Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1884-07-10

THE TATTOOED LEADER.
a TERRIBLE REPUBLICAN 1SD1CT-
MENT OF JAMES G. BLAIH E.
The PIumed Knights Crooked Railway
Transactions.-The Tar ofthe North.s
ern Pacific Deal-Story of the
MuIIigan Letters-His Schema
ing Foreign Poliey--Reo-
ord of Robbery and
Corruptiop Etc.
Fros, the Ne,o York World.

FroHa the Neo York World.
Two months ago today the Evening
Post printed calm and serious re-
view of Mr.. Blaine's railroad transac-
1ions, which were prefaced by the an
nouncement that 'his reappearance as
a candidate for the highest Office in
the Government, or any other, was
considered an "audacious proceeding
which only can be accounted for by
supposing him to have an extraordl-
nary and unwarrantable confidence
in the popular forgetfulness.
The first of these charges which, in
the opinion of the Post, Mr.. Blaine
"will have to answer before he can be
elected to the Presidency, is that in
the spring OF 1869 bill to- renew the
land grant to the Little Rock and
Fort Smith Railroad of Arkansas was
before the House of Representatives.
An attempt to defeat the bill by an
amendment was on the point of being
successful when Mr.. Blaine, then
Speaker, sent message to Gen. Lo-
gan to make the point of order that
the amendment was not germane to
the purposes of the bill. This point
of order was raised. Speaker Blaine
promptly sustained it and the bill
was thereby saved. Mr. Blaine at
once wrote to the promoters calling
attention to the service he had rem
dered to them, AMI finally, after ssme
negotiations, secured from them as re
ward his appointment as selling agent
in Maine of the bonds of the road on
commission, and received a number of
such bonds as his percentage. The
leading features of this transaction
appeared in two letters of his, after
wards made public, dated respectively
June 18th and Oct. 4th, 1869. These
charges, the Post contends, we're am
ply proved by the evidence conse-
quentlv taken by the Congressional
committee, though Mr.. Blaine ass rt
ed on the floor of-the House that the
bonds he received "were bought by
him at precisely the same prices as
others paid"
HIS DEAL IN NORTHERN PACIFIC WITH
FISHER.
Another charge repeated by the
Post recounts that Mr.. Blaine in 1870
made an offer to one of''his railroad
friends" Mr. Warren Fisher, of Bos
ton, to sell him Il half of one twenty
fourth interest in the Northern Pa
cifc Railroad Immediately after Jay
Cookies contract '' had been perfected
and the additional legislation had
been obtained" he having, he said,
come into control of this interest, 'by
a strange revolution circumstances" J"
The amount of stock which this would
represent, he said, would be s425, 900
and the number of acres of land near
ly 275,000. "The chance" he said,
was very rare one he couldn' touch
it." but. he offered it to Mr.. Fisher
for $4,000. Mr.. Fisher accepted and
paid the money, but for some uneN-
planned reason the stock was never
delivered and Mr.. Blaine returned the
money,
The peculiaritv of this transaction
is thus pointed out: The authorized
stock of the Northern Pacific Railroad
was 500, 100000, with a land grant
estimated by the Commissioners of
Public Lands at 47,000,000 acres.
The line OF the road was 1000 miles
long, and at the time of Blaine's letter
to Fisher it was, he says, being built
on bonds at $4,000 mile, which
would have made bonded debt of
S50,000.O00. As the Speaker of the
House must be taken to have known
about the circumstances of the road
the conclusion is that his offer was
based on the expectation that he
would accept almost as a gift share
in an enterprise DEPENDENT its val
lie on legislation in which he had tax
en- part Mr.. Blaine's defense that
the transfer was never actually made
the Post considers, does not effect in
any way the nature of the offer.
THE MULLIGAN LETTERS.
The next charge is that Mr. Blaine
<'obtained certain letters, which there
is every reason to believe contained
matter gravely compromising him
from a perfectly reputable witness
Mr.. Mulligan, who was the proper
and lawful custodian of them, after
having vainly tried appeals to his
pity, by pEedging his word of honor to
restore them, then broke this pledge
retained them by force, and subse
guently read such of them as he pleas
ed to the House in aid of his vindica
ton; that this conduct, If not legal,
criminal, was such as no man aspiring
to be the chief magistrate of a grea
nation ought to be even suspected of. :"
BLAISE's FOREIGN POLICY.
His short service as an executive
Officer of the Government and the va
rious efforts he has made during the
past eight years to keep the public. il
mind of him, the Post emphatically
condemned as sensational and theat
rical, indicating strong love of noto
rie:y, and an absence of she settled
convictions, the sober Judgment anc
steadiness of character which ar,
needed to make him a. safo .occupan
of any high;or responsible adIninistra
tive office; and that the means b,
which his booms are started and pro
lnoted, (which the manner in whicl
his History has recently been herald
ed and produeed.is is a good example
aSss4 -. 60