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APPENDIX
To render this faint outline of Reconstruction in
South Carolina more distinct, and to show more fully the facts, now
clearly established, which have formed the basis of some important
statements in the foregoing pages, it is the purpose of the author to cull
freely from official investigations already published by legislative
authority.
A "Joint Investigating Committee on Public Frauds was
appointed by the Senate and House of Representatives, and their labors,
protracted through many months in 1877-78 resulted in the compilation of a
formidable" Legislative Document" of 937 pages, a parallel to which can
only be imagined in the lost records of Sodom and Gomorrah. As life is too
short for every one to read everything, the size of the volume will,
doubtless, deter many who are desirous of information; and a condensed
statement of the most important topics may be very acceptable to these,
and its greatly diminished proportions may attract the attention of the
general reader.
The Committee give, very clearly, the beginnings of
these frauds, and the facilis descensus is strikingly illustrated under
the first head of
SUPPLIES
Here, the legitimate expenses for stationery,
postage stamps, etc., would be some ten dollars for each member for the
session. But these improvised statesmen needed other help; and, among the
first, are found, for each member, one Webster's unabridged dictionary,
one calendar inkstand ($25), one gold pen ($10), and the privilege of
using the Western Union Telegraph at the expense of the State. (The
various railroad companies had already granted them free passes, for
purposes of their own). Even these comparatively moderate indulgences
would swell these accounts out of all proportion, and it was desirable to
cover them from the too eager gaze of the taxpayer.
It became
necessary, therefore, to manipulate the Committee on Contingent Accounts ;
and, where all were equally implicated, this was easily effected. After
their report on some honest claims, would follow the ominous words, "and
others," or, "sundries and others" which would cover any amount of fraud.
The Clerks of both Houses testified that bills for refreshments for
committee rooms, groceries, clocks, horses and carriages, dry goods,
furniture of every description, and miscellaneous articles of merchandise,
were freely passed in this way. The contest was, which member should
appropriate the most to his individual benefit. No wonder that the
Committee would find, in the Treasurer's office, vouchers to show that, in
a single session, three hundred and fifty thousand dollars were expended
under the head of "supplies, sundries, and incidental expenses.0 Before
the war, the whole State Government did not cost four hundred thousand
dollars, all told.
(Page 8). Of this $350,000, $125,000 was expended
for "refreshments," including the finest wines, liquors . and cigars. In
fact, this Committee on Contingencies had one of the largest committee
rooms fitted up as a first-class restaurant, open from 8 o'clock, A. M.,
till 2 o'clock, A. M. of the following day, Sundays included.
To
all members, whether Radicals or. Democrats, these refreshments were as
free as the air they breathed ; and the wonder is, that $125,000 could
satisfy these hungering and thirsting statesmen for a whole session,
particularly as they had the privilege of inviting State officials,
judges, editors, reporters, and citizens generally.
The next
highest item under the head of " supplies " is " furniture," and the
Committee report (page 14) that not less than $200,000 had been paid out
in four years, on this account alone. Dealers in Columbia testified to
furnishing every committee room in the State House, and in the city,
besides forty bed-rooms, every session. It was thus shown that these
articles were taken home, on adjournment, as perquisites of the members.
These dealers estimate that all the furniture in the State House, and in
all the public offices, would not exceed, af original cost, $17,715; thus
leaving $182,285 m f°ur years, or more than $45,000 per annum, unaccounted
for. Was it to be wondered at, that members who received $6 per diem,
could yet afford elegant furniture for their rooms, Brussels carpets for
their floors, and to recline on oriental spring and sponge mattresses—and
all these to be renewed each successive session ?
To show how
readily a taste for luxuries can be cultivated at the expense of
principle, the committee give the following contract: 1869-70—$5 clocks,
40 cent spittoons, $4 benches, straw beds, $1 chairs, $4 pine tables,
25-cent hat-pegs, $8 desks, $10 office desks, 50-cent coat-hooks, $4
looking-glasses, $2 window-curtains, $5 cornices, clay pipes, cheap
whiskey.
1871-72—$600 clocks, $8 cuspadors, $200 crimson plush
sofas, sponge mattresses and oriental pillows, $60 crimson plush gothic
chairs, $80 library tables, $30 hat-racks, $50 desks, $80 to $175 office
desks, $100 wardrobes, $600 mirrors, $600 brocaded curtains, lambrequins,
etc., $80 walnut and gilt cornices, finest Havana cigars, champagne. (Page
24).
Rents, jewelry and stationery are the remaining
items under this head of " supplies," but we will spare the reader the
sickening details, simply remarking that the rents would, each year, have
more than bought the fee-simple of the property rented ; that the jewelry
was enough to have decked the wives of certain sable statesmen like her of
" Bambury Cross," even if her rings and bells had been pure gold; and the
$68,per session for stationery would have abundantly supplied all the
un-recon-structed States, for more than a year, in those literary
necessities.
A place on this Committee on Contingencies was eagerly
sought after, as it was a very sure bonanza.
They required all the bills to be itemized, but not
added up; as they had their own rule for "addition, division, and
silence." To these items they would prefix figures, whether tens,
hundreds, or thousands ; the value of the figure, as well as the number of
prefixes, depending on the exigences of the occasion.
PUBLIC
PRINTING - We come now to more gigantic frauds, requiring a more extended
sphere, and covering government officials, their partisan press, and the
party leaders all over the State, as well as both branches of the
Legislature. For years,
under the " State Printer " system, whenever
any large appropriation was wanted, the margin was extended sufficiently
to cover all bribes and gratifications necessary to secure the requisite
majority. To show the colossal proportions into which this system of
"bribery and gratifications" "had expanded, the Committee report that
$98,500 was paid to secure the passage of one printing bill, in one
session. (Page 218).
Seeing the immense appropriations thus secured, in
the Fall of 1870, the " Carolina Printing Company " was organized,
consisting of Governor R. K. Scott, Attorney-General D. H. Chamberlain,
Comptroller-General J. L. Neagle, Treasurer Niles G. Parker, J. W. Denny,
J. W. Morris, and L. Cass Carpenter. This company owned the " Daily Union
" of Columbia, and the " Charleston Republican." (Page
215).
Besides these officials, whose constitutional duty it was to
guard the Treasury by mutual checks and countersignings, this powerful
Ring embraced, on its unofficial list, the Clerks of both Houses, to take
care of the "circle of friends " in their respective bodies. Afterwards,"
all State officials, judges, lawyers, editors, reporters, lobbyists — male
and female — white and black — all, from the highest to the lowest,
manifested deep interest in the passage of the Printing Company bills, and
were paid according to their services and influence. (Page 217)
As
the results of all these financial contrivances, the Committee give the
following astounding facts and figures, established by copies of vouchers,
and the testimony of witnesses, most of whom were active participants in
the frauds.
"The amount appropriated and paid during the eight
years, from 1868 to 1876, including the publication of general
laws,
and claims for printing, was $1,326,586! This sum is about double the cost
for public printing, from the establishment of the State Government up to
1868; including all the payments made, during the war, in Confederate
money." (Page 214).
Again, they say, on the same page: "The
appropriations for public printing, and amounts paid newspapers for
publishing Acts, in 1872-73, reached $450,000, or $171,750 more than the
printing cost the State for twenty-five years—commencing in 1841-42, and
ending in 1865-66; including $42,141.63 paid during the war, in 1864, and
in Confederate currency, for one year's printing.
This amount of $450,000, also, exceeds the cost of
like work in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, and New York, by
$122,932.13 ; embracing, as they do, five of the largest and most populous
of the Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western States."
In 1873-74,
another stunning appropriation of $385,000 was made, making $835,000 in
fifteen months, or an average of $145,594 over and above the cost of
printing in all the Southern States for the year 1878. (Page
215).
In one of the " exhibits " of the Committee stands this
telling contrast:
Cost of printing per month, under Radical
rule...$55,666.00
Cost of printing per month, under Hampton rule ...
$514 80
The Committee, in receiving returns from the several
States, as to the printing expenses of these eight years, were somewhat
startled at the following official report from Louisiana, her nearest of
kin in affliction:
In 1868, paid for printing .... $125,343.OO
In
1869, paid for printing .... 439,345.00
In 1870, paid for printing
.... 317,135.OO
In 1871, paid for printing .... 362,493.00
In
1872, paid for printing .... 154,752.00
In 1873, paid for printing
.... 172,891.OO
In 1874, paid for printing .... 158,801.00
In
1875, paid for printing .... 200,000.00
In 1876, paid for printing
.... 148,816.92
In 1877, paid for printing .... 40,528.71
Total
$2,120,105.63 Very respectfully, etc., Louis Leonard, Chairman Committee
on Printing.
This gives an excess of Louisiana printing bills
over those of South Carolina of $793,519.63, just about the difference in
resources of the two States, under the equally skillful and unscrupulous
manipulation of their carpet-bag gentry.
We will close this very
general analysis of these stupendous frauds in the words of the Committee
: The history of the Carolina Printing Company, the " Republican Printing
Company," and their offshoots, the Columbia Daily Union, and the
Charleston Republican (if the testimony is to be believed, and, surely,
who can doubt its truth, corroborated, as it is, in all essential
particulars ?) is sufficient, in any court, to consign almost every person
connected with them to the penitentiary for life. Some of the parties to
these great crimes are now in prison ; whilst many others, having deserted
their luxurious homes and fire-sides, are fugitives from justice, skulking
abroad. They and all connected with them in these atrocious deeds should
feel deeply grateful that the people of South Carolina, governed by wise
and prudent counsels, have attempted and will only attempt to bring them
to punishment by due process of law, instead of rising up long ago, in a
storm of just indignation and
wrath, and sweeping them from the face
of the earth.
"Perhaps a vail of charity should, in some degree, be
thrown over the poor and ignorant colored men who have been deceived,
misled, and incriminated by artful, corrupt and shameless leaders; but if,
in the exercise of great generosity and forbearance, these poor and
ignorant men shall be spared, it should teach them none the less, that
dishonesty and fraud will eventually meet a merited punishment." (Page
252).
To scramble out of this filthy, Serbonian bog and plunge into
another equally deep, and, probably, more extensive, we must hold our
breath and noses, and venture into the confines, at least, of the PAY
CERTIFICATES.
This, too, sprung from small beginnings. The Speaker
of the House, and the President of the Senate, being authorized to sign
these for their respective Houses, the temptation to multiply soon became
irresistible, as they were supreme in this department. The committee soon
reached such facts as this: "The House actually employed eight laborers,
and from five to ten pages. Yet we have certificates from the Treasurer's
office, showing that as many as 159 laborers,and 124pages were paid during
one session; and for many sessions. Certificates were issued for fifty
pages, many of whom were children of members." (Page 398).
But such results as these soon dwindled into mere
pin-money, when contrasted with what followed in an astonishingly short
time.
The Committee say, "to perpetuate the power and influence of
the Radical party, it was necessary to have a ready and unfailing
reservoir of funds; and no simpler or easier way suggested itself than
these certificates. Thus it became not only possible, but practicable to
perpetuate the numerous frauds in the public printing and supplies to
which we have already alluded. Indeed, this, like the famous Hydra, threw
out its hundred heads, encircling and poisoning every department of the
government, and giving comfort and support to local leaders. This immense
fund produced and nurtured a Bond-Ring, a Printing-Ring, and this
Legislative-Ring—the most popular, and, at the same time, the most
unscrupulous. It is evident, from the testimony, that such a fund as this
was necessary to silence any complaint within their own ranks, and to
pacify the fears of the timid, and the greed of the avaricious, while the
other great Rings were in successful progress." (Page 389.)
While the Bond-Ring composed of a limited number of
State officers were revelling in their mammoth speculations in bonds, with
Kimpton, as their unfailing bank ; this Legislative-Ring could only
successfully contend with them, for their share of the taxes, through this
certificate-contrivance, manipulated by Solomon's swindling depository for
State taxes, called by the imposing name of the "Carolina Loan and Trust
Co." Of this institution the Committee say, "It is now known that the bank
referred to (Solomon's), was inaugurated in fraud, supported by a ring of
politiqal pirates, composed of Chamberlain, Scott, Parker and other
officials, and exhibited, during its existence, a series of corruptions
and robberies unknown in the history of any other corporation." (Page
525).
These certificates soon reached magnificent proportions,
ranging from $500, to $5,000, on a single paper. For these larger ones, a
conference was genreally called of the presiding officers of both Houses,
the State Treasurer, and the chairmen of the Finance Committees of both
Houses. Of course, the State was entirely powerless against a conspiracy
of her own guardians; and we are not astounded when the committee say, "
The table submitted with this report, shows, among other things, that in
one session there was issued $1,168,255, in pay certificates (not
including printing certificates), every dollar of which was a robbery,
with the exception of about $200,000, due members and legally appointed
attachees of the General Assembly." (Page 390).
Sometimes there was
a co-operation between the "Bond" and "Certificate" powers, and then the
Treasury would collapse. This was notably the case when " A Joint Special
investigating Committee" familiarly called in the parlance of that day, "
The High Old Joint,"—was appointed in- 1871-72, to examine the books of
the Financial Agent, Kimpton, with reference mainly to the Sinking Fund.
The appointment of this committee was merely " a tub to the whale," in
answer to the tax-payers. It consisted of B. F. Whittemore and S. A.
Swails, of the Senate, and Jno. B. Dennis, Wm. H. Gardner, and Tim.
Hurley, of the House—five of the head devils in all financial rascality.
Kimpton was in New York City, and it was necessary to go there for
the investigation. In fact, another grand conspiracy was going on in New
York, requiring the presence there, not only of Kimpton, but of Governor
Scott, Treasurer Parker, and Secretary of State Cardozo. The last named
having taken the Great Seal of the State along with him. This conspiracy
was, then and there to sign, seal, and put on the market, without any
semblance of authority, six millions of the " Sterling Bonds." This grand
scheme was frustrated, after the bonds had been executed, and just before
they would have been put upon the market, by an accidental discovery of
the fraud through a clerk in the "American Bank-Note Company." (Page
425).
But to return to our "High Old Joint." They at once became
more concerned about their pay than their duties, and as there was much
doubt as to the proper fund on which they could draw, they consulted
Attorney-General Chamberlain, who was always fertile in expedients. His
advice was to look directly to Kimpton, who would pay out handsomely.
After making some preliminary drafts on the " Armed Force Fund," and
others, they went on leisurely, to Kimpton's quarters in New York, where
they found Chamberlain awaiting them. The matter of expenses was soon
satisfactorily arranged, and as Kimpton complained of having been
overworked recently, and of needing rest, a recess of one month was
cheerfully granted him, during which Whitte-more went to his old home in
Massachusetts, Swails went to Elmira, N. Y., Dennis to New Haven, Hurley
to Boston, and Gardner accompanied Kimpton to Saratoga.
Kimpton
wanted this margin of time to "cook the books" of his agency, and make
them ready for the inspection of this virtuous Committee, not from any
fear of exposure, but to deprive the members of the opportunity and
pretext of blackmail. (Page 393.)
He paid their expenses liberally,
$3,108 being the largest, and $1,284 the smallest sum paid any single
member of the Committee. The Chairman estimated the advances thus made at
$12,501.32, and yet Kimp-ton charged the State the even $17,000, under
this head, and every dollar of this amount was included in Kimpton's
account against the State, and balanced in the settlement mads with him by
Scott, Parker and Chamberlain, when they left their offices in 1872. (Page
293.)
Frank Moses was impatient at remaining at home, when such
luxurious pickings were to be enjoyed in New York, so he had himself
summoned to give information on the purchase of arms, under his
administration, as Adjutant-General. On his return he made out, as
Speaker, a pay certificate in favor of some fictitious name, for $2,500.
He had no difficulty in procuring the signature of the Chairman of the "
High Old Joint," but, as a Joint Committee, it required the signature of
the President of the Senate. The virtuous Lieutenant-Governor, Ransier,
positively refused his official signature until the amount was raised to
$5,000, and he permitted to share and share alike with the Speaker. (Page
394.)
Another item of expense was the precise sum of $3,887.44 to
the Printing Company for stationery furnished the same
Committee!
Several pay certificates in favor of "experts"— when it
was inr evidence that not one expert had been employed—threw a sum of
about $3,000 into the capacious pockets of Whittemore. (Page
427.)
Besides the liberal allowance paid by Kimpton, other members,
either by direct charges for services rendered, or by fraudulent
certificates like those of Whittemore, drew some $12,000 directly from.the
State.
Summing up all the vouchers of whatever kind, it was
found that the pay of these " investigators" varied from $60
per day
for the highest, and $20 for the lowest, for ninety-two days. (Page
393).
By way of contrasting the resources of Radicals and Democrats
at this time, take the following : The tax-payers, goaded almost to frenzy
at the ruinous tax bills levied, and the corruption and robbery now as
evident as the noon-day sun, and as unblushing, too, called a convention
to send a commission to Washington to lay the facts of the case before the
national administration. With some difficulty a contribution of some eight
hundred dollars was raised from an impoverished people to pay the expenses
of this mission.
The Radicals, on the other hand, had only to wink
at a pay certificate in favor of "F. L. Christopher" (F. L. Cardoza, at
that time treasurer), for $2500, and soon their Committee, with Whittemore
at its head, and Cardozo himself at its tail, were wending their way to
Washington, to forestall this desperate effort of despairing men.
Thus the tax-payers were forced, in addition to their own
contributions, to pay, at the rate of three to one, the expenses of the
thieves themselves sent on to thwart all their appeals! It is needless to
say which Committee was successful. (Page 39)
These emboldened
thieves did not always wait for some great occasion to rob the treasury,
but very many instances are recorded where two or more would play at the
game successfully. In 1871-72, J. J. Patterson proposed to Speaker Moses
to turn over to him blank pay certificates, which he (Patterson) would
have filled up in favor of fictitious parties to the amount of $30,000;
for which he would advance to Moses $10,000 in cash. This contract was
promptly carried out, and the cash checks in favor of Moses, one for
$7,000, and the other for $3,000, were in evidence before the Committee,
as also were the fictitious pay-certificates, all in the handwriting of
one Jacobs, cashier of "Solomon's Bank." (Page 399).
On another
occasion, Cardozo, as treasurer, found an unexpended balance of $75,000
appropriation, remaining in the treasury to the amount of $4,000. This
anomaly he determined to turn to his own benefit. He wanted the signatures
of the presiding officers and Clerks of both Houses, and, as usual, took
them in as partners in the fraud. Abundant evidence was before the
Committee of pay certificates, of $800 each, in favor of Gleaves,
Lieutenant-Governor; S. J. Lee, Speaker; Woodruff, Clerk of the Senate;
and Jones, Clerk of the House ; and Cardozo, Treasurer. The name assumed
by Cardozo in this transaction was "C. L. Frankfort." On this he has been
indicted, and tried by a jury mostly of his race and party, and found "
guilty." (Page 372).
Sometimes these certificates, in small
amounts, were freely given parties who could tell or invent tales of
Ku-Kluxism, or of any other suffering on account of party. (Page
390).
The evidence also shows that visiting strangers,
often from other States, would receive complimentary legislative
certificates before leaving. (Page 400).
And how does all this
deviltry sum up? The committee show, by an "Exhibit," that this account of
"legislative expenses" averaged $585,369.29, annually, from 1870 to 1874,
exclusive of printing; while under Governor Hampton's administration of
1876—77, under very adverse circumstances, the same account reached
$77,119, printing included. (Page 407).
The whole amount of
appropriations for these four sessions was $1,085,000, less the printing;
whilst the actual expenditures reached $2,341,461.16! (Page
4O7).
Could a few intelligent scoundrels, with both houses filled
with lunatics, have accomplished more amazing feats of rascality
?
The remainder of the report under this head trenches upon those
interminable bond-issues—a bottomless pit which can never be fully
investigated but by the light of eternity. As far as known, any clear
statement would require a book of itself, and then the unexplored would
seem as broad and dark as when we began.
Through Chamberlain's influence, Hiram H. Kimp-ton,
an old college comrade of his, had been appointed financial agent of the
State. All these bonds were manipulated by him. The only tribunal to which
he was responsible, was the " Board of Finance," for four years,
consisting of Scott, Chamberlain and Parker. Stupendous frauds were
perpetrated under this organization, and never a murmur of dissent was
heard from any individual member. These facts require no comment. In the
GREENVILLE AND COLUMBIA RAILROAD SWINDLE we will attempt some short
analysis of the frauds so fully brought to light. J. J. Patterson now
comes to the front, and his pre-eminent financial skill in all railroad
swindles landed him finally in Congress, where he has served full six
years as U. S. Senator.
His first achievement was in carrying
through the Legislature a contract for rebuilding the Blue Ridge Railroad,
which he afterwards caused to be annulled, for the benefit of the State,
by the snug little sum of eighty thousand dollars, to him, in hand, paid.
(Page 563).
He then turned his eyes to the Greenville and Columbia
Railroad, and organized a company of twelve, embracing all the State
officials, with Kimpton at the head, and, to do the dirtiest of their work
in the house, Joe Crews was taken as the tail. Each share was valued at
$20,000, but Patterson's genius was shown in getting up this quarter of a
million in stock without any party being called on for a quarter of a
cent.
The State owned 21,698 shares in the road, at $20 per share,
aggregating $433,960. Besides this, she held a lien for indemnity for the
million and a half in bonds guaranteed by her solemn act.
To reach
a sale of the shares, Patterson procured an Act to be passed creating a
Sinking Fund Commission, and authorizing them to sell all unproductive
property belonging to the State. Ostensibly, the object of this act was to
authorize the sale of damaged marble, granite, &c, lying about the
State House grounds, but the terms of the act were elastic enough to cover
all her railroad and real estate property. The very day after its passage,
the shares of the Greenville and Columbia Railroad were sold to the above
mentioned company, at the nominal price of $2.75 per share, without any
advertisement, and without any money being paid. How this was managed can
be guessed from these facts : that Scott, Chamberlain and Neagle formed
the majority of the sinking fund commission, and were also stockholders in
this new company of twelve; and that the cherubic Kimpton, the officer to
invest the proceeds of sale, held two shares in the same company. (Page
563).
But this did not give them a majority of the stock, and it
became necessary to buy up enough from private shareholders. Selecting two
natives, with empty purses and elastic consciences, for $10,000 each, they
easily procured their names and influence for the purchase of a sufficient
number of shares, at JS2.75.to give them the unquestionable control of the
road. They soon devised a scheme for the transfer of all the State shares
to themselves, and the purchase money for private stockholders was
furnished by Kimpton. (Page 564.)
As to the million and a half lien
on the road, held by the State, another Act was hurried through the
Legislature by bribery, and under its forced provisions the lien was
postponed to bonds, to be issued under a second mortgage; thus enabling
the ring to divide and put their bonds on the market, while the only
security held by the State was swept away, and a contingent debt of
fifteen hundred thousand dollars fixed upon the State, without indemnity.
Thus, in the words of the Committee, " this ring secured to themselves
comparatively miserable morsels of plunder, whilst the State was robbed of
millions to carry out the scheme." (Page 565.)
How Kimpton managed to furnish so much cash is
easily accounted for. The Financial Board bought the authority, by Act of
the Legislature, to settle with the Financial Agent. Kimpton's report of
the sale of over $8,000,000 of bonds was before the Committee, and for
nine-tenths of this enormous amount there is no mention made of any rates
of sale. There were only four items of sales in the report, and two of
them were, respectively, $2,843,000 bonds sold on one day, ancl $4,214,500
sold on another. Of course he had it in his power to make as great a
difference between the rates of the actual and reported sales as he chose,
and the Financial Board actually settled with him on the basis of this
report. (Page 567.)
With this convenient arrangement there was no
limit to their liberality in bribing. Moses was Speaker, and feeling his
importance in their Legislative schemes, he fixed a high price on his
connection of which were furnished the Committee, mainly, by the parties
bribed—his bill soon became a law. This elevated him to a platform of
rascality as high as Kimpton himself; and we soon find him dictating the
terms to Kimpton on which he would furnish the means for purchasing votes
enough to secure the passage of the iniquitous " Validating" and
"Financial Settlement" Acts.
Here is the precious document in full, the original
having been furnished the Committee by Treasurer Parker
himself:
Vice-President's Office, Greenville & Columbia
R. R. Co. Columbia, S. C, March 4, 1872, Hon. Niles G. Parker, State
Treasurer, South Carolina: Please deliver to H. H. Kimpton, " revenue
bond scrip," due the Blue Ridge Railroad Company, according to Act
passed March 2, 1872, amounting to one hundred and fourteen thousand two
hundred and fifty dollars, at par, upon the following conditions : That
forty-two thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven dollars of said scrip,
at par, is to be used for paying the expenses of passing through the
House of Representatives bills styled, " A Bill relating to the bonds of
the State of South Carolina," and " A Bill to authorize the Financial
Board to settle the accounts of the Financial Agent." Now, if these
above named bills are passed and become laws, this order for forty-two
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven dollars, in scrip, at par, is to
be paid said Kimpton; and, if not passed, then this order for that
amount to be void, and the scrip is not to be delivered.
Also,
that seventy-one thousand four hundred and fourteen dollars of scrip, at
par, you shall deliver to said Kimp-ton, if said bills become laws, and
provided he shall pay the sum of fifty thousand dollars, the proceeds of
said scrip at seventy cents on Jjie dollar, in payingthe expenses
already incurred, in passing through the Senate the bill known as "A
Bill to relieve the State of all liability on account of guaranty of
Blue Ridge Railroad bonds, etc.," passed March 2, 1872, which said
expenses said Kimpton has contracted to pay; and if the said Kimpton
fails or refuses to pay said amounts in defraying said expenses (when
required by me), then this order to be void. If said conditions are
complied with, and the amount of said scrip delivered to Kimpton, he is
not to be held liable for, or to account for its value. The above two
sums of $42,859 and $71,414, in scrip, at par, make up the amount of
scrip first mentioned in this order.
John J. Patterson, President of blue Ridge
Railroad Co, in S. C.
Witness: R. B.
Elliott.
In the language of the Committee, " comment,
criticism, or denunciation would only weaken the force
of such a
document." (Page 614)
Of the two Acts above mentioned, the first
appeared to be merely an Act to validate the irregular issue of certain
bonds; but was really intended to legalize the illegal use and disposition
of $6,000,000 of State bonds by Kimpton, and then to fasten such debt upon
the State.
The second, simply empowered the notorious Financial
Board to make a settlement with Kimpton, as Financial Agent; but really
afforded the desired opportunity of covering up and cancelling the large
amounts paid out py Kimpton, from sales of bonds illegally made, to be
divided out among the Ring as " commissions," and in carrying the purchase
of the Greenville and Columbia Railroad by the same ring.
All these
measures were passed, of course; but the Blue Ridge scrip came to grief;
Patterson and Scott were not in the same boat in this matter, and it did'
not suit the Governor to have the great bulk of the next year's taxes
collected in Patterson's scrip. He, therefore, had the Treasurer of
Richland enjoined from receiving them for taxes ; and the case, going up
to the Supreme Court, was finally decided against this scrip as State
legal tender. There was evidence before the Committee that Patterson
attempted to bribe this tribunal also, but his money did not go farther
than the bottomless pit of Frank Moses' purse.
The next Legislature passed an Act repealing
Patterson's Blue Ridge swindle, but his timely bribe of $1,ooo caused the
Chairman of the Engrossing Committee to lose it between the Senate Chamber
and the Executive office, where it should have gone, for the Governor's
signature. This gave Patterson one year more to secure his pilferings.
(Page 646).
Dropping Patterson for a time, we must permit D. H.
Chamberlain to come to the front, out of that professional bomb-proof,
where he had, all along, so securely ensconced himself. In the matter of
THE KU-KLUX REWARDS,
he figured largely as "attorney in fact " for
Brevet-Colonel Lewis Merrill, U. S. A. In 1871, Governor Scott had
issued a proclamation offering a reward of 5200 for each person
arrested, with proof to convict of the charge,
under the "
Enforcement," commonly known as the "Ku-Klux Act."
Some allusions
have already been made, in this book, to the persecutions in York County,
under the indefatigable and unscrupulous administration of Lewis Merrill,
Brevet-Colonel, U. S. A. We now find the true stimulus to his patriotic
zeal and great ardor in the discharge of his high military trusts, when
the time for " rewards " had come.
The lavish waste of the public
money, under the head of these rewards, began with one Hester, a "
reformed Ku-Klux," under whose single evidence so many poor creatures had
been sent to the penitentiary. Hester demanded $18,600 under the
Governor's proclamation, for ninety-three arrests and convictions. This
little bill rather staggered Scott, and he was disposed to put him off
under the plea of " no funds." The next day, Hester returned with a
recommendation from Chamberlain, as Attorney-General, that the amount be
paid from the "Armed Force Fund," which was carried out to the mutual
satisfaction of client and attorney. (Page 653).
During the Session
of 1871-72, an Act was passed appropriating the stwn of $35,000 to pay the
claims under this proclamation. It was in evidence before the Committee,
that both Attorney-General Chamberlain and Major Merrill were very active
and urgent in lobbying this Act through the Legislature. It was finally
passed — the rewards-to be paid by the Governor. Moses being the chief
executive, this did not suit the parties mainly interested. So, he was "
induced " to turn the matter of the disbursement over to a commission of
five—of which commission, D. H. Chamberlain was chairman. The vouchers
show warrants in favor of Merrill to the amount of $15,750, and an
additional order on the Armed Force Fund for $500 to re-imburse the United
States Government for money advanced in this army hunt after the
Ku-Klux.
There was another award of $1,200 to one Byron, Private
Secretary to Governor Moses, and confidential adviser to
Merrill.
The Committee call particular attention to the course of
Chamberlain, as follows: "Whilst he was Attorney-General of the State,
recommending officially to the Governor, the payment of this large claim
to Hester, based upon his assumed arrest of ninety-three persons, under
the proclamation, the payment to be made out of the Armed Force Fund,
which he knew to be illegal.
"Afterwards, as a lobby agent, using
his influence to have the appropriation of $35,000 passed. As the attorney
in fact of Merrill, persuading Governor Moses to appoint a commission to
do, what the Act required the Governor himself to do; procuring himself to
be appointed chairman of the commission for the distribution of said fund;
and, whilst so deeply interested, presiding, hearing, and joining in the
decision of this matter; and, after the awards were made, collecting and
receiving the amount of Merrill's warrants, indorsing them D. H,
Chamberlain, attorney in fact for Lewis Merrill; and, with his associates,
appropriating $500 each out of the money appropriated by law to pay
rewards, under a proclamation of Governor Scott.
The conflict of
interests represented by him is plain enough. How he was able to do exact
and impartial justice to his client and the State, is not so clear. The
bald fact stands out, that his client, Maj. Lewis Merrill, U. S. A., with
his $ 15,750 'rewards,' was well taken care of." (Page 655.)
Of
Lewis Merrill, Brevet-Colonel, United States Army, they say: "The
testimony shows that he (Merrill) made himself unusually active and
officious in procuring the passage of the appropriation of $35,000 through
the Legislature. He enlisted the services of the private secretary of the
Governor in his interests, and was himself rewarded with the lion's
share—a result not to be surprised at, when he had Attorney-General
Chamberlain, Chairman of the Commission, in his employ. During all these
arduous labors, this creature Merrill was in the receipt of his usual pay
and commutation as a field officer in the army of the United States. (Page
655.)
The Committee obtained from the records of the United States
Circuit Court a certificate, under seal, from the clerk, that one hundred
and nine cases gave the sum total of all who had been convicted, or
pleaded guilty, under these Ku-Klux indictments, which would call for
$21,800 under the proclamation; and yet every dollar of the $35,000 was
expended.
The only point where Patterson showed his paw, was in
having his tool, Worthington, appointed assistant counsel in the
prosecutions, at the moderate compensation of $3500 per annum. He himself
was after larger game.
The gratification, entertainment and
amusement offered the new-fledged voters in enrolling the whole MILITIA of
the State, exclusively of colored troops, turned out very expensive under
the administration of the spendthrift Moses as Adjutant-General. The
Committee say that "just previous to the general election in 1870, more
than $100,000 was expended; and, indeed, the simple enrollment absorbed
over $200,000 of the public funds.
This money furnished favorites
with individual campaign funds, to be used in securing their election to
the Legislature, or county offices ; and those favored persons, in their
turn, were expected to operate as auxiliaries to perpetuate the power of
the party and of the ring." (Page 667).
The Moses contracts for furnishing arms to these
sable warriors are too disgusting even for association with the foregoing
black catalogue.
By way of episode, we insert one or two specimens
from the Committee's vouchers, mainly to confirm certain statements in our
accounts of the Laurens troubles. On page 675 will be found this explicit
document: Laurens, S. C, July 8, 1870. "Capt. Hubbard, Chief
Constable.
Dear Sir: Your letter of the 2d was received
today, enclosing the money due me. It came in good time. We are going to
have a hard campaign up here, and we must have more constables. I will
carry the election here with the militia, if the constables will work
with me. I am giving out ammunition all the time. Tell Scott he is all
right here now. Let me know how times are below. Respectfully, Joseph
Crews."
Also, on pages 683 and 684, the following receipts
as Lieutenant-Colonel and Aid to the Governor: "Received this 13th day of
June, 1870, of General Dennis, Acting Ordnance Officer, the following:
13th June, 1870—300 rifle muskets, 300 bayonet-scabbards, 300 tompions,
300 screw-drivers and wrenches, 25 tumbler punches, 300 cartridge boxes,
300 cap pouches, 300 waist belts and plates, 300 gun slings, 12 arm
chests, 2000 rounds of ammunition.
2nd August, 1870—320 rifle muskets, 320 bayonets and
scabbards, 320 tompions, 320 screw-drivers and wrenches, 80 tumbler
punches, 320 cartridge boxes, 320 cartridge box belts, 320 cap pouches,
320 waist belts and plates, 320 gun slings, 12 arm chests, 8,000 rounds of
ammunition (!). Joseph Crews, Lieutenant-Colonel and A. D. C. Finally,
this other, which "followed hard upon": (Page 685.)
"Received at Columbia, this 25th day of September,
1870, ten thousand rounds of ammunition, (Rem. Pat.) Y. J. P.
Owens."
THE ARMED FORCE FUND - authorized to be drawn from any
funds in the treasury, not otherwise appropriated, was even more abused
than the militia fund, as we have seen from the preceding pages. Of the
Armed Force, or " Constabulary," as it was more familiarly called, the
Committee say: "All through the testimony it will be seen that this '
Force' was used, not
to preserve the peace, but to carry elections for
the party, and to intimidate those not of the party. One hundred and
fifty-one deputy constables were appointed, on full per diem and mileage,
and over five hundred to do special service, just before and during
elections. Many were mounted, armed and equipped to do service and scour
the country from county to county; and to perform the peculiar services
alluded to in their daily and weekly reports to the chief constable,
(Hubbard.) This bosom friend and confidential adviser of the Governor
consolidated all these reports for his information, on such points as how
many political meetings they had attended, political condition of county
or township, and how many of them could be elected to the Legislature or
county offices. A large number of these deputies had been imported from
Ohio and Pennsylvania—friends of Scott and Patterson—and it is interesting
to know that more than twenty of them succeeded in obtaining seats in the
Legislature." (Page 702.)
There was one instance,, in this importation of "
bummers," when Scott was well nigh " hoist by his own petard."
Union
County was considered very doubtful in the then coming election. The
ordinary means of intimidation, through the constabulary, having failed in
that community, Scott sent one C. C. Baker on to New York City, to bring
on thirty-two of the hardest cases he could find, under pretext of working
a gold mine in that county, but, in fact, to overawe and
harass.
These were in addition to the 151 above mentioned, and were
to be specially armed with Winchester rifles and navy pistols. Hubbard
testified before the Committee in these words: I don't think it would have
been possible to have selected, or even to have found a more dangerous lot
of men in any city in the Union." Certainly, if L. B.
Hubbard says
this, they must have approximated devils incarnate very nearly. Hubbard
goes on: " As Scott could not comply with all their demands, he became
much demoralized and frightened, fearing they would kill him. At his
request, I paid them all off liberally, bought through tickets for them
from Columbia to New York, via Charleston steamer, and saw them all safely
embarked. He was afraid lest any one of them should be left in
Columbia."
The constituted authorises of New York may thus take
comfort from the fact that the purlieus of their city did furnish a body
of men who could "demoralize" and "frighten" the head devil of Radicalism
in South Carolina at his-own game.
THE PENITENTIARY - was an
unceasing drain on the Treasury for ten long years, the greater part of
which flowed into the private purses of superintendents, directors, and
Hardy Solomon, of course.
South Carolina had no penitentiary before the war,
but in the violent changes in our institutions after the war, ic was one
of the first acts of Orr's administration (1866) to establish one. Major
Thos. B. Lee, a very skillful engineer and architect, and a man of the
highest integrity, was selected as the first Superintendent. Of him the
Committee say: "The whole expenditure passed, and deficiencies due from
1866 to 1877 exceed $900,000, of which the two years term of Major Lee is
chargeable with about one-sixth —which, contrasted with the work since
done, and the amount expended, gives the highest evidence of his
faithfulness, economy, and fitness for the office, and fully vindicates
the good judgment of Governor Orr's appointment." (Page 773).
Major Lee's term was for more than two years, during which the
main buildings were erected, and the expensive machinery for
self-sustaining labor was introduced.
But Scott saw too much money
flowing that way, from the Treasury, to suffer it to go into honest hands,
and he soon trumped up trivial causes for the removal of Lee. When he gave
Stolbrand—one of his own kidney and people—the place, he began to feel
comfortable. His first operation was to loan Stolbrand, as Superintendent,
$15,000, on a deposit of $30,000 in warrants on the Treasury, and then
quietly to ignore the loan and collect the collaterals. Stolbrand himself,
in conniving with the directors on the one hand, and Hardy Solomons on the
other, made money so fast, that the place was adjudged worthy of higher
financial talents, and more finished rascality, so he had to " step down
and out;" and General Dennis, one of the carpet-bag princes, reigned in
his stead. Hisdirectors were Neagle, Comptroller-General; W. B. Nash,
colored Senator from Rich-land, and Hayne, colored Secretary of State. And
now the system of stealing was somewhat simplified, by having Dennis,
Nash, and Hayne as the inner ring, and Dennis, Neagle, and Solomons as the
outer ring. Nash had a brickyard, and his bills for bricks furnished would
go far to throw a Chinese wall around the whole of Columbia; while Hayne,
with no wood
yard at all, furnished fuel enough to burn all of Nash's
bricks. These accounts had to be audited by the outer ring, who were all
the while playing that game with the Treasury which the boys used to call
" heads I win, tails you lose."
In addition to his peculiar
assistance, through his bank, Solomons furnished the convicts with all
their edible supplies; and the single article of " bacon " would allow a
ration of seven pounds to each per day. But what shall we say when we see
items, and large ones, too, for brandy, whiskey, cigars, sardines,
citrons, raisins, chocolate, almonds, etc., etc.? (Page 775)
But we
will dismiss this subject with the single remark, that the Committee have
published evidence enough, established by official vouchers, too, to put
into this institution for life all who were officially connected with it,
under either Stolbrand or Dennis. Even the institutions of charity, such
as THE COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM, AND THE TRANSIENT SICK AND POOR, eventually
fell under the management of unscrupulous thieves, thus verifying, and
making literally true, the figurative language used by the Committee
almost at the beginning of their report, when they say that" the frauds,
perjuries, embezzlements and larceny of the party in power, covered every
transaction and article, from the cradle of the infant to the coffin and
cerements of the dead."
Of the former, we will only say that their
bills of supply would do credit to a first class restaurant in a large
city; and their dry goods, millinery,and almost every article of female
attire, would be appropriate only to the most extravagant female
colleges.
"The transient sick and poor of the various towns and
cities of this State " reached down to the coffin and the undertaker. The
largest voucher under this head was a draft in favor of that eminent
philanthropist, Hardy Solomons, for $2,500. The orders were comparatively
small, and many of them in favor of political tramps passing through
Columbia. Notably was one in favor of Col. Kirk—he of "Kirk's Lambs " in
North Carolina—to help him on his way from Augusta to Washington
City.
Our task, is almost done. If it wearies and disgusts the
reader merely to examine these specimen sheets, how must it be with him
who has to delve in all this mire and filth to give posterity some insight
into the pandemonium to which a sovereign State of this Union has been
subjected, helplessly, for eight long years ?
We must, however, refer the reader to the report
itself for details—if he can stand them—under the more personal
headings of LOAN TO F. J. MOSES, GOVERNOR'S CONTINGENT FUND, HARDY
SOLOMONS' CLAIM, TREASURER'S DUE BILLS, ELECTION OF T. C. DUNN, BRIBERY BY
CHAMBERLAIN IN WHALEY'S CASE, DUNN AND THE LIFE INSURANCE, W. J. WHIPPER
AND HIS CERTIFICATES.
The last mentioned name (Whipper) figures
largely in this report, though we have passed him over, so far, unnoticed.
He was the colored representative from Beaufort, and elected Circuit Judge
with F. J. Moses, though neither of them were permitted to disgrace the
Bench. There is one voucher in his case which we will insert mainly to
show the estimate he placed on his own professional ability. (Page
853.)
W. J. Whipper, in account with Sinking
Fund, State of South Carolina - 1872
January - To amount received from the City of
Charleston per sale of Powder Magazine, one-third of $7,100...$2,368
00January - To amount received from H. Bischoff, for lot of land on Line
and Meeting street, Charleston, one-third of $6,875, 2,291 66
January - To amount received from J. S. Riggs, for
lot of land on Line street, one-third of $550...183 33
March - To
amount received from A. McBee, for State works and grounds, Greenville,
one-third of #2,850...950.00
March - To amount received from Pleasant
Barton, first instalment of lease of State-road, Greenville ...725
00
Total $6,517 99
January - By auctioneer's commission on
$7,100, at 2 1/2 per ct ...$17750
January - By auctioneer's commission
on $876, at 2 1/2 per ct...171 87
January - By auctioneer's commission
on $550, at 21/2 per ct...13 75
March - By auctioneer's commission on
sale of State works and State-road, and papers, stamps and expenses..206
37
March - By cash paid for advertising, Charleston Courier..242
75
March - By cash paid for advertising, Daily News...247 05
March -
By cash paid for advertising, Beaufort Times..32 00
March - By cash
paid for advertising, Beaufort Republican...32 00
March - By amount due
W. J. Whipper as attorney...$7,033 33
Total $8,156 62
Recapitulation
Debtor by receipts..........$6,517 99
Creditor by
payments.........8,15662
Due W.J.W........$1,638 63
Now, J. L.
Neagle, Comptroller-General, and associate with Scott and Chamberlain, as
"Sinking Fund Commission," on page 854, testifies that Whipper, as
Secretary of the Commission, was authorized to sell some real estate in
Charleston, but zvas never employed as attorney.
In the same
evidence before the Committee, Neagle gave the particulars of the sale of
all the stock held by the State in the Greenville and Columbia Railroad,
in the South Carolina Railroad and Southwestern Railroad Bank, in the
Cheraw and Coalfield Railroad, and in the Blue Ridge Railroad. The last
item was $1,320,000, at one dollar per share.
All the unused real
estate to which the State held titles, both in Columbia and Charleston,
was also sold, and all this, railroads and real estate, under an Act
purporting to cover the sale of some perishable rubbish in and about the
State House grounds.
The final chapter in this book of frauds, is
exclusively devoted to the monstrous and unblushing bribery and corruption
in the case of
JOHN J. PATTERSON AND THE UNITED STATES SENATE - The
committee give sixty-five pages of testimony, wherein is clearly set forth
the testimony of seventy-five witnesses given under a promise of immunity
as " State's evidence." Most of these were members of the Legislature, who
received, in hand paid, the bribes for their votes. The average price was
$300 - for a vote, though in their final settlements, very few seemed to
have realized in full the amounts promised. H. G.
Worthington, under a
promise of the Collect-orship in Charleston—which appointment he
afterwards obtained—was
Patterson's indefatigable and unscrupulous "
right-hand man," throughout the canvass.
The other candidates were
R. B. Elliott, a colored representative, and R. K. Scott. In favor of
Elliott was the fact that he was a representative colored man, and the
majority of the Legislature were of that race; Scott had bee.n paving the
way for this personal promotion for years back, as Governor, etc.
Patterson held no official position whatever, but was only known as an
adroit and successful lobbyist. His only chance in the race then was
money, and the testimony shows how lavishly he expended it. How much it
cost him will probably never be known ; but Senator Nash testifies, under
oath, that Patterson told him after the election, that he had expended
$40,000 in bribes, and that he had been forced to sell all his Blue Ridge
Scrip, and mortgage his real estate in Columbia to raise the amount. (Page
918)
On the same point, John A. Barker, member from
Edgefieid, testified that Patterson told him personally that a certain
amount of money—seventy-five thousand dollars, if necessary—was ready on
hand to secure his election, and then offered him $1,000 for his own vote,
and $2,000 additional, if he would secure the votes of two others of his
delegation, the money to be paid at the bank as soon as the vote was cast.
(Page 879.)
Of the seventy-five witnesses examined, sixty testified
to direct tenders of bribes—in most cases accepted too—and yet, Mr.
Collector Worthington stated, under oath, before the committee, that he
had "no knowledge or information that money was used to secure the
election of Patterson, save that he heard rumors of that kind on the
streets." (Page 935.) Alarmed at one time, Patterson offered, through Gen.
Dennis, to bribe Elliott himself off the field, with $15,000. This is
established by the testimony of Elliott himself, who expressed much
virtuous indignation at the base proposal.
AFTER THE ELECTION -
earnest efforts were made to bring Patterson before the courts. He was
immediately arrested, under a warrant for bribery, and sent to jail,
whence he was promptly released on Habeas Corpus, by Judge Mackey. After a
preliminary hearing before a Trial Justice, he was bound over to appear
before the next Circuit Court. But Patterson laughed and snapped his
finger at all this. Moses, as Governor, had already re'moved the jury
commissioner, and had
appointed Gen. Dennis in his stead. Judge
Carpenter, Patterson's intimate friend, had just been elected to the
bench, and Columbia belonged to his circuit. As to the juries in prospect,
Gen. Dennis himself testified before the Committee: " When listing the
juries for the year—grand and petit—I did not allow any name to go into
the box in anyway inimical to Patterson. In this way there could be no
possibility of an enemy being drawn on either panel." (Page
936.)
And so his case has stood from that day to this.
When the judiciary was reformed in 1876, as well as the Legislature, a
serious effort was made to bring Patterson to trial, on this, as well as
some other indictments. But a requisition on the proper authorities at
Washington was judicially refused.
In view of the vast amount of crime and fraud
unearthed by their very protracted and thorough investigation, the
Committee recommend that judicial proceedings be at once begun against the
most prominent on the foregoing list of thieves and defaulters. As to the
spirit in which this should be done, they say, "and let this be undertaken
in no temper of vengeance, not to gratify any morbid sentiment that would
gloat over the sufferings of the criminal, overtaken by the sad
consequences of his crime. But let it be done in the spirit of the patriot
and the statesman—the spirit of the law, as expressed by the old Roman
jurist and orator, liut pcena ad paucos, metus ad omnes petveniat" and as
we learn it in the forcible words of the great expositor of the English
Common Law, "the end or final cause of human punishment is not by way of
atonement or expiation of the crime committed—for that must be left to the
just determination of the Supreme Being— but as a precaution against
further offences of the same kind". (Page 886.)
The action of the
Legislature, under this recommendation, caused the Attorney-General to
begin proceedings—so far, with the following RESULTS.
More than
thirty "True Bills "have been found by Grand Juries of Richland County—not
very much varied in their character—and covering a long list of names.
Sometimes five or six names would be embraced under the same indictment,
and sometimes the same name would be found several times repeated. For
instance, the name of Cardozo will be found on ttine separate
indictments.
With this explanation, only the following names can
now be found on the Docket: H. H. Kimpton, D. H. Chamberlain, R. K. Scott,
F. J. Moses, N. G. Parker, F. L. Cardozo, Robert Smalls, J. L. Neagle, F.
S. Jacobs, (Solomons' Bank,) B. F. Whittemore, Solomon L. Hoge, Y. J. P.
Owens, Thos. C. Dunn, R. H. Gleaves, Samuel J. Lee, Josephus Woodruff, A.
O. Jones and L. Cass Carpenter.
Of these, Parker, L. Cass
Carpenter, Cardozo and Smalls, have been tried and convicted, on one
indictment each; so far, the other criminals have not been very
accessible.
Immunity has been granted to very many—mostly
members of the Legislature—as in the seventy-five examined in Patterson's
case.
In other cases, as Woodruff's, Jones', Nash's, and
some others, promises of restitution were exacted and complied with, and
thus the State was relieved of a large amount of indebtedness by the
surrender of papers. How much, if any, money was refunded, has never come
to light.
PERSONALS - Hiram H. Kimpton.—Two indictments in his
case— one associating him with Patterson and Parker, for
"conspiracy"
to bribe members of the Legislature— and the other simply of "conspiracy,"
associating him with Chamberlain, Parker, Neagle and Leslie. (What single
State £ould have withstood such a conspiracy as this ?) A requisition on
the Governor of Massachusetts was made for Kimpton, not long since, but
her constituted authorities could not consent to the abduction of the
embodiment of so much native financial ability from the borders of that
State.
D. H. Chamberlain is also under indictment in the same
court; but whether he will ever be trieH is doubtful—and, if tried,
whether he can be convicted, is still more doubtful. The slang expression
of il running into a hole, and then drawing in the hole after him,"is
peculiarly appropriate to his course, all through his carpet-bag career.
He has been the Alpha and Omega of Radicalism in South Carolina.
Furnishing most of the brain in their first constitutional convention,
serving as Attorney-General in their first administration, he was among
the last of the office-holders to leave the State. A large shareholder in
the " Printing Company" in the G. & C. R. R., in Solomons' Bank, and "
attorney in fact" for several of the head devils in rascality,—yet he has
managed always to keep himself behind the scenes, till his innate cunning
would give him the cue. So well did he.act his part, that even in 1876,
when the 11 straightout" policy finally prevailed, there were many of our
prominent citizens and newspapers who advocated Chamberlain, as the
Conservative candidate for Governor. We can only say, that if Patterson
reached the United States Senate on his peculiar carpet-bag merits,—on the
same ground, Daniel H. Chamberlain ought to be President for
life.
R. K. Scott's eight years' career has already been very fully
given in these pages. He has never been tried, though there are more than
one of the indictments awaiting him. He has returned to his native Ohio,
where old Judge Tucker once said the prevailing classes were the white man
and the hog. With all his ill-gotten wealth, R. K. S. will never reach the
F. F. O's.
B. F. Whittemore—As senator from Darlington, his career
in that county was even more diabolical than that of Joe Crews in Laurens.
He retained his seat in the Senate, even after Chamberlain had abdicated
as Governor. Finding the Investigating Committee hot on his trail, he
applied for and received leave of absence to visit his "sick family" in
Massachusetts. Pairing with a member of this Investigating Committee in
the Senate, he took the train, and has not been seen or heard from
since.
N. G. Parker—Tried and convicted in the summer of 1875,
under an indictment of " Larceny, and breach of trust, with fraudulent
intent." Escaped from jail; was recaptured, and finally pardoned for that
offense on promise to tell all he knew.
There are five other indictments against him, and he
has departed to parts unknown.
L. Cass Carpenter, editor and sympathizing lobbyist,
was tried and convicted on an indictment of "Forgery." Pardoned, as to
that case, by the Governor, on a petition carried around the Democratic
Legislature by his wife, in person, in which it was asserted that his life
would be endangered by his longer incarceration, as his health was very
feeble. There are still four other indictments against him, and all for
the same crime. Recently, at Washington, and elsewhere, the papers
represent him as devoting his spared life to abusing and vilifying those
to whose clemency he is indebted for his life.
Y. J. P. Owens,
senator from Laurens, indicted more than once for "conspiracy to cheat by
false tokens," left his country for his country's good, and after wasting
his ill-gotten substance in riotous living, died miserably in some
northern city, from excessive debauchery.
Francis L. Cardozo was
tried and convicted by a jury of his own race, of " conspiracy." The
President and Clerk of the Senate, and the Speaker and Clerk of the House,
were associated with him in this indictment, but not in the trial. He was
released on bail, pending his appeal for a new trial; and when this was
refused, he returned and gave himself up. He was finally pardoned as to
that case ; but there are eight other indictments against him, on the same
docket, embracing about all the fraudulent charges known to the judiciary.
Is now happy in the Treasury Department in Washington, appointed under the
Civil Service Reform Policy of President Hayes, for entire proficiency in
all financial operations.
Robert Smalls, late member of Congress.
His political influence was owing, mainly, to his being head bribe-broker
for his Congressional District He was tried and convicted on an indictment
for bribery. His release was precisely similar to Car-dozo's; and, with
him. he is sharing the munificent fruits of President Hayes Civil Service
Reform.
S. A. Swails, senator from Williamsburg, and there having
the same sway and infamous notoriety, as Whittemore, in
Darlington,
and Joe Crews, in Lau-rens, was not indicted in Richland, but promised
immunity, if he would vacate his Presidency of the Senate, make
restitution, and go and sin no more. (Gleaves, Lieutenant-Governor, and
ex-officio President of the Senate, had already vacated his seat, and on
the same terms). Instead of manifesting any penitence, Swails returned to
his county, and became $0 desperately incendiary in his course, that the
citizens very unanimously invited him to leave. After this, getting his
carpet-bag filled with grievances and persecutions, he, too, went to
Washington, and sat down with Cardozo and Smalls. Finding his quarters so
comfortable, he sent word to his friend, Sam Lee, of Sumter, another local
politician of the same complexion and principles, to raise some row at
home, and come on for his reward. This, Sam was not slow to do, and
to-day, is sitting at the financial fountain of greenbacks. Strange sight,
even in these days of political wonders, to behold Cardozo, Smalls, Swails
and Lee flying from the penitentiary at home, to the hospitable shelter of
the United States Treasury.
As an appropriate base for this column
of notorious knaves, it is only necessary to write the name of Franklin J.
Moses.
It must be borne in mind, that the work of this Committee
was confined to a particular class of frauds. Very little investigation
was had into the " Bond " question, and none whatever into the infamous "
Land Commission" with C. P. Leslie at its head. If the attempt should ever
be made to publish all these frauds to the world, in the language of the
Evangelist, it might be said, "I suppose that even the world itself could
not contain the books that should be written."
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