The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-04-03

anime into the charges end the allege
circumstances, contracts, etc., whic
in any manner have for their obiet
the bribery of or the attempted brlber
OF members of the United States Cor
gress or the payment of any valuabl
consideration of any kind or characte
to them or to any of them to vote fc
or to assist in procuring the propose
adoption or ratification of the sal
treaty of sale of said islands.
The Republican leaders hurrledl
consulted during the reading of the res
olutions and when the reading ha
been concluded Mr.. Payne, the ma
jority leader, Immediately made III
point of order that the matter present
ed was not privileged. The resolution
Mr.. Payne said contcmptuously, wa
based upon an alleged secret report t
the Danish government. Instantly MI
Richardson met this with the statemen
that he had a copy of the secret repor
to the Danish government.
"On my honor as a member of thi.
House," said he, have now on m,
desk what purports to be, and what
believe is, that secret confidential re
port. Assuming 6 the full respsnsibilit,
OF my words, believe L have unmis-
taxable evidence that this report was
made to the Danish government by a
quasi, if not real, agent of that gov
ernment."
When did the gentleman obt lin
access to the secret archives of the
Danish government" interposed Mr..
Payne.
L have never been to Denmark, :"
retorted Mr.. Richardson, 4" but the
gentleman knows there are other ways
of obtaining authentic government
documents. 1 have the evidence here.
This is a grave charge. do not bring
1t here for the purpose Of making poll
tical capital. Here is charge that
$500, 900 was paid for the express pur
pose of bribing the American Congress,
vet the gentleman from New York
seeks to interpose a technical ques-
tion."
Speaker Henderson at this point
called attention to the fact that the
language of the resolution charged that
newspapers and members of Congress
had been bribed. I" Members of Con-
gress," he said, "did not necessarily
include members Of the House," He
thought if the resolution was to be
privileged it should specifically include
members of the House.
{" L am prepared to say" replied Mr..
Richardson, ct that these charges do
include members of the House and will
amend the resolution to that extent.",
Speaker Henderson thereupon ruled
that the matter presented was privi-
legged.
BY this time the interest in the
House was intense. Almost every
seat was occupied and the members
listened eagerly as Mr.. Richardson
proceeded to present his case. First
he read extracts from the press at Co.
penhagen.
This was followed by an affidavit
from Neils Gron concerning dealings
with certain people here, but they were
not particularly sensational. The real
sensation came when he started to read
from what purported to be the report
of Walter Christmas concerning the
negotiations. lie prefaced the read
ing by the statement that it would
show ga corrupt bargain % worthy of
the consideration of the House. The
report was too long to read in full, he
said.
"I will only read the luscious ex-
tracts, which, If true, should bring the
blush of shame to the cheek of every
American" said he, "for the state.
ment will disgrace this country in the
eyes of every foreign court In the world.
This is what this corrupt bargainer
says"
He then proceeded to read. Mr..
Christmas's account of his interview
with the prime minister of Denmark,
in which he was said to have told the
minister of the necessity for the use of
money to bring the negotiations of the
sale of the islands to successful ter
mination. He told of his brief &C.
quaintance with Abner Mckinley,
President McKinley's brother, and his
law partner, Col. Brown, two gentle
men whom Mr.. Christmas described
as " having the entry to the White
House and being familiar with the
ways of American politics and what
members OF Congress would have to
10 Paiu W aVCoulpllou buS Tcbultb ue-
sired"
The report then described how Mr..
Christmas had enlisted not only Presi-
dent McKinley's brother and his part
ner, but two press associations, one in
New York and one in Washington,
and prominent banking house in
New FORK, in the sale of the islands.
The Danish foreign minister was re.
ported as dlsgnsted with the methods
which had to be pursued, but as finally
| giving his acquiescence.
Mr.. Richardson SAID that Christmas
spoke of inviting members of Congress
to dine with him at the Hotel Raleigh
in this city. He then quoted from the
report as follows:
cit was not alone the members ol
Congress had to invite. had as my
special asslstants two men, G. w
Knox, who was an intimate friend O
Senator Hanna, and Richard z. Evans
a lawyer in Washington, who repre-
sented Mr.. Gardner and his friends il
the House. These took an active par
in the purchase agitation, since the
talked with large number of mem
ber of Congress and agitated for th
purchase Of the islands. I had COZ
tracts with them both, according I
which they and, through them, certai
members of Congress should have
share of the commission il the sal
took place, but the two gentlemen