CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



231 



controlled politically against them ; that it 

 should never become a partisan road. I felt 

 it my duty to stand there as a sentinel and 

 watch that road to see that it was not so used. 

 Injustice to the majority of the directors who 

 are opposed to me in politics, I feel it my duty 

 now to say that the road has never been used 

 that way in any manner, at least within my 

 knowledge. 



" Of course it was to be expected that a road 

 upon which the Government had lavished mill- 

 ions in the form of bonds, and which was to 

 have such great power over the commerce and 

 trade of the country, would be besieged upon 

 all sides by ambitious and mercenary men de- 

 sirous to control it financially, if not politi- 

 cally. Hence, when this road was beginning 

 to shadow itself before the public, and whilo 

 it was still in the infancy of its construction, 

 there came from the country to New York 

 two men men attractive in personal appear- 

 ance; men of agreeable manners; men not 

 without talent; but men of audacity, who, 

 npon the great theatre of Wall Street and its 

 surroundings, desired to figure largely, as po- 

 litical men desire to figure here. One came 

 from the pure air and green hills of Vermont. 

 Amid its Christian surroundings, its captivat- 

 ing scenery, and its frugal population, he had 

 been trained in virtue and in virtuous associa- 

 tions. But when he entered New York he 

 abjured his home and its associations, and put 

 on the livery of Satan, the better to serve the 

 devil in Wall Street. That man wns James 

 Fisk, Jr., whose career is well known to yon 

 all. 



" Another man came to New York about the 

 same time from the streets and alleys of the 

 little city of Wilmington, Delaware. He came 

 as a saint, though not wearing sandal, cowl, or 

 crozier. He was a member of the Clinrch, 

 and traded on his sanctity. The saint worked 

 himself in as a director of the Union Pacific 

 Railroad, and also as a director of the Credit 

 Mobilier of America, while the Satan attempted 

 by storm what the saint worked for under the 

 cowl. But together they struggled to insinu- 

 ate themselves into the Union Pacific Railroad. 

 Fisk bought six shares, and strove to fight his 

 way in by the courts of law. McComb was in, 

 and aided Jim Fisk to the best of his ability. 

 McComb was all gentleness, goodness, and 

 charity, while Fisk. like a roaring lion, ran 

 rampant in Wall Street, or in the Central 

 Park, emblazoning his courtesans and cyprians 

 to the fashionable population of a great city. 

 Their tracks were both alike, save in this, that 

 the cowl protected the one, while the livery 

 of Satan wns always exposing the other. 



" Mr. Speaker, these two gentlemen about 

 the same time instituted suits against the 

 T'nion Pacific Railroad ; the one by Fisk on 

 his part, July 2, 1868, the report of which I 

 hold before me, and the other by McComb in 

 the January term, 1868. of a court in Pennsyl- 

 vania ; the one in the city of New York before 



Judge Barnard, a man of some renown, who 

 appointed as receiver of the road a Mr. Tweed, 

 a nume of not less renown. Fisk swore in 

 that Barnard court what McComb swears also, 

 that members of Congress are all, or almost 

 all, corrupt ; in substance, that there is no vir- 

 tue in public life, all that is left being in the 

 bosom of the Fisks and McCombs. When 

 greedy to grasp the Union Pacific Railroad, 

 Fisk swore : 



I am also informed, and believe, that a number 

 of members of Conferees have a direct or indirect in- 

 terest in securing the said Credit Mobilier a contin- 

 uance of its present control over the Union Pacific 

 Railroad ; that over $500.000 of tlie funds of the said 

 Union Pacific Railroad Company were expended by 

 it directors within a single year in bribes to mem- 

 bers of Congress and officers of the United States 

 Government, and that millions of dollars have been 

 given to such members and officers as bribeSj in an 

 indirect manner, by giving to them shares in the 

 profits of the said Credit Mobilier. 



" Now, McComb is of the same opinion, and 

 Las insinuated if not sworn to the like in the 

 court of Pennsylvania ; of my case it was an 

 alter-thought that I was given fifty shares of 

 the Credit Mobilier only to corrupt Demo- 

 cratic members of Congress, for it was not 

 proffered in the Pennsylvania suit or in the 

 publication that McComb first caused to be 

 made in the New York Sun. 



" It turns out, as I understand, that McComb 

 is suffering about as much in the court of 

 Pennsylvania as Fisk has suffered in the court 

 of New York, and hence it became advisable 

 to change the issue or the venue. The Speaker 

 of the House, the Vice-President of the United 

 States, and the Secretary of the Treasury were 

 therefore involved, with other eminent Repub- 

 licans in Congress, in the August publication, 

 in order cither to compel them to compel 

 Oakes Ames to pay McComb black-mail, or in 

 order to fish for additional testimony before a 

 committee of the House, which he knew the 

 Speaker or some other member must demand 

 as soon as the House assembled in December. 

 In other words, he was transferring his black- 

 mail suit from a court in Pennsylvania to a 

 court in Congress, where he supposed he could 

 create a public opinion which would make 

 Ames pay up or drive him from Congress. 

 M<:Comb and Fisk both operated in the some 

 way. 



"And here, if I am not misinformed, an 

 effort has recently been made in Washington 

 on the part of McComb and since this inves- 

 tigating committee was started to settle this 

 whole suit here, when McComb, if he wns 

 compelled to appear .at all as a witness before 

 the committee, would so appear as to do no 

 harm to anybody. 



" As I have already said, these two suits, in- 

 stituted by these two copartners, Fisk and 

 McComb not copartners in business, but co- 

 partners in general deviltry were instituted 

 about the same time ; one was ended by the 

 impeachment of Judge Barnard for his action 



