Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1884-07-15
BLAINE CONVICTED By BLAINE.
NeU York Sun.

BLAINE CONVICTED BIZ BLAINE.
Neo York Sun.
Our esteemed contemporary, the Even
ing Post, in a series Of articles in which
candor and acuteness have kept even
step. bring out very clearly the fact that
Mr.. Blaine told at different times two
entirely different stories about his con-
~nectiou with the Little Rock and Fort
Smith speculation. In other words, leav-
ing out of sight altogether the question
of his guilt or innocence Of corruption IN
that business, his own statement and the
testimony afforded by the letters which
he admits having written convict him OF
deliberate falsehood.
It will be remembered that the same
thing happened in the case Of several OF
the Credit Mobilier Congressman during
the investigation that, curiously enough,
wa set on foot by Mr.. Blaine himself.
In their ignorance Of the existence OF MIR.
Cakes Ames's memorandum book, some
of the Senators and Representatives
whom Cakes Ames had bribed made
sworn statements at the beginning OF the
investigation which were utterly demol-
ished by the production OF the record
evidence o few days later. Then they
were obliged to change their evidence.
The wholesale denial under oath which
had been the first refuge of the in.
~culpated statesmen profited them moth
ing; in the light of the subsequent dis
closures it simply added perjury to their
load Of shame.
Mr.. Blaine made the same mistake.
In April, 1876, when the report was first
circulated that Mr.. Thomas Scott had
taken off his hands, for 1000, bonds of
the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad
Company Of the face value of $4,000,
Mr.. Blaine fastened to his feet in the
House Of Representatives with a personal
explanation. 1t was made on April "a,
1874, and it is printed on page 2,725 Of
volume 4, part 8, Of the Congressional
Record. Mr.. Blaine then said:
"The absurd has lately appeared
in certain newspapers that | was the
owner OF from Sl50.000 to $500 0 of
the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad
bonds, which l received without con-
sideration, and that it was from these
bonds that Thomas A. Scott received his
$75, ZOO. The statement is gratuitously
and utterly false.
"The Little Rock and Fort Smith
Company received a grant from the State.
Finally, toward the close OF
1868, a company Of Boston gentlemen,
representing considerable capital, under.
took its construction. In raising the re.
quisite means they placed the bonds of
the road on the New England market in
the Summer Of 1869, offering them on
terms which seemed very favorable to
the purchaser, and offering them at a
time when investments of this kind were
fatally popular.
'In common with hundreds of other
people in New England and other parts
Of the country, l bought some of these
bonds-not a very large amount-paying
for them at precisely the same rate that
others paid.
II never heard and do not believe tina.
the Little Rock Company-which l know
is controlled by highly honorable men
ever parted with a bond to any person
except at the regular price fixed for the
sale. 4 My whole connection
with the road has been open as the day.
II there had been anything to conceal
about it, I should never have touched it.
Wherever concealment is desirable avoid.
ance is advisable, and / do not know any
better test to apply to the honor and
fairness of a business transaction"
After putting this noble sentiment into
the form Of an apothegm, Mr.. Blaine
summed up his denial:
"Instead Of receiving bonds OF the
Little Rock and Fort Smith road as o
gratuity, l never had one except at the
regular market price, and instead Of max.
ing q large fortune out of hat company,
have incurred a severe pecuniary loss
from my investment in its securities,
which ! still retain. And out of such
affairs as this grows the popular gossip
OF large fortunes amassed in Congress 70
At the time when Mr.. Blaine made
this statement in explanation of his
ownership of the Little Rock bonds
and il u recollection is right this very
statement was subsequently incorporated
at his W request into his sworn testi.
mony before the investigating commit.
tee-he had no reason to suppose that
his own letters to Mr.. Warren Fisher.
Jr., would eve see the light again, or
that the memorandum of Mr.. Fishers
bookkeeper, Mulligan, would ever be
produced for the information of a com
mittee of Congress. He therefore took
high ground. The rumor that he was
the owner of $3.50. 600 or more of these
bonds was absurd. He had bought some
of the bonds-not a very large amount
paying money for them precisely as every
other investor did. and at the market
price. Had it come to this, he demanded.
that an American citizen was to be ex.
cluded from a perfectly honorable and