Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-10-07
HOW MIR: BLAINE MADE MONEY
Enterprises i'm Which He Accumulated a
Fortune Without Risk.


Fortune Without Risk.
started the other day to make an esti-
mate Of how much money had been paid
TO Mr.. Blaine by railroad corporations
and private persons while he was in Con-
gress, says a Washington correspondent
Of the Boston Herald, for which the only
possible consideration on his part was the
use OF his influence as a member of Con-
gress I'm their behalf. The first thing
remembered was that Mr.. Blaine got II
One-thOusand-dOllar bonds Of the Kansas
Pacific Railway from J. b. Stewart at the
time when the government mortgage
was made a second mortgage. The
evidence Of this was the
statement of Mr.. j. W. KnOwltOn. who
was a clerk IN Stewards law Office, and
who was called in to witness the transfer.
In a suit which went 10 the Supreme
Court Stewart filed a record of an assign
ment OF these bonds, and il is to be seen
there to-day. Ii Mr.. Blaine is elected he
Will be the first member of Congress
whose corruption is a part of the records
OF the Supreme Court of the United
states. Mr. KnOwltOn personally know.
lie was an able and honorable lawyer
and journalist. He had no motive to mis-
state facts about Mr.. Blaine, against
whom he had no personal cause of COM
plant. Mr.. Blaine's subsequent efforts
10 cast discTedit upon KnOwltOn's state
ments caused a rupture between his
tather-ln-law, the Hon. A. g. Riddle (Gar.
fields friend and biOgrapher) and Mrs.
Blaine.
next remembered the Little Rock and
Fort Smith affair, in which, as Mr..
Fishers letters prove, Mr.. Blaine, instead
Of being loser, came out with a hand
some profit. lt is difficult to say just how
much he got out of it-theIe is so much
trickery and lying about the business
but II Is probable he did not make less
than $4,000 out of that. All the bonds
he took back from the Maine people and
sold 10 Tom Scott, +. b. Hayes, and the
other railroad men, he sold at an advance.
IL would not be surprising if he made a
good deal more than $4,000 out of it. 1t
is sufficiently clear that he got $64 00C
from Tom Scott alone to help HIM out
with his Maine friends. All the bonds he
took back from them he sold at a profit.
He got paid twice over for the S24,O he
advanced to Mr.. Pratt. 1t was a ''yery
soft thingn for him in the end, in spite OF
all his pititul letters to MIR. Fisher.
next recurred to the Northern Pacific
transactions. This is first introduced to
us IN the letter Of Blaine to Warren
Fisher, of Nov. %, 1870, wherein he pro-
poses to Fisher to buy a One-twenty-tOurth
share of the Northern Pacific for SIS, 900,
which sum Fisher paid to him. Mr..
Blaine held this sum evidently to use TO
compel Fisher to settle up some other
matters. Finally Blaine was forced to
pay back this money. L can here con-
tribute a useful little fact to the sum OF
human knowledge about Mr.. Blaine's
railroad transactions. He sold this very
interest to Mr.. Frederick Billings, Of Yer
mont, for a larger sum Of money. At the
same time an arrangement was made by
which JAY Cooke bought a house for him
here, and took North Pacific mort age
that is, be was given certain securities
| and evidently used them to pay for the
house. ] am informed that all these Sc.
| curities were presented to him by Jay
| Co Ike, and never cost him cent. III he
ever paid Mr.. Cooke any money, MI
/ Cooke is alive and can testify to the fact
From this quarter he must have received
considerably more than $4,000.
next remembered all the details of q
transaction by which Mr.. Blaine made
S57. coo out of lie construction company O
the Iowa Fails and Sioux City Railroad
The facts were given to me by the man
who engineered the whole concern: Mr
Abner COburn was allowed TO InYes
something over 100000 for a short time
and Blaine never put in a cent. 1t was
| in fact. a gift to him. 1t was given to hin
| because he was in Congress ana was
useful friend. 1t was given to him tol
| precisely the same reason that Oakes
Ames placed the Credit MOblller stOci
| where it would do the most good"
| l next remembered that Blaine was {
| shareholder in the Credit MObilieF on thu
| same terms as G or better terms than
/ Dawes. Garfield. Wilson, Bingham, anC
| all the rest of the statesmen. believe
state a fact within the personal knowl
/ edge Of Mr.. Dawes when l say that Oakes
| Ames allowed Mr.. Blaine to cut out the
| page Of the little memorandum book, anC
/ afterward went into the committee room
| and held his silence, While MIR. Blaine
| swOre himself out of the scrape. MIR
| John B. Alley has often and most posi-
/ lively assured me that any statemeE
/ from any quarter that Mr.. Ames cOrrobo
| rated Mr.. Blaine on that occasion wai
| incorrect, aud he insists strenuously tina
/ Mr.. Ames never told an untruth on ina
/ or any other occasion. l believe him. Mr.
/ Blaine was a stOckhOlder in the Credi
/ MObilier. There is page gone from tn
| memorandum book. It is the page tha
| once contained the memorandum of wha
| was paid to him.
Since that time Mr.. Blaine has been pU
into a great many good things by men wh'
| have had interests before Congress. Id
went into Richmond and Allegheny ant
4
! staid in to lose. Now, take these trans
| actions mentioned, and we have:
| Kansas and Pacific bribe .-..-......-.S 1900
| Little Rock and Fort Smith bribe .-... 5o,0
| Northern Pacific bribe .-....-....-....- COCO
i Iowa Falls and Sioux City ...-----. 800
Il Credit MObilier .--.....---......-....-.- 1000
| Total .--.--.......----.-. .-.....--.--- SlSg,OO
In addition to all this he was agent 70
| the Spencer rifles: he speculated in whis
| Ky; he is alleged by Augusta people Z
| have been up to his eyes in the pape
| credit swindle; he is believed to hav
shared handsomely in the 100000 Of Pa
4, cific Mail Company money that was di
| vided among members of Congress, ant
| heaven knows what other things hav
| come in his way. 1t is a moderate esti
| mate that Mr.. Blaine has gathered In be
| tween 500, ,OOC and 100000 in cash with
| out a cent of actual investment, and al
| bvreasOn OF his position in Congress.
| n