Omaha daily bee., 1883-02-01

vent over ard gave Mr.. Kimhall the
information he wanted, that is, as to
the liabilities Of iHE BEE, its re-.
sources and general information "a to
the circulation, g., 1 should state
that l think after the frat or second
Interview we had four or five. I had
looked the matter over and reached
the conclusion that II | ever allowed
= third party to have control, that is
TO have the balance OF power, a time
might arise when that party would
take away from me the control of the
paper. / then wrote to Senator Saun.
ders that I would not enter into any
arrangement whereby the control of
The BEE should pass out Of my hands.
T~hereabouts the matter ended.
l went to work then (this idea Of q
stock company lever before got into
my hesd) and organized q stock com
psny myself. l raised $l0,0 600 where.
by l was able to pay off the debt on
the paper and building, and place 1t
on a paid up footing. My brothers
were the principal creditors, and they
took their pay in stock. No stock
wal yer given to any railroad com
pany, and none was solicited by The
BEE That was The end of the nego.
tlations 30 far as | know.
THERE wAs ANOTHER POINT
In the matter I would also state. Be.
fore we got through, Mr.. Kimball said
that the ability to get the stock Of Mr..
Hitchcock depended upon my consent
to allow him (Hitchcook) to be sp
pointed commissioner general to the
Paris exposition-an appointment that
was then pending. II I gave my con-
sent, and would not oppose it, Mr..
Hitchcock would part with his stock.
l said I would not do it. 1 sent my
protest to the president, who had al.
ready consented, on the advice Of
both senators, md the appointment
was cancelled; and for that reason
Mr.. Hitchcock refused to part with
his stock. That ends that part of 1t.
Now I will answer Mi. Kimball'a allie.
cations In
THE latter oy H 81, 900 CHECK,
or the $1,000 blaokmail. In the
spring of 1876 a very active effort was
being made In our county to aid In the
construction of what was known as the
Omaha & Republican Valley narrow
gauge railroad. A company had been
organized by q number Of our citizens
and . proposition to issue county
bonds was pending which all the
Omaha dsilies advocated. A few
days before the commissioners
Issued their proclamation Mr..
kimball came to my Office in
The BEE building and said
Il will give you $500 If you will in
duce the commission not to Issue that
proclamation"
said, "Mr. Kimball, it cannot be
done even if I was willing to do 1t. /
Am already committed to that propo,
sitton and cannot recede."
Next day, however, the two. other
papers changed their policy and the
Omaha Herald q few days later came
out with
A TELEGRAM FOR Jay GOULD,
in which he said, eff you dare to give
aid to the narrow gauge railroad we
will move the Union Pacific shops
from Omaha" In that fight the
for,es OF the U. p. opposed the mar
row gauge bonds and they we're aided
by q number of federal officers under
the Leadership OF Mr.. Hitchcock.
The bonds carried In the city OF
Omaha but in the country precincts
they were defeated. Previous
to that contest in the month Of
January, I think. MI. A. d.
Clarke, the purchasing agent
Of the U. p, stated that they
had decided to do their job printing
by the year and they wanted us to
compete On 9 large amount of job
printing to be done during the year
A list of different blanks with de.
scription samples, etc., YER fur
nished and bids were made upon
them. A few days after that Mr..
CLARK returned the bids and stated
thas they were too high but that ii
we would accept Chicago rates with
ten per cent added on q number OF
bla ,kS that were tn r. he would have
the work done In Omaha. Up to that
time no discrimination was made.
Tae three papers were given jot
work on..oids.
"wE ACCEPTED A BID
amounting to $5,400 or %, 600. I do
not remember the exact amount. W.
took the order Of Mr.. Clark, A par.
of that work was done; about $500
worth. After the narrow gauge fgh'
tho railroad company withdrew al
printing from The BEE. And ther
came the senatorial fight. We KEEP
up q very brisk fire all along the lint
until after the election. About tn,
LIST of December 1 went over to MI
8. 81. d. Clark, the general manager
and told him that l was ready to carr,
ont the contract; that we had the ma
terial for the work or hand, and tina
there were still thirty days left to carr
1t out. Mr. Clark upbraided me TO
my wal on the q. p, aud talked abou
our fight on Mr. Hitchcock. / sal
that l had nothing to do with the mat
ter; that this was a plain matter {
business. As he did not seem in
pleasant frame of mind, l said / woul
/ call again. After Hitchcock was d.
feated and Saunders elected I Gale
, again, and Mr.. CLARK said l had mad
> such bitter warfare that he did not b,
, iieve that 1 could get that printin,
/ and that l had abused Jay Gould, an
it would not do for him to give as an
moro work.
= "Shortly before the Inauguration
I. Hayes l went to Washington, and Il
fist day upon my arrival, when I g
. into the rotunda of the Capitol, I ",
slapped OH the shoulder IN o yer
rinnnlu WAN and nn lnnkinn arnnnd