Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1872 — Hon. Thomas Ewing, Jr., Explains Away the Liberal Charges Against Speaker Blaine. [ARTICLE]

Hon. Thomas Ewing, Jr., Explains Away the Liberal Charges Against Speaker Blaine.

Columbus, Omo, October 10. The " Ohio State Journal , to-morrow morning, will publish a correspondence between Hon. .Tames G.' Blaine and ITon. Thomas Ewing, Jr., in regard'to the charges recently made by the New York Tribune in reference to thdtel Irgw! contract made with Speaker .i®be by General Ewing and Colonel HpStone for nearly $2,000,000 of stock ip the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western Railroad Company-, afterward merged into the Union Pacific, Eastern Diviron. The Tribunecharge -was that this -stock had. been received by Mr. Blaine in payment for the services of himself and other members of Congress in procuring the passage of the original Pacific liaiiroad act of 1802, and. that it had been paid in pursuance of a contract made in 1862 by Colonel Stone and General Ewing. General Ewing’s letter is very full and explicit on the whole subject. The most important portion of the letter is as follows: —“So far us the charges impute to you personal corruption in office, it is conclusively disproved by public records, accessible to all, which show that you did not enter Congress, for nearly a year and a half after the law referred t'o was passed. And as to the other-branch-of the charge, my general knowledge of the business of the company, and especially my intimacy with you, make it certain that you could not/have liad any contract with the company r ( ithout my. knowing the fact, and I unties 5 ’ tingly declare thafryou were notin any firmer, or at any time, directly or Indirrf employed by the company, or in any\ se ‘ interested in it or its affairs as stookhoUiv or otherwise in any capacity whatever. Wour brother, J. E. Blaitie, at that time Clerk of the District Court at Leavenworth, and one of the early settlers of Kansas, was the owner of SIO,OOO of the stock of the Leavenworth, Pawnee A Western Kailroad Company, which, indeed, was held very generally - among the influential men of all parties along'the line of the road in Kansas. But that was in 1861 or 1802, and a considerable period before you were even nominated for your first term in Congress. - Beyond that theye never was at any time tire remotest interest in the company held by any member of your family. The entry of sl,920,000 of stock opposite the name of Blaine was therefore wholly a fiction or a blonder, and the grave imputations on your character, and on that of the officers and agents of the company are utterly ’groundless, and without a shadow of justification. lam inform ed that General Stone is now in Europe. He will doubtless take occasion when he learns of these charges to speak for himself about them. So far as my knowledge of the affairs of the company goes, I deliberately assert that it never by any of its officers, agents, or attorneys, made any contract the procreeds Of "which there was rbason to believe were to be in any manner participated by any member of Congress or other public officer.” “ Very truly yours, Thomas Ewing.”