The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-01-31

that the senate mas no yuIloN
any of the charges in said mellorIai COZ
tanned except the three hrst anu tile
specifications Hereunder; OF thtli nne
third was voluntarily abandoned ~ une
memorialist: that charges one ana oWo'
togatber with their respective speclhca-
tions. were carefully inquired INTO Dy
yonr committee and the evidence re-
Hating thereto reduced to writing; when
is herewith returned together WIN the
said memorial and l am instructed Dy
said committee to report the same Dack
IN the senate with the statement that
none of said charges or the specifications
Hereunder were sustained by the EVIL
dence and to recommend that said me-
mortal be dismissed. All of which Is
'''i'' DEAN, Chairman.
jCYCLONE DAVIS INVESTIGATION.
The special committee of the House to
Investigate the charges against j. II.
Davis CCyclone Davis met again TINS
afternoon with Chairman Feagin and all
the committee present. The minutes of
the meeting of Saturday were read. Mr.
Davis and his attorney, Major Walton,
were present. Representative Rogers LOT
the state conducted the examination OF
witnesses. Charles $. Todd, an attorney
of TeXarkana. was examined. lie SAID:
| | was here January 16. | saw Mr..
Davis about 8 a. M, that morning. | had
been informed by Hudgins that Davis
would meet me that morning at the Dris-
| kill hotel. AS | came down from break
| fast Davis was in the office. | remarked
that | understood from Hudgins that he
wanted to talk to me with reference to
the Texarkana court bill. We talked to-
gether about it, Davis said he didn't
think the committee on privileges ana
elections was fairly organized IN the
| FroSt-O Neal contest ArniStead was on
one side and Harrell on another, and that
! they were both personally and privately
| friends of O'Neal | don't remembeI the
details of the conversation, but Davis SAID
he would like for one or both of them to
be removed or resign from the committee.
told him that our committee could not
entertain such a proposition, that he knew
Armistead and Harrell as well as we did,
and that it would be presumption for us
to expect to influence the action of the
committee. | told him Harrcll was at
home sick, and could not attend to his
duties here. AS to Armistead, told him
| had not spoken to him, and l have not
done so. Davis said all he wanted was
fair hearing, and suggested that on ac-
count of Harrell's absence some one
might be substituted for him. Davis said
he didn't want that, and let the matter
remain as it was.
| told Davis | thought he could be of
great service to us in Bowie county, by
explaining the nature of the bill, with the
Populsts ] presented the argument to
him that the opposition to the bill was in
the west part of the county where the
Populists were strong, and that Cunless
opposition was organized there by them.
there would be none. | told him we would
pay him. There was no allusion to any
from him. He said he favored
the bill because it was right, and that
for them to organize against the bill would |
them in that section. | sug- |
gested that it might demoralize both part |
les. Davis replied that as to his party it |
was in good shape there and he didn't |
want it disturbed, but he added that he
could not do anything there unless he had |
assurances that we would not change the
county seat, that he could not exert any
influence without this. The conversation |
was at the Driskill hotel on the 10Th. I
told him that we didn't wish to influence |
any party, but wanted it to be II nOn-parti- |
san matter as to both sides.
To Rogers: | did not see Davis again |
till that evening when he said that he
didn't think that it was fair for Armis |
tead and Harrell both to be upon the com
mittee. / explained to him the impos- |
sibility of our considering that proposition. |
As to the amounts 500 and $50 there was |
10 mention of such a thing further than |
said we would be willing to pay him for
LONG what he could for the bill in Bowie
county. No amount was mentioned. | |
lad sent the letter from Davis to Hudgins.
No mention was then made of it. Moth |
n A
Frosts' expenses. The conversation was
only with reference to removing the two
of the committee. There was no
one else present or near except persons
passing.
/ had Il conversation later. about II
o'clock that night Hudgins, Hynson and
myself returned to the Driskill. Davis
was there or came in. / stated the con-
we had with each other, and that
we had agreed to give Davis the money.
The letter was written at night in the
Driskill hotel.
The letter was read by witness as given
in the Davis answer and found correct,
with one exception, that it was written on
the 10th and not on the 18th. At that
time Hart, of the committee, had left the
hotel to go home. | wrote and delivered
the letter to Davis. The next day, as we
were at the Avenue hotel, Davis passed. |
He asked me about when l was going
either when was going or
was | going that night. / replied that | |
wanted him to go with me and he re-
marked that he was short of money. | |
asked him how much he wanted. He said |
$40 and l handed him the amount. He |
agreed to leave and we did leave that |
night There was no mention by me of |
the conversation with Hudgins. | pre-
sumo he knew it, as told him had been |
talking with Hudgins. | would have given |
him more money to get him to 90 home. |
Afterwards he told me he had been I'D in |
that county, but gave me no assurance
that he had been there. He said nothing
about any additional amount to be paid |
him. He never mentioned such q thing
to me.
AS to the $40 handed Davis, I con-
sldered that it was for his expenses. He
did not claim that it was for any con-
tract. We had no understanding as to
Davis fee. Turner and I arrived here
on the same train. Hudgins said he
wanted to talk to us and threw out a
writing signed by Davis, and read or
showed it to us. Hudgins said he wanted
to confer with us, that he thought when
Davis handed it to us Davis did not look
at 1t as anything serious. He surprised me
and Turner and when we came to confer
about it we concluded we could not enter
tain the proposition. Hudgins said he had
shown the document to Hart and Whitney.
1t was agreed that l should meet Davis
alone, and when l met him afterwards
and handed it to him that was all that
was done. We were all agreed that we