The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1885-04-02

GENERAL GRANT - a WITNESS.
Heouiisoiious NJ The Msrinu u4nk Affairs
-ud nis identity wan fish nni
Ward-nis idea 90 Govern
ntnt Contracts, Etc,
Nav YoRK, March a. Tho deposi.

] Nhv YORK, March A,-lho depOsl'
ton OF 0on. Grant, taken in his house
by tho official stonographor OF the
court, IN the trial Of oX'PTesi-
| d0nt Fish, OF the Marine bank,
was road ia court to-day. Cen. Grant
/ testified AZ follows upon examination by
/ counsel for thu defense, by Mr.. Nlark'
/ Grant q Wardg
Answer Yes sir, | am informed
was At the time the failure took place.
never knew was anything else than
! u special partner clear 10 tho ond, i
paid IN, say $4,000 first, then $4,000
nulU, l don't remember tho dates. |
paid In $4,000.
Con May II, 1854, what did you un-
! deIstgHd you were WORTH
Ans.-I supposed that / WAS worth
well nigh SliOpO,0O. / had no
suspicion OF ,., any Tasc ,Hi,y!,
Regarding my first acquaintance
was upon the introduction
| by myself aud Ward. / suppose II you
should go clear back, that Il was my
son who got acquainted with Fer
dinand Ward, through Wards brother
and that acquaintance was led On 10 in
that way. had recollection, after the
allure, OF receiving letter rom
a. Long Branch. went
down ttero Ia the middle
OF June. / don't suppose that / over
saw that one published. / have q
recollection of receiving letter and
setting down and wriiug an answer at
once, and the substance of the an
swoT was that L had a
aud that Il was doubtful when 1 should
DO able 10 90 10 soc him; that If 1 could
! would, bu l believed the matters that
his ilrm was engaged in were all right,
! or something 10 that effect.
Haven't YOU any recollection as to
what hg. become ofthaI letterY
hns,--N0 sir, | have not. / never
have boon In tho habit Of preserving
| private letters, and n was 20 try
! suppose / SHOULD make
poor record. My business ia life has
been such that somebody else has al
ways taken care of my letters
II they had 10 be saved, and
tho only way have nov
of preserving letters that | wish to pre-
serve until do something with them,
is TO put them in my pocket or my
ten when 1 want to LOOK
at letter il is about
The last ono / find. I might state here,
although | don't know whether it would
have any effect or not, at the
time went into the firm
| had very small income,
but had sOmo money that my son had
saved Tor me while vas abro@d-some
money that l had lott aud which h6 had
saved So i'I so&S Of 'n"' it, and H he
az 2 special p4rtGer-spacial, not gen
eral. Generously, as l Thought then
proposed TO lot me haye halt mis- inter-
est in tho firm 20 l would have an in
come 10 I've upon, and there was after
wards an income raisedfor me,and AFTER
that the firm generously concluded
partner.
Cruss-exemination by counsel for the
government, by Mr.. Root: Gen. Grant,
what was tho hour at which YOU were
accustomed to reach your , flee in the
morning, when you were staying at
Long Branch, in the summer of 1882?
Ans.--Ten O'Clock was about my ar
irving time at the office,
Odd you observe i'll the letter
which you received from Fish, the an
swer TO which has been identified Ivy
you, and which is entirely in your hand
writing, any reference to government
contracts?
Ans.-No; there was not; had told
Mr.. Ward when it was mentioned that
there never must DO any government
contracts there. There is noGhing wrong
in being engaged in government
contracts more than anything else, uu-
less made wrong by the acts of an indi
vidual But / had boon president OF
the United States and did
not think it was suitable
to have my name connected
with government contracts, and knew
there was no large profit i'll them OK
cept by dishonest measures. There are
some men who got government con
out, and whether they managed
their affairs dishOne thy to make profit
or not, they are sometimes supposed to,
and ! did not think it was any place for
me.
Q-And you did not find in that letter
that you read any reference to anything
of that sort?
Ans.-I did not find nything of that
sort, or should ave stopped; but as y
matter of fact | may never have seen |
that letter. Mr.. Ward may have just
simply given me statement of the con-
tents of that letter.
Q-What did you understand to be |
the relations OF tho firm of Grant d |
Ward to the Marine bank?
Ans.-Well, knew Ward was q di- |
rector there, and seemed to have great |
deal to do with it, but never supposed |
there was anything wrong about it,
Odd you, at any time, know or
understand that the firm Of Grant u |
Ward had engaged in government con-
tracts, or in furnishing money to be
used in carrying on government con-
tracts?
Ans.-I never knew of but one COR
tract. That is where he said there was |
a transaction of that kind, and l ques- |
toned and he said he had |
just been out and bought $1,000 bushels
of oats. 1t was to be purchased in
Chicago, to be delivered. He told |
mo the date when it was to be delivered,
money to do it with, and that |
he was doing it for certain
stipulated amount, but that the contract
was let to other parties. l didn't sse
that there was anything |
the matter with that. A
the government for quantity of
could be purchased very east
ly ON the Chicago market.
/ said l didn't see anything wrong in
that, as we had no contract
then. Afterwards 1 began to
hear that it was not
long before there would be failure.
Whisper were around that he was say
ing he had government contracts,
and / questioned him about
it, and he said he had
no such thing. He said he wouldn't do |
anything that was going to injure me,
or anything l requested him
not to do, and said he
had no contracts any where.
1t had been said he had city contracts,
and he as much as SAID to me
he was very well acquainted