Nt 



KANSAS. 



eroy, and requesting that gentleman to resign 

 bis office. Investigating committee! were ap- 

 pointed both in Topeka and Washington, and 

 at once entered upon their duties. Before the 

 committee appointed by the Legislature, e\i- 

 denco was adduced to show that attempts at 

 bribery had been made in other instances than 

 that of Senator York. 



The Legislature adjourned on the 6th of 

 March, the House having previously passed 

 the following resolution : . 



Kaolrtd, That it is the sense of this House that 

 Senator S. C. Pomeroy used corrupt means in the 

 endeavor to secure bis reelection, and that he is un- 

 worthy the confidence and respect of the people of 

 Kansas. 



On the 19th of February, Senator Pomeroy 

 appeared in bia seat in the Senate, and in offer- 

 ing a resolution providing for the appointment 

 of a special committee of five, to investigate 

 the charges made against him, said : 



Senators as individuals, as well as the country, 

 have bad their attention called, through the press, to 

 the late senatorial election in Kansas, and have had 

 some information of the conspiracy there planned, 

 plotted, and executed, for the purpuso of accomplish- 

 ing my defeat. Upon the subject-matter of that act 

 of villainy , unparalleled in wickedness, my lips bave 

 heretofore been silent for want of a proper place and 

 opportunity to speak ; I now propose to break this 

 silence in "your presence. Sir, in presence of my 

 fellow-Senators, and before the country, I publicly 

 deny the truth of each and even- charge of bribery 

 and corruption made by the chief instigator of this 

 conspiracy, or by whomsoever made. I deny each 

 and every statement imputing to me any act incon- 

 sistent with moral rectitude or correct conduct, nn.l 

 declare all *uch statements to be totally false. And 

 I further specifically deny that I over entered into 

 any contract or agreement", directly or indirectly, with 

 any man, member of the Kansas Legislature or not, 

 for a vote in my favor, or that I ever, directly or 

 indirectly, paid "any individual one dollar, or any 

 other sum, for his vote for me in the State sena- 

 torial elect . 



The committee, having been promptly ap- 

 pointed, proceeded at once to examine the 

 principal witnesses in the matter. Mr. Pome- 

 roy sabmitted a statement, denying that ho 

 ever made any attempt, or commissioned any 

 one to do so in his behalf, to influence improp- 

 erly the vote of any member of the !. 

 fur.-. He explained the remarkable interview 

 with York as follows: 



And nnw, as to the charge of this Mr. York and 

 ht ssnociat* conpiratni, I will say, th* true facts 

 have already been stated by witnesses and the tran*- 

 -tated to be purely a business one, 

 bavi M to his vote, which, on several oc- 



casion*, I ha<l learned of bis pledging to me. About 

 the lat of th week before the Tuesday set for th.- 

 first ballot, T. B. Eldrldge, M. W. Reynolds. Mr. 

 De Long, and other*, all from his county, assured 

 me, with more or less posltivcnoss, of York's nip- 

 port: but some days before I learned that.I had, 

 after much deliberation, agreed to aid Mr. B. Pago 

 and his sssociatps to start a national bank at Inde- 

 pendence. Mr. Page bad a private bank, and, hav- 

 loc satiMIrd myself of his abilit\ and fit- 



ness for the management of such an institution, I 

 agreed to fumiidi him with money sufficient, when 

 met with bin ' wn *?R.<*X>, to make a sum sufficient 

 to purchase thirty United States bonds of the de- 



nomination of $1,000 each. Page urged, and was 

 anxious t" procure the money before he leu Topeka, 

 t.ut I told him it was inconvenient for me to furnish 

 over *-'.o<i then, but 1 would give it soon, an.. 

 might depend upon it, and make bin an. 

 accordingly. Al this time 1 met at the Tent 11 

 \V. II. Borland, of the Second National Bank of ! 

 enworth, who inquired of me if I should ii"t want 

 some currency before leaving Topeka, as he th.. 

 from appearances that my hotel-tills would be large. 

 At first 1 told him no.- Next day I met him. 

 said 1 should like to get $5,000 at lorty or sixty days. 

 as I had agreed to help a friend to organize a national 

 bank, and be would refund it as soon as he got his 

 currency from the Government. He then brought 

 a'ckage said to contain $5,000, which 1 m-v.r 

 opened or counted, and gave a note or receipt lor it 

 ut the time, aud 1 put the same in no valise. On 

 Monday night, the ?tb, Mr. York oami t" no 

 to see me, having sent word several times that he 

 would do so, and at once began to report w hat hud 

 been going on at the anti-Ponieroy caucus, and I 

 heard nim through. Before leaving, he spoke of the 

 favor I had granted his friend, and said l'agc hud 

 requested him to git tin money und forward it to 

 him atlmlcpcii.li nee. mid that b i York > I 

 it soon after election for him. 1 told him 1 was not 

 prepared at Hint time to furnish it, although 1 hud 

 promised it to Page before I left the city. 1 assured 

 him of mv confidence, and told him 1 could furnish 

 $2,000 at that time, and thought I should be able to 

 furnish 16.000 more the next day. The amount neces- 

 sary, I had calculated, would be fi< m the to right 

 thousand dollars to pay for the bonds and their pre- 

 mium, in addition to the $25,000 Page and his asso- 

 could furnish. 1 then paid him the first in- 

 stallment of $2,000, and the next day I paid him a 

 package of $6,000, just as I had received the sum 

 from Borland, and neither gave my note to Borland 

 nor took a note from him; but, during Hint day, I 

 had seen Mr. King, at one time in con ) any with 

 him, and asked him to see Pnge before he left tlie 

 city, and inform him of the transaction ; but both 

 these, gint'u-nieii returned, saying they were unable 

 to tiiul Page, und 1 ri sted in the belief tl.:.' 

 action was all right, until I heard the misstatementl 

 of the facts by York on the floor of the joint conven- 

 tion. 1 Hun denounced it as a conspiracy and plot, 

 and told my counsel here, Judge llorton, the whole 

 story, and within a few days left Kansas for Wash- 

 ington. 



On the 8d of March, the last day of Poine- 

 roy's senatorial term, a majority of the com- 

 mi'ttee reported tluit neither the charge-, in 

 relation to bribing Senator Simpson, of the 

 Kansas Legislature, nor those preferred by 

 Colonel York, were sustained by evidence. 

 Senator Thtirman, however, was of opinion 

 that in both instances the charges were con- 

 duaively proved. 



While this inve-t igiit ion into the charges 

 preferred aguinst Mr. Poim-roy wns proccul- 

 ing, another committee of tlie Semite was in- 

 vestigating similar charges of bribery against 

 the other Kansas Senator, Alexander CaldweQ 

 (tee ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA for 187'2); but, dur- 

 ing tin- pendency of these proceed in;.'*, that 

 gentleman resigned hi- M'::t in tl Senate. 

 The committee of the Senate subsequent h re- 

 ported that Mr. Cnldwcll was not entitled to 

 a aeat in that ho<h. 



On the 20th of March a State Convention of 

 farmers was held in Topeka, and was att. 

 by about two hundred delegates, rcprcsontiiu: 

 all sections of the State. The convention con- 



