Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1884-10-29
Mr.. MULLIGAN'S LETTERS.

Mr.. MULLlGRNS LETTERS.
The story Of the Muligan letters is
briefly told Ia 1876 Mr., Blaine was
candidate for the nomination for the
presidency, at the hands of the Republi
can party HIS public career was closely
scrutnized. 10 was charged ia the
spring of 1876. that he mad when Speaker
of the House Of Representatives in 1869,
received from Warren Fisher, Jr., of Dos
ton, certain bonds. ana stock and mort
gdg9s. OF the Lutte Rock and Fort Smith
Railway Company. In return for tavors
shown the road and for services done Nj
Fisher In other words IL WAS openly
charged that Mr. Blaine As Speaker of the
House ot representatives., had sold his
Official influence aud power 10 The Little
Rock AM i'orl Smtn Railway Company
for 20 specified sum of money, bonds,
stocks and mortgages. THIS was aserious
charge, Wuicu IL true. would disquallty
him for holding any position Of trust al
the hands of the public.
So open were those charges, and so
widely were they printed in the papers of
the cOur try. thar Mr.. Blaine felt bound
to take notice of them. He was then "a
member Of Congress, Ind April "a 1876,
lac arose in his place in Congress and
made what he called q full explanation OF
the charges. lie maize the following
statements, which If true, would com
plet ely answer those charges; and in read
ing the letters which were afterwards
prod uctd, these threeI Statements must be
borne IN mind. When he made those
three statements April 2i, no letters of
his had been published, nor did the pub
lic have any reason To suppose he had !
Eiaf,
.lr, or chat there was such man as Mr. |
james AlUlIlgau. And il Is very evident |
from Mr. Blaiuc's statements that he had !
at that time no idea that the celebrated /
MuiIigan letters would ever come 10 I
light The following are his three deien ,cs |
in his own words
FIRST In common with hundreds |
of other peop of New England and /
other pa. Is cd tElS country | bought some /
rI those bonds, not very large amount, I
paying for tnrm al precisely the same /
rate that Others paid. ! never heard aud I
do not believe that the Lutte Rock Com /,
pauN. winch ! know Is controlled 10y /
ghly-hOuOred men, ever parted with a |
bond TO any person cNCcp' at the regular |
price nNcd for their sale Instead |,
of carrying bonds of the Little Rock F.
6 Fort smith ROAD, rs "A grutulty, | never |
had one except at the regular price.
IT, as Mr.. Blame here states, he bought
these bonds in open market in common
with hundreds of others and paid for
them at The regular market price, no man
could charge they were given him as a
bride This is the flst defence.
SECOND. Il repeat that the Little Rock
road derived all it had from the state OF
Arkansas aud not from Congress
He mere asserts positively that the Lit.
tie Rock road derived all its rights, privi-
Icges and franchises from the state of
Arkansas and not from Congress. In
other words he gave the House of Repre-
sCntativc> and the people 10 understand
that the Lutte Rock " Fort Smith road
never had bill before Congress, and con
sequcnjly he, rs "a speaker could never
have aided that road IN any manner what
ever. This, ii true. would be IA complete
answer 90 the charge that nc had sold his
interest 10 the road. because if the road
never had any bill before Congress, or
derived all il had from the state Of Arkan
,as, ii would never have needed MIR |
Baiuc's influence as speaker
THIRD. My whole connection with
the road has been a. open oS the day. II
there had been anything 10 conceal about
10, I
ever conccalmcnt i, desired, is advisable,
aud do not know any better test 70 APP
ply 10 the honor and fairness Of n business
Transaction.
These ihree delenscs, made by Mr.
8la'ne on April -, were for time &C
ccptcd by the House of Representatives
aud the people as entirely satisfactory.
There was no evidence To- show MIR. Blaine
had not told the truth, but only lutte
over a week afterwards on May ,, reso-
luton was introduced INTO the House of
Representatives requesting the committee
on judiciary 10 Inquire into certain ques-
tionable matters between the L,ttle Rock
Il Fort Smith Railroad Company. and the
Union Pacific Railroad Company. This
resolution was not aimed at Mr.. Blaine.
nor did any one think at the time that the
investigation would ever concern Mr..
Blaine. But as the Investigation went on
Two witnesses were called before the com
mittee One was Mr. Warren Fisher, Jr.,
of Boston, who was contractor of Il pOr
ton of the Little Rock X Fort Smith
Railroad, and was also in business in Bos
ton as partner and brother in.law of
Mr.. Blaine. MI James Mulligan was al
so called before the committee. Mr.
Muligan was cashier for the Adams
Sugar Refinery of Boston in winch Fisher
was partner He was also book keeper
and confidential clerk for Mr. Fisher
Mr.. Mulllgan had in his possession by
Fishers own consent (see testimony of
Fisher, miscellaneous documents. l16,
page llS) certain letters written between
1864 and 1872, by Mr.. Blaine to Mr., Fish
or, AMI which Mr.. Blaine supposed had
been given back to him IN 1872 AS the
investigation went on, testimony was
brought forth duplicating Mr.. Blaine in
certain questionable transactions with
the Little Rock & Fort Smith railroad,
and Mr. Blame from that time attended
the sessions of the committee When
Mr.. Mulhgan reached Washington and
a. L.. L.