The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-01-16
RANSOM AN OFFICE BROKER.
Capt. Oldham, One of the Applicants for
the Wilmington P~ostofice, Tells a
Few Things--Thought Bribery

WILMINGTON, Jan. 6.

Editor The CGucdsiGn:-The follow
ing is a copy of a statement which l
sent to the Messenger, but that paper
did not publish il as 1 wrote it. Isend
it to you for publication:
Mr.. Editorials the statement of
the Winston correspondent concerning
the postof1ce appointment which was
copied in your paper on Sunday might
give an erroneous impression, l must
claim the right to give my version of
the matter, and in what I am to say no
feeling of disappointment has any in
huence.
Senator Ransom makes my letter of
Sept. I'd a pretext. He never intended
that 1 should be appointed if in his
power to prevent it. AS far back as
last March-about the time of the in
auguration-he told two gentlemen of
this city that Morton would get the
Wilmington postofice. Notwithstand-
ing this fact, he made me all sorts OF
promises, and continued his efforts to
make me believe that / should have
the appointment up to the time that
ParmaIee and WE'LL arrived in Wash
ington, Dec. 9Th, 1898.
Before this visit, Ransom told me he
was perfectly we'll aware that I had no
intention TO offer him a bride, that he
knew l was too honest to do SO. But
the day following this assurance he
said, he feared it might become known
that lie had received such a letter, and
it might injure him. So he felt in duty
bound to lay the letter before the Post
master General, and see if he could
consent to my appointment.
Now I learned while in Washington,
that Ransom was perfectly willing to
accept the offer contained in my letter,
until he learned that the Office of the
custodian of the p~ostofice building had
no pay attached to it. Then he became
indignant, and could see nothing but
brioery in the proposition.
One of the Senators told me that
Ransom thought 1 had tried to cheat
and not to bride him, inasmuch as he
expected pay and the Office in question
could not furnish it. Rans1m's talk to
me about the large salary of the post
master led me to believe that a bonus
was expected, and not me alone. An
ex member of Congress remarked:
The scoundreI is bidding for pay"
I was aware that he was always hard
up" and of his aversion to paying his
debts, and this led me to offer to divide
the pay Of custodian.
One of the worst features of the
whole case is that Ransom tried to shift
the responsibility of my defeat onto
Senator Vance, who had in fact been
all along in favor of my appointment.
| had to make three visits to the house
of Senator Vance before Ransom could
be convinced that there was no truth
in the alleged opposition, and I even
had to get a written statement from
Vance.
Ransom made frequent appointments
W. HOg u PAAO LIZ 0GuChb4OA W
them. Indeed, he avoided me with
much industry. He never answered
any of my letters, though 1 sem as
many as fifteen. He promised at the
last interview I had with him that he
would see to it that 1 was provided
with a place, I asked how he could
consistently recommend a person
guilty-as he seemed to imply-of an
offense which should disqualify him
for public Office,
Accompanying the statement 1 hand
you the typewriter statement of my
interview with the Assistant Postmas,
ter General You might add that
Ransom is nothing more nor less than
an office broker in Washington.
w. P. OLDHAM