Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1886 — ADDITIONAL NEWS. [ARTICLE]

ADDITIONAL NEWS.

..Attorney General G*rkakdp=hp=: peared before tlie Telephone Investigation Committee at Washington, on the 19th inst., and gave full details of his connection with the Pan-Electric Company. Following is a brief resume of his testimony:'He wished, he said, to lay before the committee and reaffirm the matter Contained in his statement to the President on Oct. s last. In addition, he wished to explain two or three points in that statement. In February, 1883,’ Gen. Atkins had said to witness that be believed the Rogers inventions were of great utility if properly handled, and that money could be made out of them, Being a poor man, like himself, General Atkins had desired witness to enter into this. "I told him,’’ said the witness, “that I had never undertaken to make any money, except by law and j>oker. I had always lost at poker, and generally won at law. I wjtfc willing to go into this if lie thought it-olfered any inducements.” Witness arranged to leave Washington on Aug. ‘27. and spend the entire month of September at his home iu Arkansas. He had chosen that time because lit had found September the best month to be but of Washington, and because he could shoot deer in Arkansas iu that month undor the game law. Mr. Goode returnod about the middle of August, but witness said nothing to him about tho application he had received to bring suit at Memphis, because he did not know oxactly wliat to say. He supposed the men who had made the application woultrfind their remedy if they supposed they had one. He returned to Washington about October 1, and when he called at the. White House the President told him the papers were speaking of the ease. Whereupon he had made the explanation that had been published. Witness had never to this day spoken to Mr. Goode about tlie first suit or the one alleged to be pending Mr. Goode spoke something about the counsel, and the practice of tho Government in dealing ' with counsel. Witness did not know what was in the bill; had never seen the papers on which the suit was predicated and had never talkeel with Secretary Lamar or tho men who had sat with him. He had even declined to talk with the President about the suit. One of the men in Secretary La oar's department— Mr. Zach Montgomery, an old college friend who was appo.uted at witness’ solicitationdeclined to sit in the case because of his friendship, and old acquaintance with the witness. Witness said that he had not received his stock as a gift. As to the question of propriety, there was no more impropriety in his ]>ositic.n than in the case of men holding railroad stocks while in Congress, or Congressmen going over to the Supreme Court to practice for money. It was a legitimate business, and witness never dreamed of any legislation being asked. His only regret was that it had not' “panned out.” If any question had Como up in Congress connected with the company he would not have voted on it. He recommended Dr. Rogers and his son to Messrs. Cox and Hewitt, because he rogarded them as very competent men in their line. The Chairman again inquired if witness regarded the stock as a gilt. He replied, in the negative. Five or six persons came together for the organization of a company, and they made assessments, the first move being to give a note for SI,OOO, which was followed by assessments of ¥SO or SIOO each. He did not regard the invention as having any marketable value; the company was to establish their utility amt - put * them on -the market. Witness had no more idea of using his official influence for the advantage of the enterSrise.than he had of jumping into the Potomac Tver with a millstone, around liis neck. Tlie company was simply an undertaking by half a dozen impecunious gentlemen. They never tried to boom the business and scatter the stock upon the country ; at least witness had never heard of it. The Chairman asked why witness wanted to put telephones in the Capitol. The witness replied that they wanted to exhibit the instruments to the public ; it was not intended to bring them before Congress. ‘ . The heaviest Krapp gun ever made, weighing seventy tons, thirty feet long, and throwing a shell’weighing 784 pounds, has just been mounted in Germany... .It is rumored that the Greek Consul at Crete,- with the approval of his Government, has been engaged iu plotting a rebellion among the people, a majority of whom are Greeks, against Turkish authority, and that the Consuls of the other Powers have-asked their respective Governments to interfere to prevent the movement from being carried out. Ms, Cullom, of Hlinois, offered a bill in the Senate on the 19th inst. to increase the pension for total disability to $72 per month. A favorable report was made on a-measure for the erection of a fire-proof hall of records in Washington. An adverse report was submitted on the bill to grant full pay for life to all Federal judges who may become seventy years of age or resign after thirty years’ service. The House of .Representatives, under the leadership of Messrs. Browne and Hatch, refused” to fix a date for the Consideration of the Hennepin canal bill. On motion of Ms. Mcßae, of Arkansas, from the Committee on Public Lauds, the rules weie suspended and a bill was passed providing for the sale of the Cherokee Reservation in the State of Kansas. Mr. Henley,, of California, introduced a resolution for an" inquiry by a select committee on the relations at the Union Pacific Railroad Company to the .United-States. Mr. Carey introduced a bill to authorize the Union Pacific Railway Company to make limning or traffic arrangements with or to become the lessee of any railroad which connects with its lines of railway, ,