Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-06-21

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communication from himself to Boox. He
said he did this to explain the animus OF
Booz in his letter to Mr.. Starke. Mr.. Bel
vim did not file the communication, but
the following Is stenographic report OF
it:
Your letter OF the 25tb received the same day
that you left for Phiiadelphia and left for New
York on important business The following day
received your letter requesting me 20 send you
cashiers check for 800. Now. let US under.
stand each other right here. You must not
make tho statement that l borrowed this
money from you, because It Is lie.
and / will hold you personally responsi.
Bile for 1t, and my receipt 20 you Will
prove This. While In New York stated to you
that q certain member OF the committee In
formed me that after examining the different
fies he was Of the opinion that your ilcs were
the best, but that he felt worried that ne ana
another member OF the committee bad accepted
100 from your competitors TO pay their ex-
penses until the committee was reimputscd py
the city. Representing, as did, your company,
! thought II best TO make this statement 70 you;
and ybu Immediately stated to me that ="
will loan him the money and he can return u 70
nv competitors few days afterward you
handed me the 500 for this party. MY receipt
will show this perfectly. Mr. starke informed
me that he would writo to you stating that had
shown him the committeeman nsscknowlodgment
that he had received the money from me. ne
tells me this morning that he did write you. Ihis
was all that was necessary and Tor that reason
did not write you before.
LETTER THAT srARKE WROTE.
Now hsvo 10 my possession letter that Mr..
Starke wrote and its contents explain for what
purpose this amount was paid, ana am reauy
10 turn IL over to Mr.. Starko II you desire me.
desire TO say that In the interest OF your COM
pany left my business for q week and that have
In every matter acted honorably and honestly TO
win the committee for your work. On my re-
turn home | did not leave an opportu-
nity 10 SEQ every member upon that com.
inittee, the engineers and all, ana contendou
that your work was superior and the reasons
why il was, spending money whenever thouent
IL Was necessary TO entertain and losing great
deal Of time from my own business, for all OF
which have received no remuneration OF any
kind nor did expect anything unless you were
successful and then only 10 the amount OF tue
contract. All that was enabled TO DO ior your
Interest / did as you requested. reiuseu'
as you requested me 10 DO, 10 make
offers to certain committeeman and you
approached other gentlemen here ana
made some propositions. four success II
well known in that respect. Hereafter your
correspondence should be with Mr. Starke. 90
not care to receive any more letters from you
unless you can learn to formulate them Win po-
liteness and In q gentlemanly manner. Your
latter of the 25th is insulting vulgar, and un-
gen,lemanly In tho extreme, and makes no re-
ques. whatever but simply oulldozes.
DID NOT TRY TO BRIBE.
In answer to question from Mr..
Cnrtis Mr. Belvin denied that he had ever
said that he believed every member OF tho
committee could be bribed. He did not.
he added, believe that any member or u
could be bribed. Further, he never had
any money in his hands for the purpose OF
corrupting any one. All his work 10 ,ry-
ing TO secure the contract for the Fenton
l.. x,arfonttv laU1timatn n
and he would not hesitate to do IL over
again. ,.
letter several times that Mr.. Booz tried 10 oripo
some OF the members OF the committee.
MIR. Belyin | did not say that nc trleu 10 plioo
them. | said he approached cef'aih pai''''
here.
Mr. GuIgon: Whom did he approach
Mr. Belvin will make no statement on that
point until Mr.. BOoZ IA present.
Mr.. Gulgon: You said In your letter tnet he
desired you TO buy up certain members anu
then you go on 10 say that he hai bripei ceru,lh
members Of the committee and you moue 'ho
suggestion that this was tmproperI
Mr. Belvn: When he s here | will answer
oyery question, aud not before.
Mr. GugOn: Why are you 30 careiui now,
when You have said before that he Is llar
Mr. Belyin IIe has copy OF that letter. ana
have a copy also, and also his answer 10 my
letter. in which he Apologies.
Mr. Guigon Then you decline to explain any
thing further untu ne comes nero
Mr. Belyin: | do.
ABOUT THOSE HATS, AGAIN.
Mr.. Guigon recurred TO the hat incident
and asked Mr.. Epps it no had not stated
that BOoZ gave him hat. Mr.. Epps re-
piled that he did Mr. Guigon then de-
sired to know If Mr. Epps had heard an
agreement made in the street that II
should be said the hats came from MIR. Ed
wards. Mr.. Epps replied that be had not.
Mr.. Guigon: Did you hear of any such
agreement being made anywhere else.
MIR. Epps: | decline TO answer.
MIR. Guigon then moved that the COM
mittee go into executive session TO formu-
late its report, as he did not. he said, be-
lieye that Booz would ever appear. but be-
tore the motion was put MIR. Epps asked
the indulgence of the committee III order
that he might make statement.
STATEMENT OF MR.. EPPs.
Mr.. Epps said he regretted the absence
of Nr. Booz. Mr. Belvin had said that he
would have gone into details except for
hi, friendship for him (Epps). No man
should sail under false colors at his lthe
speaker's) expense. All that Mr.. Belvin
had TO do was 10 have told a straightfor-
ward. honest story and all this Inyestiga-
tion business would have been over thirty
davs ago. He (Epps) knows that he had
acted indiscreetly, and had so admit
ted. But was 1t friendship to show
a private note? II SO, he did not want
that Kind of friendship. The whole truth
of the matter was they could not get him
TO do what they wanted him to do. lie
had great respect for Colonel Cutshaw s
oplnion and deferred TO him III matters
that he (the speaker knew nothing about,
but on mere question OF the quality OF
mechanical goods he acted on his own
Judgment. In this matter an effort
had been made TO make 1t APP
pear that he controlled the whole
vote. The whole truth was that a
few people endeavored to get a political
pull on the committee and failed. lie al
mitted that these tried to work the COM
mIttee for all il was worth. As 10 the
statement that he had said the Fenton
goods were worth 10 or 20 per cent. more
than the Others he could not have said 1t
if he was IN his right senses. Mr..
Starke had affirmed that he had
made such declaration and all
of his witnesses had gone back on him ex-
cept Mr.. Belvin, and nc had come with a
refreshed memory. Now these two gen.
tlemen came forward and hatly contra
dicted each other regarding the Starke let
ter. Would he asked. the testimony OF
either be taken in a court OF equity
ILaughter.l Did it not look little slngu-
lar that he (Epps) should be singled out
from a committee of nine TO be shot
The committee, he said, WAS composed OK
men who did their own thinking. and yet
the effort had been made 70 produce the
impression that no decided the question
as TO the contracts.
At the conclusion of Mr.. Epps's state
ment the investigating committee went
into executive session and so renamed Tor
several hours, Their report will not be
made public until it goes to the Council.