The sun. (Wilmington, Del.) 1897-19??, 1901-02-05
STATEMENT BY w. s. HiILES.

Editor The Sun: | deem it but right
that public statement should be made
by me IN answer to statements made by
John W. Goodwin, Jr., in his testimony
before the Senate committee in the Ross.
McNulty contest. / say unequivocally
that all statements or insnuations OF
this witness which in any way attempt
t. connect me with any improper pro
ceedings are absolutely false.
The exact facts Of the case are these:
Until Monday, the 2lst day Of January,
l never knew Or had any reason to sus-
poet that there was anything improper
about the afiidavits in this contest
Sometime in the morning Of that day in
formation came to me that some Of these
aflidayits had not been signed BY the
persons whoe names appeared the rein
Immediately endeavored in every Way
TO ascertain tie trnth Of the mattar, and
scrnetm- in the afternoon OF that day |
was tod that sew of these atfidavits
were fraudulent. Immediately directed
that they should be asceftained and
thrown ut, and not used in the contest
Later on the afternoon of the same day
Howard ID. r ,ss and John w. God Twin,
Jr., CAM to my office, without any pre-
vious knoHI, DE on my part that they
were coming | soon learned that the
purp 49, OF their ming was to give fur
ther information ab nut the affidavits.
and Russ and Goodwin took the affilavits
for tie purpose Of removing any which
Goodwin krew were fraudulent. Godw n
having said that he knew Of no othe 8
than those which were then thrown out
was asked by me whether he vas pres-
ent at the time and knew that the i'm.
pesonation wa. being practiced. He
STAT ID that he was, and did know it. |
then said 10 him, why in the name oil
God did you do this thine?' tie replied
that he had nothing 20 do with it Mr..
Ross then stated that he would ratt er
his contest Were lest than that such a
thing should happen. Goodwin then said
to me, II suppose you won't need me
for a vi ness | said to him that undo r
the circumst rnces whicn he had Just ma :
rated his testimony certainly would do
Mr., r S. CAS- more harm than coed.
q 'dwin then said that for some tine he
had been ia ending to 60 upon a hunt
ing trip to Virginia, and that if Mr. r., 6
did not Ee-d HIM TO te-tify in his case
he thought he wonld go now, to which |
replied, and think my recollection u
the language is correct, II don't give a
damn whether yIu go or not" THIS vas
said inst as Ross aud Goodwin were eay-
ing my Office. Al this interview, which
was : only interview | ever had with
G dwin on this subject, neither Mr.. Ross
nor n. yseif, directly or indirectly, sug-
gested to Goiwin ttaS he should z"
away, or made any OF the statements
which nave been testified to by GadWin
other than the aboyp.
| cannot believe that this statement on
my part is necessary, but | make it in
order that there may be no doubt about
my position in this matter.
Goodwin was summoned by the CON
testant for the purpose OF proving am ong
other things that all OF the fraudulent
atli1avits had been thrown out When
in his testimony before the committee,
Goodwin lntim ted that there might be
9TH fraudulent aflidavits, a thing
which was then Tor tie first time know n
to us who were Mr. Ross counsel, we
were unanimous in the opinion that the
contest should be abandoned.
William S. Hiiles.
Wilmington, Feb. 4, 1901.