The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-12
A VINDICATION OF STANTON.
A Preposterous Charge Refuted by the Person
Most Deeply Interested.
Philadelphia s pecial,

Most Deeply Interested.
Philade!p hia pecia.
The Indiana pa News, in its latest ISSUE
prints story in which 1t is asserted that Alex
ander NJ. White. of this city, was imprisoned
during the rebellion by order Of Secretary Stan
ton in pursuance of a scheme to eXtort money
from White, in which plot Stanton was princi-
pal. The story also claims that White, to secure
his release, was compelled to pay $50, 500, and
that when, after the war, the Matchmaking
scheme was about to be exposed, Stanton cut his
throat in order to avoid the ignominy that
would consequently attach to it, The tale is
told with considerable detail, aId a giving of
figures and dates that lend to it an air of credi
bility.
Mr.. White, himself, this evening, on being
shown the article, said: 1.-THE story is true, so
far as it goes, except the implication of Mr..
Stanton who was my friend in the end and en-
deavored, as far as laid in his power to see JUS
tice done me. In December, 1862, l was a con-
tractor with the government for forage to some
extent. and in very large transactions through
other contractors.
Il was at the time supplying nearly all the
forage contractors for the army with OATS hav-
ing managed to obtain control of nearly all the
oats in the country. The oat crop Of 1862 was a
failure and the Eastern oats so light that they
were but little better than chaff, weighing but
sixteen or eighteen pounds to the bushel. At
my suggestion the government, through Colonel
ingalls,, Deputy Quartermaster general, had
agreed to accept twenty pounds of corn and
tracts in that proportion were duly executed, and
millions Of pounds of forage had been delivered
when my arrest took place At the same time
Charles Copeland, of Baltimore, and John Hill
and other forage contractors whose names can
hot at the moment remember, and A. c. Hall, of
Baltimore, who chartered vessels for the gov
eminent, were arrested. Adam HI. Workman
of this city forage contractor, subsequently
president of the Fourth and Eighth Street Rail
way, was to have been arrested but l believe
made terms and avoided it."
Mr.. White says they were all arrested under q
warrant issued by Assistant Secretary of War
Peter w. Watson, by order of Lafayette G.
Baker, Chief of the Secret Service, and locked
up in the old Capitol Prison; that Baker accused
them of cheating the government, and demanded
of him (White) $4,000 for his release that
subsequently he (White) paid Baker $50, 900 and
was released after nine days Imprisonment.
White adds that: During Johnsons presidency,
when he and Stanton were fighting, l met, by
appointment, Stanton and Baker at the Cont
mental Hotel. There Baker confessed in the
presence of Stanton and myself, that my arrest
and that of the other contractors, in 1862, was
the result Of blackmail conspiracy between
himself (Baker) and Assistant Secretary of War
Watson and that there never had been any
charge against us upon which an arrest could be
ordered. Stanton vigorously denounced the
transaction as an outrage, and promised me that
my money should go back to me-"
The money, White says was subsequently, by
order of General Schoield, paid to him through
the Metropolitan National Bank of Washington
How the War Department ever squared the
transaction with the Treasury has often puzzled
him.