West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1884-09-12

lho letters are those writtCu by James
IT, Blaine To Warren Fisher. of Boston,
and which were committed To the Gus.
todv 0t James Mulligan. confidential
employc of Warren Fisher. At tho
TIME OF the writing of the letters.
Blaine was Speaker and Fisher was n
railroad >pcculatpr The letters wcro
received from Mulllgan by Blaine on
his word of honor TO return them. lie
violated that promise aud kept them,
but, fortunately he did not get the COP
les The first letter is aS follows:
AUGU STA, Juno ~, iSCD
My Dear Mr.. Fisher ! thank YOU tor the ar-
tiC.c from Mr. Lewis. IT., good i'm itsclT Hud
VIII do good lie wrtos like - man of large
Intelligence and Comur,hcn~iou Your oIicr
20 Rimit mo To a participation in tho now rail
road enterprise is IN every rrSpCCt ns rcncr-
pus us I could cNpcct or d..iic tbnnk Won
Ncrv sincerely for IL, and 100 this connection
] wish To make suggestion of "a somewhat
sClhsh character II Is this. You speak OF MIR
caldwell Offer to dispose OF share of his
interest To me. II lac really desires To do So 4
wish he woulu mako TIC proposition definite
50 thai could know just what to depend on
IcInaps u ne waits tlI tho fun development
OF the enterprise lac NAV grow reluctant To
part win the share. and do not hy this mean
amy distrust OF him. do not rccl that shall
prove a dcadhCal iu the 'uicrpriso II once
embark In ~. 500 Nuri1uS channels I'm which
] know can hC useful
Very hastily and sincerely your friend
JNNEs G.. BLAiNE.
Mr. Fisher India street Hostpu.
II will be seen that tins letter nc
knowlcdgcs an olcr 10y Fisher To let
Blaine into 1.-The new enterprise" n
was the Little Rock and Fort Smith
Railroad Company. MIR Elaine nc.
ceptcd the offer thankfully. Mr..
Blaine pcddlcd the bonds of this com
pany to Maine citizens. They turned
ont To bo worthless bonds and had to
be taken back under threat of putting
their vendors in prison. In this letter
he also asks for longer and larger in
tercSt in the company. which is To
come ont OF Caldwclls share. To i'm
press Caldwell, nc used the famous
words 81 do not feel that | shall
prove dcadhcad in the enterprise if
! once embark in it, | see various
channels IN which ] know l can he use
iul. ~ How he could bc useful sub
ssequcnt letter explains. The second
lettcr is rs follows:
III.
AUGUSTA. Mo. JuIy2, 1869.
My Dear Mr. Fishcr-You ask mo if / nm
satisfied with the offer yuu maio mo of n
share In your new railroad cntcrprisc2 or
touIN'' am more than satisfied with the
terms OF the olor. / think 10 a most liberal
proposition. II hesitate at an. il h from
'Nl'"A.i' AllNIN III no vi nv connected with the
chnidclcr OF the onur. Your hrrul mode OF
dealing with me ia all our business transnC.
uons ol the past gin years has not pn scd
without my nun appreciation. What I wrote
you on tho 2lth was intended 10 bring Cad.
wcu 20 a definite proposition. That was ali
this letter. ana viii call at your office tn.
morrow a. twelve m. ~ You don't hnpucn IN
bo IA no mhttor' don't put yourself to any
trouble about IL
Yours, l. q II
Mr. Fisher. Jr
In this letter it will be seen hc. il
being but three days later. rcitcratcs
his acceptance OF Fisher oiler-hc is
'mOre than satisfied considers il "a
most liberal propo~itiOn." He adds
"What | wrote you ON the 18th (frst
letter. was intended 10 bring Caldwell
TO definite proposition That was
all" lie was anxious for more Little
Rock bonds. The third letter is as fol-
lows:
III.
AUGUSTA, Me, oct @ IeG1.-U Uy Dcar sir.
J spoke 20 you a short time ugo about "a point
OF interest 20 your rnl.rou1 company that oc-
Cured az tho last session of Compress IA WIS
ON the last night Of the session. when the bill
renewing the land VrHLt to tho state Of Ar.
kansas for tho Lite Rock Road was ranchod
ny JulHn, OF Indiana, Chairman Of tho Public
lands Committee and by right entitled 10 tho
moor, attempting 10 put IN tho bin as mn
amendment to the Fremont ~ PasO scheme
u scheme probably we'll known tO MIR Culd.
VOL. Tho house was thin. and the tDbby In
TIC Fremont inicrCsi had the thing all set up.
and Julans amendment was likely ~ prevail
~ brought - vote. Root and tho other
members from Arkansas who were doing
thoir bcs FOR their own bill to which thcrc
seemed 10 bc no objection, wore iu despair,
Tor 10 was well known that tine Scnntr was
hOsile 20 mo Fremont schomc. and 10 the Ar
khnsa- OH hal Eono buck 10 tIc Senate with
Julans amendment the whole thing would
have gone "u ih1 table and slept tho slCcp OF
death ln this dilemma Root came 10 mo 10
KNOW WNNi ON fuTIM ne could % ruUgf ifu
rules Tor, be- said. 10 was vital tO his coultttu.
ents that tho bin should png4 tnli bi,p
that Julian amendment was entirely out of
order because not gcrmauc. But ho had not
sumcicni confidence in his knowledge Of tho
rules ~ mako mo point. but hc sail General
logan was opposed 20 the Fremont scheme.
and would probably mako the poiut scpt
my pagc 70 General Lopan and hc at once
in"n' ih' POM could not do otherwise
than sustain b.. ana 30 the bin was frccI from
the mIscuic' ou- amgndmcnt moved hy Julian.
and ut once passed without objection AZ
that time h1d never seen SIR. Caldwell but
you can toll h'W that, without knowing h.
did him great favor smc"rcly yours
w FIshcr. Jr.. FsI. no. = india st. Boston
The letter explains what was brought
ont in thc first lcttcr, how Blaine. ms
Speaker, was indeed. emo dcadhead''
in getting the land grant for the road
and 10 put up it- bonds above par. II
possible. II is the most direct and de
tcstable way of marketing an Office and
iOHbing ~ powers ever known In
the plain and strong words Of Mr.
Bccchcr. IL is q "rrvOlting case" Itis
n violation of honor and honesty. n is
% violation of hi- official oath. a man
should let his arm rot to the shoulder
before hc would do or record decd
like shat II shows Mr. Blaine as one
has we'll said. "o state man for revenue
tempered by occasional alterations of
honesty in other words, thrifty. up-
principled greed che rale. honesty. cx-
cept.onal and only occasional. Place
such p man in Che Presidential Office
and what limit would there be to his
traficking? Both bis opportunities and
bis powers would be vastly ercatcrtbap
when Speaker These letters under
bis own hand. show every think NO man
how be would use them and forbid tho
patriotic citizen to aid in placing such
q man whore be could use them.
The fourth letter IS as follows.
IV
Arer.It NO. oct g. i-Gt. NJ, De4y W.
FliU Find .ncIo-od contracts Yf 700 uartf.s
named Iu wF Ictfcr of yD.ItrIqv Tr rt.
manning contracts win Dee c.mu.o. .rI aa r4uII.
l} Hs rf.... ..lnr"e wi.I IrrmIt .un.0.o Volt
UNf NI .|' 'i|f.-"|IfH. f.IuI. ODD Aur.. u
cuut1."U H. Uoiuf to which 4 rrforirI af
some o..'H .H uN previous .oIf.r uF fGaIu..
lou.I. '.|I D. ui inter. fo r.Iu 10 over Hu.i
that B.I n.sIf of fhc sr.sIou Df co.r.. r.
wa. UII ....| NHfN fu mnI. Tho r.f|.u. ,rU.u