Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1884-06-26
Nfulligan.

IL was i'm June of 1876 that the House
committee investigated the railroad anC
political crookedness of Mr.. Blaine, the
plumed knight. Blaine and Warren
Fisher, Jr., had been curiously con
nected in certain transactions, anC
James Mulligan, Fishers private secre
tary, had papers relating to the affairs
Mulligan was summoned to produced
these papers in Washington.
APAINFUL STATEMENT.
The day after he came Mr.. Mulligar
appeared before the committee and
asked permission to make "a painful
statement" He said: "Within fifteen
minutes after my arrival in the city
there came communication from Mr..
Blaine, inviting Mr.. Fisher and me up
to his residence; Ideclined to go for the
reason that | did not wish it said that |
had gone to see Mr.. Blaine; l wanted
to come into this committee room un-
trammeled by any influence; Mr.. Fisher
went up to Mr.. Blaine's house, or at least
so reported to me, and he told Mr.. Blaine
certain facts that could prove and cer-
tain letters that had got; Mr.. Blaine
said that if should publish them or
that if this committee should get hold
of them they would ruin him for life,
and wanted to know If would surren-
der them; / told him no, and that !
would not give them to the committee
unless it should turn out that it was
necessary for me to produce them; after
my examination here yesterday Mr..
Blaine came to the Riggs House and
there had conference with Mr.. Atk-
ms, Mr.. Fisher and myself; he wanted
to see those letters l had; | declined to
let him see them; he prayed-almost, |
would say, went on his knees-and i'm
plored me to think of his six children
and his wife, and that if the committee
should get hold of this communication
it would sink him Immediately and
ruin him for ever.
THE TELL-TALE LETTERS.
II told him / should not give them
to him; he asked me if would let him
read them; said I would if he would
promise me on the word of a gentleman
that he would return them to me; | did
let him read them over; he read them
over once and called for them again; he
still importuned me to give those papers
up; | declined to do it; retired to my
own room and he followed me up and
went over the same history about his
family, and implored me to give them
up to him, and even contemplated sui
eide; he asked me if wanted to see his
children left in that state, and he then
asked me again if would not let him
look over those papers consecutivelyi |
had them numbered; I told him / would
if he would return them to Inc; he took
the papers, read them all ove", and
among them / had q memorandum that
[ had made by way of synopsis of the
letters, and referring to the numbers of
the letters-a synopsis containing the
points of the letters; | had made that
memorandum so as to be able to refer to
here when questioned; he asked me to
let him read the letter, and | showed
him this statement, too; after he lfad
read them he asked me what / wanted
to do with those papers, if | wanted to
use them; told him | never wanted to
use the papers, nor would not show
them to the committee unless when |
was called upon to do SO; then he asked
me if I would not give them to him;
there was one letter in particular that
he wanted me to give him; told him
that | would not do it, and the only rea-
son l would not do it was because l saw
it stated in one of the evening papers
here, the Star, think, that the Blaine
party were going completely to break
down the testimony that had given
yesterday; that they were satisfied
about that; l said 1 should not publish
these letters unless my testimony was
or impugned; that was the
only reason that wanted to keep them;
but I wanted to keep them for that pur-
pose; these are the facts, gentlemen,
and L leave them to you; if / under
stand the order under which this COLI
has power to send for persoI s
and papers, [ want this committee TO
get for me those papers; Mr.. Blaine has
them, and would not give them up to
me.n
STATEMENTS OVER HIS SIGNATURE.
Q. How many letters did you sur
render to Mr.. Blaine? A. There were
fourteen that had numbered, and
there were about four more in another
making eighteen or nineteen
letters, and one statement about that
Northern Pacific Railroad.
@. Whose statement was that
mean, who made it? A. 1t came from
Mr.. Blaine; they are all from Mr.. Blaine,
and under his own signature.
Q. Who was present when you first
delivered the letters to Mr.. Blaine to
read on the promise that he would re-
turn them? A. Mr.. Atkins, and L
think Mr.. Fisher was in the room
when | first gave them to him on the
promise that he would return them to
me. / then retired from that room, and
he came up to my room asked if would
not let him see them again, and told
him had let him see them once and
there was nothing in them that he had
not read; he said he wanted to see them
again. asked whether, upon the word
Of a gentleman, he would give them
back to me, and he said he would. He
admitted to Mr.. Fisher and Mr.. Atkins
that the only thing that made him not
give up the papers to me was the re-
mark that, if any reports were made
where the veracity of my testimony
was impugned, 1 should publish these
letters; I told Mr.. Fisher and Mr..
Atkins that | said that; say so now,
TOO.
By Mr.. Ashe-What became of the
M atn1 pra nda flof xx,oro ,,x.ll.