St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-02-17
QUAY TRIES TO QUASH
The Publie's Indictment Un-
der Which He Has Grown
RestiVe.
An Exhaustive Answer to
Each and Every Charge
Against Him.
He Takes Them Up Seriatim
and Wakes Truly Volpble
if Not Eloquent.
lie Defends Himself With No
Little Vigor, and Pauses
for Reply.

for Reply.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16.-In the sem
ate Mr.. Quay rose and addressed the
senate in refutation of charges circuat-
ed against him. He said: Never. prob
ably, since Alexander Hamilton was
hunted to his death, has one in public
life been pursued so persistently and
Indignantly. The field of the malign
effort has been the entire Union. The
assaults were of character SO mon
Strous as largely to carry with them
their own refutation. Were it other
wise l could not remain, nor would my
constituents permit me to remain,
a member of this senate. Partly
through Indifference to slander, as
weapon which has never had place in
my political arsenal, and partly
by the advice of friends, who urged me
TO treat the assassins Of reputation as
undeserying of open controversy, have
permitted, without comment, the pass
ing of the flood OF falsehood. Its NAL
Odorous waters chance, at this time, to
be quiescent; and now, when no heated
political conflict is raging, when neither
hope nor fear can be deemed tine in
spiration of my utterance, | choose
briefly to confront accusation with truth.
] would not allude to this subject in
this presence, had not the members OF
the other house made it matter OF
debate there. Looking to the future,
and knowing that the records Of this
congress will remain for other genera
tionS to read, when most of us cOmpoS-
Ing it will be forgotten, L choose, for
the truth of history, and for that which
is dearer to all Wen than riches, to dis
pei
The Mist of FaIsehOOd
with the clear light of fact. 1t is not
my purpose to weary the senate by
rehearsal of each detail of the mass of
Misrepresentation. Nevertheless, avoid
ing prOlixity, | will endeavor to make
this statement specific and so complete
as to be final. If any thread i'll the fab
ric of falSehOod remains unSe vered, it
will be because this tissue of lies is so
complex, is so raveled with cOntradic-
tion and clouded with inSinuati0n, that
some insignificant portion has escaped
my attention.
The first assertion concerning my
official acts is that at some time, or con-
tinuously between the years of 1879 and
1882, alone. or acting with another or
others, used the moneys of the state of
Pennsylvania for speculative or private
purposes. | denOunce this statement
as absolutely false. In 1877 the Demo-
cratic party of Pennsylvania elected a
state treasurer and ali auditor general,
the financial officers of the common
wealth. A year or two later, pending
their terms of Office, became engaged
IN stock operations. In some transac-
ti0nS | was associated and jointly inter
ested with the gentleman VINO was at
the time cashier of the late treasury.
These transactions proved seriously dis
aStrous, and | was compelled to pay q
portion of his losses, as we'll as my own,
In doing this it became necessary 10
supply an alleged deficiency he had
caused in the treasury. AS portion of
the fund for this purpose, l borrowed
100000 from the gentleman who is at
present my colleague in the senate. 1
gave him my judgment note therefor,
the amount OF which note l paid to
him
Dollar for Dollar
years ago. Not until the beginning of
the settlement OF our losses was /
aware that a deficiency existed, and |
had every assurance that my associate
was able to carry his share of the losses.
My connection Herewith was simply
with the aid of friends to raise the nee
essary funds to supply the deficit. 1t is
charged that | again used moneys be-
longing to the commonwealth of Penn
BylvanIa to purchase bonds or stock, or
both, of Chicago street railway. |
sAnl G,;n H., L. ~
to join in the purchase Of street railway
rowing the money upon my own
collateral from the Peoples bank,
in Philadelphia. | stood upon the
same footing with the other gentlemen
concerned; and it was a perfectly
straightforward transaction. and had no
, connection in any way with any public
fund or public interest. The charge
that securities belonging to the state of
Pennsylvania were used in this trans
action is false and impossible of truth.
The only negotiable securities held by
the state of Pennsylvania are the regis
tered bonds of the United States, trans
ferable only on the books of the ma
tiOnal treasury by the auditor general,
secretary of the commonwealth and
state treasurer, acting coujointly, after
having filed certificate with the
governor IN their official char
acter. Collateral to this last accusation
is a charge that | defrauded. or at
tempted to defraud, the widow of
deceased FREUD. This is also
Absolutely False.
There breathes not upon the earth
man or woman who can tr0thfully say
that l ever defrauded, or attempted to
defraud him or her of dollar. Upon
this point, charity to the dead and TO
the living forbids my making any per-
sonal explanation. Samuel Gustne
Thompson, of PHILADELPHIA, and presi-
dent of the Young Mems Democratic
association of that city. is one of several
facts, who can give them to
the public if. they see proper.
/ come HoW<to what might be called the |
fourth ground of criticism for my pub
lie conduct. This was my action as |
member of the board of pardons of |
Pennsylvania, in voting for the pardon |
OF certain members of the PennSylVa- |
Ma legislature and others upon whom |
sentence had been passed for bribery. |
My conduct in that matter has been |
bitterly asSailed, and it is proper to say |
the facts were patent to the people of |
the state, and thoroughly discussed be- |
fore my election to the Office of state |
treasurer, and subsequently to seat in |
this chamber. / had no personal inter- |
est III the legislation involved. My vote, |
as member of the board of pardons, |
was In accordance with the law and |
with the action of my colleagues, and
was compelled by the fact that the sen-
tence imposed by the court upon the |
persons pardoned was illegal. Upon
this point the attorney general of the |