Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-07-03
THE MULLIGAN LETTERS.

Mr.. Blaine in the latter part of April,
1876, arose in the House, of which he was
then member, and delivered speech the
point of which was O. denial Of the neWspa-
per charge that he had received, in 1871,
$64, 900 from the Union Pacific Railroad for
services never performed, and that he had
also received sundry bonds of the Little
Rock and Fort Smith railroad as gratui-
ty. A few DAYS afterward he felt called up
on to rise in the House again and deny
that he had received certain bonds of the
Kansas and Pacific railroad.
On May I'd the judiciary committee OF
the House appointed a subcommittee to
look into Mr.. Blaine's alleged speculations.
One of the first points settled by the inves-
tigation was that the $4,000 worth of Ar
kansas railroad bonds, in which the Union
Pacific company was concerned, had be-
longed to COL Thomas A. Scott, and not Mr..
Blaine, and that they had been taken from
the first named ut that price to compensate
him personally for extraordinary services to
the road. For whole month the sub-com-
mittee was forced to content itself with triv-
ial matters.
When public interest in the inquiry was
at very low ebb, Mr.. James Mulligan, of
Boston, took the witness stand, and made a
surprising statement. Mr.. Mulligan had
been the book-keeper of Mr.. Warren Fisher,
Jr., of Boston, who had been on very init
mate terms with Mr.. Blaine, and to whom,
as the sequeal proved, he had addressed nu-
merous epistles. Testifying before the sub
committee, on June 1, Mr.. Mulligan said :
"After my examination here yesterday
Mr.. Blaine came to the Riggs House and
there had a conference with MIR. Atkins,
those letters I had; I declined to let him
see them; he prayed almost, would say
he went on his knees and implored me to
think of his six children and his wife, and
that if the committee should get hold of the
communications it would sink him immedi.
ately and ruin him forever. did let
him read them over. l retired to my own
room, and he followed me up and went over
the same history about his family, and i'm
plored me to give them up to him, and even
contemplated suicide. He then
asked me again if would not let him look
over those papers consecutively; l had
them numbered; told him [ would if ne
would return them to me he took the pa.
pers, read them all over. He asked me if
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 reason would not do
it was because saw it stated that the Blaine
party were going completely to break down
the testimony that I had given yesterday
that they were satisfied about that :; I said /
should not publish these letters unless my
testimony was inpeached or impugned. \
I want this committee to get for me these
papers; Mr.. Blaine has them and would not
give them up to me-"
Mr.. Blaine had obtained possession OF
them to look at under promise to hand
them back and then had kept them.
The Democratic members of the sub-com-
mittee demanded that the letters be placed
before them, but this request Mr.. Blaine
refused to comply with. On the 9Th of
June, however, Mr.. Blaine rose in the house
to :personal explanation" in the course
of which he read some of the letters from
his seat. Mr.. Mulligan declared afterward
that one of the letters which Mr.. Blaine re-
ceived from him was not included in the
batch read before the House, and that those
which were read were garbled in the read
ing. On his return to Boston Mr.. Mulligan
was asked if Mr.. Blaine had read all the
letters in the House, to which he answered
emphatically: mo, sir and he never will"