, 1891-02-17
After Lo These Many Moons 1t
Is at Last, Heard.
He Addresses the United States
Senate in His Own Defense.
The Charges False and Foul
to the Core" He Says.
His Stronghold Seems to Be a
General Denial.
In the Senate.

bill was agreed to tor the Establishment
of telegraphic communication with the
Hawaiian Islands, and agreed to afterwards
in Ter senate-yeas 80, NAYS %.
Qray addressed the senate in refuta-
ton OF the charges circulated against him.
He said. in part: Never, probably.
since Alexander Hamilton was hunted to
his death, has one IN public life been
pursued SO persistentlv and Indignantly.
The field of mslign effort has been the
entire Union. The assaults were of a
character so monstrous as largely to carry
with them their wi REPUTATION. Were
it otherwise, l could not remain, nor
would M constituents permit me TO re-
main, a member of this senate. Now,
when no heated political conflict Is raging,
when neither hope nor fear can be deemed
the inspiration of my utterance. [ choose
briefly to confront the accusation with
truth. 1t is not my purpose to weary
the senate by a rehearsal Of each detail OF
the mass OF misrepresentation. Nevertbe-
less. avoiding prolixity, l will endeavor t o
make this statement specific and 80 com
plete as 10 be final.
The first assertion concerning my Off
cial acts Is that at some time, or cOntinu-
ously, bet Seen the years of 1879 and
1882, L alone, OF acting with another, or
others, used moneys OF the state of Penn
s~Ylvania for speculative or private pur-
poses. | d~enounce the statement as alb
~solutely false. In 1877 the Democratic
party of Pennsylvania elected a stite
treasurer and auditor general, the fDan-
cial officers Of the commonwealth. A
year or W later, pending their terms OF
office, | became engaged in stock opera
tons. 10 some transactions | was asso-
ciated and Jointly interested with a gentle
man who was at that time cashier of the
late treasurer. These transactions proved
seriously disastrous and | was com PEELED
to pay n portion of his losses as well as Of
my own. In doing this it became neces-
sarv TO supply an alleged deficiency he
had caused in the treasury. As a portion
OF n fund for this purpose | borrowed
500. 900 from the gentleman who is at
present my colleague in the senate. |
gave nv Judgment note therefor. the
mou of which note | paid him, dollar
for dollar, years ago. Not until the be-
ginning of the settlement OF our losses
was | aware that a deficiency existed, and
L had every assurance that my associate
was able to carry his share OF The losses.
Regarding the charge that again |
used moneys belonging to the common
wealth OF Pennsylvania to purchase
bonds or stock OF the Chicago street rail
way, l would say | borrowed the money
upon nv own collateral from the Peoples
hanE IN DhIla1alphio IT, n.ln n..s
BILE securities held by the state OF Penn
sylvania are the registered bonds of the
United States, transferable only in the
books of the national treasury by the
auditor general, secretary of the common.
wealth and state cashier, acting CO.
jointly. after having filed a certificate
with the governor in their official charac-
ter.
The charge that | d~efrauded. or at
tempted TO deiraud. is also absolutely
false, There breathes not upon this
earth a man or woman who can truth
fully say | ever d~etrauded, or attempted
TO detraud, him or her of a dollar. Upon
this point, charity tn the dead and to the
living forbids my making any personal ex-
PLANTATION. Samuel Cuisine Thompson, a
member from PHILADELPHIA and president
of the Young Mems Democratic Assocla.
ton of that city. is one of several thor
oughly coDversant with the facts who can
give them to the pu5lio if they are
proper.
Referring to his action as a member OF
the board of pardons of Pennsylvania, in
voting for the pardon of certain mem
bers of the legislature aud others upon
whom sentence was passed for bribery,
Quay said tee facts were thoroughly dis
cussed before his election as state treas
urer, and subsequently to the senate. He
bad no personal interest in the legislation
involved. His vote was 10 accordance
with the law and with the action of his
colleagues, and was compelled by the fact
that the sentence imposed by the court
was illegal. The attorney general filed
his opinion with their decision.
The charge that l attempted to pro-
cure the pardon OF a mau named Lynch,
under sentence for forgery, by threats, de-.
livered personally to Mr.. Bvers of Pitts
burg, ia a lie. Equally false is the Story
of his escape from the Pittsburg rioters
Of 1877 under the tutelage of Dalzell."
Quay said he would have to dive into
ancient history to dispose of the charge of
bribery n corruption as q member of the
Pennsvlvania legislature, nearly twenty
five years ago, in connection with the ac-
ton for libel against the then editor OF
the Pittsburg Commercial. with
characteristic malignity my assailants
have been careful to emphasize the fact
that the case was never pushed for trial.
They fail to state that the libel was re-
tracted and the defendants paid the costs
of the case and fees of counsel. In the
preliminary hearing an effort was made
to show that | was a rich man, the iunu.
endo being that my wealth was unlawfully
acquired. | had been protbonotary for
Beaver county from 1856 to 1861, when l
resigned to go into the union army; served
as private secretary to Governor CuTtin,
military agent of the state in this CITY,
chief of the state department of trauspor.
tation aud telegraph, and for three terms
had been a member of the Pennsylvania
Legislature. My recollection is that the
examination disclosed the fact that after
nearly twelve years of industry and oppor-
tunitv my fortune was S. 5000.
The accusation that over twenty years
ago l attempted to bride Alexander P.
Tuition, then supervisor of internal reve-
nue. for the eastern district OF Pennsyl.
vania, to prevent the seizure of an illicit
dlstillery, is a wicked and malicious false
hood. Tuition is now living at Dowing-
ton, Pa, and his reports are on file, /
presume. in the internal revenue bureau.
The statement has been made that
when the present high license statute of
Pennsylvania was pending in the legisla-
tures OF that state, the liquor dealers of
Philadelphia and PIttsburg raised a sum.