The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1884-09-20
THE BLAINE SCANDAL,


Oceaa or 7rjme, has a way Of gaining
greater credence than either by always put
on an air Of unsophsticated honesty, il
Tuesday : issue after going over the whole
Nulligan correspondence old letters as
well n those newly brought to light-sum,
up the case in the fcwest possible words,
as follows:
|. Mr.. Blaines decision rs Speaker was
correct n a matter Of parliamentary law
| 2 His transactions with all parties inter
ested in the Fort Smith Railroad enterprise
were legitimate matters Of business in which
no favors were shown him on account Of his
decision, he having paid as high for all
the bonds received by him as the others paid
who bought them, as he did, in order to sell
them to others
| 3. The dates of the letters and Of the bond
transactions show it to have been impossible
that he could have alluded to his decision a.
Speaker for the purpose Of making better
bargain for the bonds.
Let us see. The history of the case is
about this During the height of thee excti-
ment at Washington growing out of the cred
il mobilier scandels, it leaked out that some
how through the interposition Of Tom Scott
the Union Pacific Railroad had bought OF
James G. Blaine $4,000 worth of Little
Rock and Fort Smith railroad bonds, paying
for them SG4 600, bonds which, at the high
est market price they ever reached, were
not worth over $1,000 What could it
mean? Cakes Ames, in his honest, blunt
way, had intimatcd that Blaine hands were
as badly smudged with Union Pacific pitch
as those of the worst Of the credit mobile,
thieves but none of the credit mobiler
stock was traced to his possession. The rat
in the meal tub must be hid in this Little
Rock and Fort Smith transaction, was the
inference. The stories reached Blaine's ear,
and on the first fitting occasion he rose in
the house and challenged an investigation,
at the same time making speech in which
he said: "ln common with hundreds of 9TH
er people in New England and other parts of
the country, bought some Of these bonds
not very large amount-paying for them
at precisely the same rate that others paid
never have and do not believe that the
Little Rock Company which know is con-
trolled by highly honorable men-ever
parted with bond to any person, except at
! ha ,an,,lap nrico Gval cnr ,lo;, ,,Io
stead of receiving bonds of the Little Rock
and Fort Smith roads as gratuity, ] never
had one except at the regular market price"
The supposition was that Mr.. Blane's ex
pectation, in making this speech, was to
bluff off an investigation, but he was mis-
taken. An investigation Of his transactions
with the railroad in question was ordered;
and to his dismay one of the first witnesses
summoned was James Muligan, the confden.
tial secretary and book keeper of Warren
Fisher, heavy business man in Boston.
Fisher and Caldwell, another wealthy Bos-
ton business man, had taken the contract to
build the Little Rock and Fort Smith rail
road down in Arkansas, TO which large
land grant had been made, and they pro.
ceeded in the usual way to raise the money
by bonding the road and its lands at twice
US much as it would cost to build the road.
Now was it true that Blaine had never
owned any Little Rock and Fort Smith bonds
except "small sum he afterwards said
$50 900 which he had bought in the regu.
lar way in open market? If so, why should
Blaine be so suddenly and terribly worked
up over the summoning of Mulligan as
witness in the proposed investigation? Blaine
knew that Muligan, as the confidential clerk
of Fisher and Caldwell, could produce do,-
ems of his own letters that would bluntly and
shamefully put to the lie his reckless state
ment to the house. Therefore the moment
Muligan arrived in Washington Blaine
called on him and wanted to see the letters
he proposed to lay before the investigating
committee. Mulligan reluctantly let Blaine
set tHem' DUNE ndnueu the letters back to
Mulligan but begged him earnestly not to
show them Mulligan refused Blaine
begged on his knees, but Mulligan was obdu-
rate. Then he asked again to see the letters,
and this time he put them in his pocket, and
they are there still; except that day or
two later, after Mullgan had related the
matter to the committe, Blaine read what he
pretended were all the Mulligan letters TO
the house, but from which several were
omitted
But patched and doctOred as the letters
were, and accompanied with Blaine's explain
atory comment as each was read, their con
tents was damning enough. They showed
that instead of his never having owned over
$50 900 in Little Rock bonds, he had re-
ceived from Fisher and Caldwell Sl62, 900,
and instead of paying for them the regular
price, he never paid dollar for them. This
is proved by Blaine's celebrated contract
with Warren Fisher, of Sept. 10, 1869, and
by memorandum in Blaines own hand