Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-04-25

Blaine Tells What He Knows OF tn,
Matter-Sbinherd's Testimony Torn Il
shreds-His Letters Only Fit for the
Waste Basket-''A Eie OF large Proper
tions Out sOmewhere"-The Ex.seere
In the Eibs.
IsPRc1AL BY TELEGRAPH TO THE REoogD-UEIoN.l
WASHINGTON, April 24th.-There was al
unusually full attendance of members of tht
Committee on Foreign Affairs, newspaper
correspondents and spectators this morning
caused by the fact that ex-Secretary Blain,
was to have an opportunity to testify regard
ing the remarkable statements of Jacob r
Shipherd, in go far, at least, as related tt
interviews with the Secretary Of State.
Blaine came into the committeeman e
haIf.past 10, accompanied by one of LII
young Sons, who stood behind his father
chair throughout the session. and having il
his hand four enormous-sizsd envelopes and
volume published by the State Department
in red binding entitled "War in Sou.l
America and Attempts to Bring Abou
Peace"
Mr.. Blaine, after being sworn, said
"While of course desire to submit mysel
to such dictation as the committee may indi
cate, still it would probably be the most sim
pie mode of proceeding for nae to make
general statement. and then submit myself t,
any questions which the committee may pro
pose to pat to me afterwards"
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS.
The Chairman-I was going to lead to tha
with few preliminary questions. You wer,
Secretary of State under President Garfieldi
administration, and for time under th,
administration of President Arthur. Do vol
know Jacob r. Shipherd, who has testified
in this investigation?
Blaine-I do.
Chairman-Have you read the testimony
purporting to have been given by him beforl
this committee
Blaine-Yes. sir and / have tried to IN
derstaud it. [Laughter.l
Chairman-The committee may desire t.
interrogate you in reference to the CORE
spondence Of Shipherd and TO the variou
alleged interviews which he claims to hav
had with you; but the committee prefers tina
you should go on, as you have yourself sug
gested, and make your own statement in sucl
way as you please, taking it up in such orde
as you desire.
Blaine asked for the reading of the resolu
tions under which the committee was acting
and they were read by the clerk.
Kasson-If it be agreeable to Blaine.
should ask him at first to dispose of his knowl
edge touching the missing papers.
THE MISSING PAPERS.
Blaine-I was going to take it up in tha
order. To begin with, MIR. Chairman, l neve
saw the alleged papers of Mr.. Shipherd in tn
State Department in my life neither befor
this inquiry was started nor since. They wer
papers of a character which would no
naturally be brought to the attention of tn
Secretary OF State. l never knew there wer,
any such papers in the Department, nor ad
dressed to it, until after Shipherd was intro
duced to me by Senator Blair in the latte
part of July. He then referred to the fac
that he had addressed some papers to til
President, which had probably been referret
to the State Department.. I never inquired
about them-Q shall speak about that NOR
directly afterward) )-and / never saw them
l knew nothing up to that time Of their bainj
there, aud prior to the introduction by Sena
tor Blair of Shipherd to me
HAD NEVER HEARD THE MANS NAME,
When Senator Blair came to me OF
Monday, July 25sh, and said he desire'
an interview for gentleman nance
Shipherd, nover had heard of the name. am
l eaij to him, "You must mean Shepherd
for I never heard OF the name Shipherd.
mo" he said, 4" l mean Shipherd." I re
collect that incident as fixing the fact in IN,
mind that / never had even go much as hear
Of the man before the 18th of July. In fur
ther explanation, l will state that CORE
spondence which comes TO the State Depart
rnent is first sent to the office of the Chic
Clerk, who asserts it. Consular CORE
spondence goes to the Office of the ThirC
Assistant Secretary. Diplomatic correspond
ence goes to the Office of the Secand Assistan
Secretary, or of the First Assistant Secretary
or to the Diplomatic Bureau directly. Tn,
Secretary Of State would only have his atten
tion called to important dispatches-to dis
patches relating to questions of policy, not tt
matters in detail. II would be utterly i'm
possible, and gentlemen of intelligence vii
see how absurd it would sbe, to suppose tha'
the head of any Of the great departments O
the Government should have personal cogni
Zsnce or oversight of every individual pape,
that comes into the Department, mucl
less matter Of such entire freshness as tina
sent by Shipherd and 30 far as the investi
cation Il say it without any disrespect to tn,
committee) into what became of this matte,
is concerned, it was
SCARCELY FITTED FOR THE WASTE BASKET.
The Chief Clerk would have been act
ing In strange contrast to his ordinarI
prudence had he attempted to interrupt thj
attention OF the Secretary by laying such mat
ter on his table. did not know Sbipherd'
handwriting until in autumn, when Hurlbu
turned over his correspondence, and Assist
ant Secretary Hit brought il to my heue,
one morning, and said, Here is a pretl,
mess Of stuff from South America, aad ex
hibised these letters. | said. "Are thes,
in Shepherds handwritng?' He sait
he did not know Shepherds handwrit
ing, but they appeared to be origina
letters, ard there was no evidence of thei
baing copies. Up to that tine I had nevel
seen Shepherds handwriting. As to Ship
herds very frequent interviews with me, on,
would suppose from certain representation
which appear to have been made to the com
mittee, and especially from the statements i,
the press, that we had spent ths whole sum
mer -gesher.
Ka son-Will you simply state now whethel
you know how the papers came to be MISSING
from the files of the State Department
Blaine-I never heard word of their be
ing missing at all. I do not know a wore
about if. have as little knowledge of it 81
an unborn child. They had never been ad
dressed to me at all. They were natter
which ia the course of routine were referred
every day from the White House to the diff
ferent Departments
Kasson-And of course you have NJ
knowledge where they are to be found?
Blaine-Not the least in the world. Theri
was an impression that they might possibl,
be among the various documents, as suci
were necessarily brought to my house, but
have had every niche and corner searched b,
my private secretary without effect, and b,
himself, who is a very careful, close, attentiy,
business man, never heard of these papers
THOSE INTERVIEWS.
Nowin regard to my frequent interviews Will
Shipherd. He was introduced to me Jul,
25th by Blair, in the evening, when I had .
very brief interview with him. INSTEAD
of its extending up to IL o'clock in
the evening, as he stated, L shoulc
say the whole interview was not longer thar
ten or fifteen minutes. I excused myself o,
account of having very important engage
ments and POSTPONED the interview until th,
next morning. From then until the middle O
October / never saw Shipherd, and neye
heard of him. l never was one moment will
him at any time that blair was noe presa,t