his counsel and also
added the names of ex-senator Conkling, Hon.
Scott Lord, ex-senator of Oregon, and others.
thought it very strong array of course. He
named about a dozen prominent fnanciers and
bankers, including the Seligmans, Morton.
Bliss & Co. and others. / mention these facts
because l have been criticised for not kicking
Shipherd out OF the department the first morn
ing he called; but when man comes introduc-
ed by United States Senator, with three ex-
Senators and an ex-Secretary of the Treasury as
counsel, and an array of bankers such as he
mentioned, it would hardly be the custom of
the department to kick him out on sight. This
explains why / did not do what virtually did
do later, and for not doing which earlier, ] have
been severely criticised
Mr.. Blaine then related the points of his con-
versation with Shipherd, in which he (Shipherd)
read what he claimed to be the opinion of ex-
Secretary Evarts to the effect that Cochet could
claim one-third of the guano.
Mr.. Blaine said with much emphasis, II
would be willing to take the most solemn
oath that President Garfield died without
ever having heard of this vile scheme or
ever having heard the name of Cochet men
toned"
Mr.. Blaine then proceeded to read the entire
correspondence between the department of
state and Minister Hulbut touching the Cochet
claim. In the latter part of July Hulbut was
instructed to take no step toward committing
the government thereto till you have received
further definite Instruction.
The ed of September Hurlbut replied, 81
acknowledge the receipt of your despatch AS
to the Cochet claim this legation has nothing
but vague statements looking to the Great
ing of commercial enterprises and can take no
judicial action. ( have been favored with two
letters to which reply by this mail, asking
for information"
November 18th Blaine replied to the effect
that if Americans purchased the Landreau
claim they purchased nothing more and there
was no Just ground upon which our govern
ment could intervene, and instructing Hurl-
but not to extend to them its good offices.
Other dispatches were read of the same
tenor, and Mr. Blaine proceeded further as to
his relations with Shipherd.
In regard to Shepherds story about the
$250,000 bribe offered Hurlbut, and Shepherds
statement that he told him (the witness) about
it and took the opinion Of all his counsel
about it, Mr.. Blaine made positive denial
of this for himself and produced letters from
the following persons, all of whom denied that
they ever heard of this letter offering bribe
to Hurlbut until they saw Shepherds letters to
the New York papers, namely, Senator Blair,
GOV. Boutwell,, Judge Robertson, ex-senator
clared that neither he nor his firm nor any
member of it at at any time gave Shipherd an
opinion on any subject whatever.
Mr.. Blaine did not believe that Shipherd
and Hurlbut ever held conference in New
York as alleged by the former. Said Mr..
Blaine, Forgery is his employment and per-
jury his pastime. I don't regard him as re-
sponsible. If he is, it, it is matter for the
grand jury"
Mr. Blaine then directed his attention to
Mr. Belmont, member of the committee, and
complained that in the course of Shepherds
examination Mr.. Belmont had misquoted his
(Blaine's) dispatches and put an entirely diff
ferent meaning to them than was intended by
witness.
Mr.. Belmont declined to enter into an argu-
ment upon the subject, merely stating that the
quotation marks in thei reports as printed in
the official records were not his but that he
thought there had been no radical misinter-
probation of his official correspondence.
The committee adjourned until Wednesday
when the examination of Mr.. Blaine will be
resumed
EXTENSION OF BANK CHART