Year: 1878

eSfu000no 70 make tno60u8n and


impartial investigation and report


Instead Of 20 doing he disregarded


his instructions by affording me nc


notice Of any charges. except that oi


desertion and gave me NO opportun.


ity whatever for explanation or re-


buttal. In midnight cabals com.


posed Of my bitter personal enc


mics. er pmte afidavits Of these sew.


eral charges were secretly agreed on


as furnishing abundant proof Of my


guilt and were forwarded to Wash


ington City, supplemented by an


adverse report from Wingard, where
in he bypccritically professed
.feiendly feelings towards me and


with an artful dissimulation that


would do credit to Iago, claimed to


have acted only from a conviction
of painful duty. This report was
summarily set aside upon the re-
commendation of the Attorney Cen
eral of the United States by the Sec
retary of the Interior, when the un-
fair, malicious and er parte charact-
er of the investigation was ascer-
tanned. A trial de nora was awarded


when all the testimony was carefully
scanned and thoroughly considered
by the Commissioners of the Gener>
al Land Office and Assistant Attor~
ney General Smith, acting as special
referees and the resnlt was my COM
plete vindication, and my continu>
ance in the office Of Secretary for
two years longer and until after the
expiration of my full term. By the
Presidents own order the enlist-
ment was cancelled as of the alleged
desertion without any qualification
or the imposition of any civil dis
abilities, the circumstance being
deemed by the President and the
Secretary of War as affording am>
pie justification of the act. The
charge of not being a citizen was
also satisfactorily disproven and
subsequently at the request of
friends, whose motives and integrity
cannot be questioned for one mos
ment and for the purpose of setting
at rest forever any controversy con-
cerning the same, I made full proof
of my residence and other qualifca>
tions and thereupon was judicially
declared to be citizen by q court
of competent Jurisdiction. The
charge of corruption in Office was so
utterly false and groundless as to
elicit severe comments by the Com~
missioner of the General Land Of
fee, who acted as referee, upon the
fiimsy character of the hearsay tess
timony, upon which Vineyards
report was predicated. For four
long years I have quietly suffered
from the crying injustice and the
false imputations, which the malice
of Wingard sought to perpetuate by
his charges OF official corruption,
without making public these facts,
which involved a reflection upon
his integrity and honesty of purpose.
did this. because about the same
time, by some feat Of political leger~
demain, he was appointed to Judicial
Office and I was taught to respect
the ermine, if not the form which it
covers. But when through his agen.
cy, his report upon which the stamp
of disproval had been set by his
superiors in Washington, is ex-
humed and paraded in the public
prints as a document importing the
verify of a Judgment, and when he,
especially when in his cups, seeks
every occasion to malign me and
cast obloquy on my name to the
sorrow OF my fa lily, forbearance
ceases to be a virtue and / stand
ready at any time to measure per>
sonal records with him here as
we'll as III PENNSYLVANIA.


The foregoing comprises all the
oTenses, which have ever been
charged against me during all of my
years of residence III this Territory.
During that time | filed the Office
Of p o oate Judge and that of Prose
cutting Attorney for seven successive
years, besides being member for
several terms OF both houses of the
Legislative Assembly and President
of the council aui Secretary OF the
Territory for over four years, be-
sides having been employed to con-
duct as an Attorney over two thous
and cases in the different courts Of
this Territory. l am not aware,