The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1891-02-21
QUAY BREAKS SILENCE.
Senator Quay, of Pennsylvania
Answers His Accusers-
A General and Specific Denial OF the
Many and Serious Charges Made
Against Him by Polit-
icsl Opponents

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1I.-At the close
of the executive session of the Senate
yesterday, Mr.. Quay, of Pennsylvania,
being recognized, spoke as follows:
Never probably, since Alexander Hamil-
| ton was hunted to his death, has one public
| life been pursued so persistently and malg-
nantly. The field of the malign effort has
| been the entire Union. The assaults were of
4 character 50 monstrous As largely to carry
| with them their own refutation. Were ii
| otherwise. could not remain, nor could my
4 Constituents permit me to remain member
1 OF the Senate.
4 Partly through Indifference to slander-a
y weapon which has never had place in my
Il political arsenal-and partly by the advice
of friends, who urged me to treat the
| sassins of reputation as undcserving of open
| controversy, have permitted, without com
| ment. the passage of the flood of falsehood.
/ Its malodOrous waters chance at this time to
he quiescent, and now when no heated polit-
| ical conflict is raging; when neither hope
| nor fear can be deemed the inspiration of
my utterance. I choose briefly to confront
| accusation with truth. l would not allude
to this subject in this presence had not mem
bers of the other house made it a matter of
debate there Looking II the future and
knowing that the records of this Congress
VII itHldln lOT OlutF generations TO Itlu
when most of composing IL will be for
gotten, choose. for the truth of history. and
for that which is dearer to all men than
riches, to dispel the mist of falsehoOd with
the clear light of fact.
1t Is not my purpose to weary the Senate
by rehearsal of each detail of the mass of
mi>representati ons: nevertheless, avoiding
prOliNity, will make this speech so com
plcte as to be final II any thread in the
fabric of falSrhood remains unsevered, it
will be because this tissue of lies is com
pick, is 50 rIveled with contradiction and
clOuded with insinuatiOn that some insig-
nificant portion has escaped my attention.
The first assertion concerning my official
acts Is that at some time, or continuously
, between the years of 1873 and lsS1, ] alone, or
acting with another or others, used the
moneys Of the state of Pennsylvania for
speculative or private purposes. denounce
this statement "a absolutely false. In 1871
the Democratic party of Pennsylvania
elected a State Treasurer and an Auditor
General, the financial officers of the Com
monwcalth. A year or two Later, pending
their terms in office, became engaged in
stock operations. In some transaction !
WIS associated and jointly Interested with
the gentleman who was at that time the
cashier of the state treasury. These trans
actions proved seriously disastrous, and
was compelled to pay portion Of his losses
as well my own In doing
this it, became necessary to sup
ply an alleged deficiency he had
caused in the treasury. As a portion of the
fund for this purpose, l borrowed s1OO,OO0
from the gentleman who is at present my
colleague in the Senate. gave him my
Judgment note therefor, the amount of which
note paid to him dollar for dollar years
ago. Not until the beginning of the settle
ment of our losses WIS | aware that a de-
figsgucN a. and I had yrr
that my associate was able to carry his
share of the losses. My connection there
after was simply. with the aid OF friends, to
raise the necessary funds to supply the de-
ficit.
II is charged that again used moneys be-
longing to the Commonwealth of Pennsyl-
vana to purchase bonds, or stock, or both,
of a Chicago street railway. / was invited
by friends in Philadelphia to join in the pur
chase of street railway property in Chicago,
and did so, borrowing the money upon my
own collateral from the Peoples Bank in
Philadelphia stood upon the same foot
ing with the other gentlemen concerned,
and II was a perfectly straightforward bus-
ness transaction, and had no connection in
any way with any public fund or public in
terest. The charge that securities belong
sng to the State of Pennsylvania were used in
this transaction is false. and impossible of
truth. The only negotiable securities held
by the State o: Pennsylvania are the regis
tered bonds of the United States, transfera-
BILE only on the books of the National
Treasury. by the Auditor General. Secretary
of the Commonwealth and State Treasurer.
acting cOnjOintly, after having filed certain
certificates with the Governor in their official
character.
Collateral to this last accusation il a
charge thI i defrauded attempted to
defraud the widow of a deceased friend |
not upon the earth man or woman who can |
truthfully say that I ever defrduded or at
tempted to defraui him or her of dollar |
Upon this point charity to the dead and to |
the living fOrbids my making any personal |
explanation. Samuel Gustiue Thompson, Il |
member of the Philadelphia bar and prcsi- |
dent of the Young Mems Democratic Asso |
citation of that city, is one of several |
thoroughly conversant with the facts who |
can give them to the public il they see |
proper.
come now to what might be called the |
fourth ground OF criticism of my public con |
duet. This was my action as Il member OF !
the Board of = ar'lUns of Pennsylvania in |
voting for the pardon of certain member Of |
the Pennsylvania Legislature and others.
upon whom sentence had been passed for |
bribery. My conduct in that matter has |
been bitterly aSSail"d, and il is proper to |
say that the facts were patent to the people |
of the State, and were thoroughly discussed |
before my election to the office of state |
Treasurer, and subsequently to a seat in this |
chamber. ] had no personal! interest in the |
leg Station in, Owed. My vote a. a member Of |
the Board of Pardons was in accordance with |
the law and " Ith the action Of my colleagues |
and was competed by the fact that the sen |
tence imposed by the court upon the per |
sons was illegal Upon this point the At |
torney General Of the state filed his written |
opinion with our decision. I am frank t. |
say have regrets for that vote and |
would repeat It under the same circum- |
stances, even had not the sentence been un-
lawful-that It is my opinion that the end of /
justice had been fully served by the cDnvic-
tiOn of the defendants. One of the gentle
men involved has within the last few weeks |
received the Unan imOus thanks of the Penn
sylvans Legislature for important services |
rendered humanity and the state
incidentally. the statement has been made /
that in some unspeciried manner had pro-
cured, or attempted to procure the pardon |
of person named Lynch, under sentence |
for forgery, by threats delivered personally |
to Mr. Bycrs of Pittsburgh. ! can not at this |
day remember the facts the pendency of |
the case. but the charge is lie, for which |
there never was the shadow of a foundation.
Equally false il the wondrnus lyric of my
escape from the Pittsburgh rioters of ls77
under the tuteIage OF Mr. DalzelI.
1t Is necessary to pass into history some
what ancient in order to dispose of the /
nebulOus charge of bribery and corruption
as a member of the Pennsylvania Legisiat-
ure nearly twenty five years ago, in con
nectOn with an action for libel against the
then editor of the Pittsburgh 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 retracted and |
that the defendants pleaded nOlle con
tendre. paying the costs of the case and
the fees Of the counsel. | may mention
in passing that in the prelimin-
ary hearing an effort was made to show that
] was a rich man, the inuendo being that my
wealth WAS unIawfuIIy acquired. had been
prOthonotary of Beaver County from 1856 to
1851. when ! resigned to go into the Union
army; had served as private secretary to
Governor Curtin; as military agent of the
State in this city; as chief of the state De |
partment of Transportation and TelegI aph.
and for three terms had been a member OF
the Pennsylvania Legislature. My recollec
tion j. that the examination disclosed the
fact that after nearly twelve years Of indus
try and opportunity my fortune was about
eight thousand dollars.
Ii is proper also TO dispose of some state
ments upon which much stress has been
laid. One accusation Is that over twenty
years ago I attempted to bIibe Alexander +.
Tuition, then Supervisor of Internal Revenue
for the Eastern District CT Pennsylvania, to