Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-12-08
GEN. VANDEVER
An Old Hand on Fraudu-
lent Seats.
THE GENERALS" CAREER.
He Commands Brigade i'll Arkan-
sas and Holds Seat III
the House.

detailed the method by which he held
seat in the Thirty seventh Congress Of
the United States against the attempts
of Hon. Legrand Byington to unseat
him. lie there is said to have stated
that che would worry Lynch for cou.
pie of years as he had worried Bying-
ton." The publication of this matter
was stupidity unfortunate for the post
pleiocene "Gigadier-Brindle."
Mr.. Byington happened to visit this
city very recently, and to remain here
for some days. During Lis stay he
CHANGED to take up copy OF the paper
containing the partial account of the
story of his effort to get his seat which
the General" occupied by gross
fraud. Later he met HERALD report
er and after some conversation he re-.
ferred to the interview. The conversa-
ton developing interesting phases, the
reporter said;
"Mr. Byington, would you mind
giving me the details of the natter"
Mr.. Byington answered.: "Surely, l
shall be most pleased to do so. In the
fall of 1860 Vandever was reelected q
member of the Thirty seventh Congress
from the Second District of the State of
Iowa. He went ON to Washington in
December, as he had been in the Thirty.
sixth Congress from the same District.
The war broke out, and right upon that
Vandever was commissioned Brigadier-
General. The law is specific that such
appointment disqualified him to sit in
Congress. The District was Republican
by 5000 majority or more, and | had
run on the Democratic ticket there
many times, sure of being beaten. but
determined to maintain the autonomy
OF our party. ran again
to fill the vacancy caused by Van.
dever's resignation, as we supposed he
had resigned or would resign to take
command of his Brigade. /
got my certificate of election.
went on to Washington and presented
it, To my surprise | found the ''Briga-
dier.General"s $. IL fast rooted in the seat
and enjoying the emoluments of the
dual position. He drew his pay in the
army and he drew his pay in the House.
l at once entered my protest and the
matter was referred to the Committee
on Elections belonging to the Houae,
That committee was composed of such
men as Dawes, os Massachusetts,, Nor.
rell of Maine, Voorhees, of Indiana,
Spalding of New York, and other such
men of national reputation. The COM
mittee, was of course, largely Republi.
can. 1t took five full months to inves-
tigate the case. There was the "Gen-
srai" with his commission in his
pocket--and his pay too. There
seat in the House, and hi, pay
with that OF the General" in the other
pocket so as to balance him evenly when
he came sailing down Pennsylvania
avenue--this Honorable, Congressional
Gigadier-Briudle. There was the law
plain as print on the statute book for.
bidding any man to hold such dual
position. In due time--or rather in
very undue time, this committee that
had held back the report so long by
virtue of it's Spalding's glue for Dawes
to peck at deigned to report the case
back to the House. So manifest was my
right that the report was unanimously
for my side l ma urally thought
should get my seat. Men like John Jay
Crittenden and Roscoe Conkling ha
made speeches during the debate in the
House on my side of the question. But,
bless your soul did not know the
General" 30 well then, nor his method
of conducting practical politics. as
did later. Republicanism was new
thing under the sun, and none of us
then knew much of its methods. There
this Republican House kept me dancing
attendance on it, and all in vain until
Congress closed. The vacation ended |
and went back. 1t was the same old
story. There sat the General" in my
seat drawing his pay with religious reg.
ularity Here he pirade6 the avenues |
of the city of magnificent distances as a |
Brigadier. General, drawing the salary, |
and probably allowance for rations, etc i,
as General in the army with the same |
scrupulous exactitude. l appealed |
to General Halleck, then commander |
in.Chief of the Army to order Vandever
to the front to join his brigade. could
make no impression in that quarter.
charged him with drawing the double
salary. He unblus hngly denied it. l
knew he lied, and went and got the
documents to show he was drawing the
two salaries, and that he had lied in de-
nying it. The first session closed and
still on he sat in my seat. The nation
was in the throes of the fierce struggle.
Blood and treasure were being peure d
upon the earth like so much water.
This man fattened on the dual salaries,
one of which he was obtaining by hold.
ing q fraudulent seat in Congress, and
one of which he was doing notE.
ing to earn. Another vacation came and
here was appealing to the deaf partizans
of this "God and morality" Con-
gress for my rights. When in the next
December Congress met, and it was the
same old story, / went to Stanton. Sec.
retary of War, and an old friend. l told
nv story and asked him to order the
"General" to the front. Stanton said
he would. He did, but the end of June
and the middle of July came, and few
hours before the Thirth. seventh Con-
eress came to an end, in sheer mockery,
and to make formal entry in their rec
ord they brought in resolution which
passed in words as follows:
"April IL, 1862. The Election Com.
mittee reported unanimously resolu.
ton that VIM Vandever has not been
entitled to q seat as member of this
house since the Oath of Septemb
1851" The session ended July IL,
1862.
This case will be found in the Con.
gressional Globe of the second session
Of the Thirty.seventh Congress, under
the style of Byington vs. Vandever, on
pages 4, 80, 1913, 655, 76O, 500, 947, 1922,
1883 202l, 2022, 2023. The resolution
given above is on pages 775 and 1920.
Part II of the Globe of that session ends
with page 1920; part IV opens with
page 2SSI. Part III / could not find
here in the city, or | could have given
IL &c tl,a