The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-11-14

He reported hat the boxes We're
numbered 1. 2, 3, Is, -, ana ~ ana
marked j. p. B., D. F. Kenner n
St. Martin. ST. Martin was Mr.. Bene-
janin's brother-in-laW. kenner was
a member of Congress from LOUISA
ma and then in France, commissioner
BY Mr.. Benjamin, with Mr.. DAVIS
consent, to offer to the European ma
tons emancipation of the slaves for
recognition Of the Confederate States
He had lived with Mr.. Benjamin in
Richmond.
Bought and Sold Curios.
after the war Colonel Pickett set
tied in Washington, D. c., to prac-
ticee law and at the same time en-
gagged in buying and selling Confed-
crates curiOS and records. In Sep
TENDER, 1866, Bromwell. who was
practicing law in Richmond without
success, accepted a proposition to
enter Pickett's service
He wrote to Pickett as follows: !
offer me such a sum monthly as Will
enable me to support my little fam
lily Of wife and child in an economi-
cal manner l will devote my best en-
ergies to the discharge of the duties
I may be required to perform
Soon Pickett offered TO sell the
complete records of Mr.. Benjarnin's
office to men of prominence n
wealth in the South. Upon the re-
fusal of any of them to buy. in 1868
he offered to sell to Secretary Of State
Seward large and valuable docu-
embracing all the papers belonging
to Mr.. Benjamin's Office
Seward declined to buy except
upon inspection in Washington. and
further because the price, 100000.
was excessive. Pickett said the pa
.pers were in Canada and refused to
allow them to be brought to Wash
ington for inspection.
I'm July. 1872, they were bought
by the United States government. by
special act Of Congress, for $4,000.
BY the agreement Of sale the
were to be delivered In Canada, n
Lieutenant Thomas o. Selfridge, U.
S. N, was commissioned to receive
them from Pickett. They were Sc
cured by Lieutenant Selfridge. inven-
toried by him, with remarks, deliv-
cred to the prope authorities, and
are now in the Library of Congress
and are known as the Pickett paper
Denounced in South.
when the sale was announced
Picket was in the South
for selling the archives Of the Con-
federacy. On September 3, 1872,
about a month after Pickett received
the $4,000, Bromwell made a decla-
- oAlo q ItAo&S StIoAS ~ SGIA
Ian, in Washington. in substance
as follows: That his, j. w. Brom-
wells last official act Of duty as an
official Of the Department Of State Of
said Confederate States consisted in
the packing up at Richmond, Virgin
ia. about the last Of March. 1865, Of
all the archives and so forth Of the
said Department of State and trans
porting them to a supposed place of
safety in the South.
THAT having complied fully with
his Instructions and having turned
the SAID archives and so forth over
to other officers of the said COnfed-
crate States, the fduciary relations
Of said deponent to said archives
and so forth ended: and, inasmuch
as he, the deponent. shortly after
renewed his allegiance to the United
care with regard to said archives.
and presumed that they had been
captured by the United States forces.
That he. the deponent, became
aware some years later that the said
archives had never come into the
possession Of the United States, but
spirited away by private parties, and
that John T. Pickett, Esq. attorney
at-law at Washington, was employed
by holders OF aid archives to nego-
tiate their delivery to h United
States government, should Southern
dI1o ANVIL d<S SAASS ~
take them.
THAT deponent was privy to all Of
Mr.. Pickett's negotiations, n he,
Pickett, had given a truthful relation
OF the same. avoiding any breach
of confidence, to the public press.
He declared that Pickett had no fidu-
ciary relations to the archives. that
he dealt honestly with everybody con-
nected with the matter. and although
the entire sum Of $4,000 paid by
the United tates government for the
archives was ultimately received by
Mr.. Pickett. he retained less than
half Of it for his own arduous, re-
sponsible, and valuable services.
sSoon after this declaration was
published Bromwell went to Europe.
In one Of Pickett's letters to Brom-
we'll in Paris. dated October 25. 1872,
he stated: I am glad that you pro-
pose making a tour: it will be OF in
estimable advantage TO you giving
.z-. ~ory cot 80 ~~- -