anyhow." I realized that very fully, and then when Mr. Bliss made the remark that it was so serious a matter to indict a United States Senator, I said to myself, "Well, of course these men understand their busness."

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. You did appear before the petit jury?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. What was the purpose of calling you there?-A. It was to establish a conspiracy by my testimony in relation to the payments made to Brady, and Brady's conversations wherein he had said that it was his habit to make these assessments of 20 per cent. per annum.

Q. On what?-A. On the mail contractor's pay whenever he expe dited or increased their service.

Q. Did you testify before that petit jury that Mr. Brady had told you that he charged 20 per centum upon the amount of such expedi tion?-A. Yes, sir; I so testified. I was on the stand three or four days, and you remember that the jury stood ten for conviction and two for acquittal. The foreman of that petit jury, who did some very extraordinary voting on that occasion, was Mr. William Dickson. Mr. Dickson, in attempting to explain his extraordinary verdict and vote, said he had voted as he had because of Walsh's testimonythat he did not believe me. It is very unpleasant for me to repeat this, but you see I have to do it in my own behalf. He said, among other things, that the reason he did not believe me was that when he was secretary of what was known here as the Yellow-Fever Commission, a body organized to aid the Southern sufferers from yellow fever, I had attempted to have paid by that commission a fraudulent voucher belonging to Lieutenant Benner, who, as the committee will remember, was in command of the boat that went from Saint Louis to Vicksburg, and who died of yellow fever. He belonged to the Eighteenth Infantry. Lieutenant Benner had obtained some discounts on vouchers from me, and after getting my money he volunteered to take charge of this yellow fever boat, and he died at Vicksburg. As I have said, there was organized at that time a yellow fever commission, of which Alexander Shepherd was a member and Dickson was the secretary. After the death of Benner the people of the country were appealed to, and it was suggested that there should be contributions raised for his family. The result was that this commission was in some way put in charge of the fund, which swelled to rather large proportions, and it occurred to me that perhaps I might get my pay from the commission out of that fund; at all events I thought there was no harm in asking for it. I sent my clerk to see some of the gentlemen of the commission. My clerk knew Dickson whom I did not know, so he went to Dickson, showed him the vouchers, and told him all the facts in relation to the case, and said to him, as I understood, "Now, don't you think that this ought to be paid? Don't you think that it is perhaps a debt of honor, a sacred debt? Mr. Walsh discounted those vouchers for Benner under peculiar circumstances. Benner was very necessitous and very importunate, and Mr. Walsh let him have the money, and I think it ought to be paid." Dickson was rather encouraging at first. Shepherd went to see the other members of the commission, and they said they did not like to pay the claim; that perhaps the people who had contributed to the fund would say that they had not contributed their money to pay any banker's debts, and that they were afraid to pay it, although they would like to do so.

I then wrote to Mrs. Benner about it, thinking that perhaps she would

feel disposed to pay her husband's debt, incurred under such circumstances; but she would not pay me, so I dropped the matter and heard no more of it until Mr. Dickson stated that it was on account of this "fraudulent" claim that he would not believe me as a witness. In connection with this matter there were the most infamous publications made about me in the Critic here, calling me a "ghoul" and all that sort of thing. I asked the Government to protect me as a witness and to prosecute these libelers, but Mr. Bliss said he did not think the Government was bound to protect its witnesses in that way. Mr. Merrick thought I ought to be protected, but still there was nothing done. There was a Pickwickian motion made in court one day, at the usual compensation, $100 a day, and that is all that was done about it. I assure you, gentlemen, that if the Government's treatment of witnesses generally who testify in its behalf is to be such as it accorded me it will require a man of the most extraordinary strength of character to venture upon the stand as a witness. He will be entitled to promotion. I have a very considerable fund of aggressiveness in me; I was born very far South, and I have been accustomed all my life to fighting odds, so that I perhaps go into it con amore, but I have had just as much as I could do to hold my ground.

Now, I have here Benner's vouchers and the checks given to Benner, which bear his indorsement. I will read his letter to me asking this loan:

MCPHERSON BARRACKS, Atlanta, Ga., September 12, 1878.

DEAR SIR: You are already aware of the fact that I have anticipated my accounts up to December 31, 1878, and my present circumstances impel me to inform you of the necessity therefor. Last summer, in Columbia, S. C., I became entangled in an affair of a peculiar nature, which, to avoid an unenviable notoriety before the public, forced me to raise $800 to satisfy the other party concerned. This, with other necessary exexpenses (outside of my own individual wants), has strained me so badly that, to meet my obligations and preserve my honor, I must realize $250 from some source on or before the 25th instant, and, to be frank, I scarcely know where to look for it excepting yourself. In this extremity I must ask if you would be willing to take my accounts for two months further at 5 per cent., and send your check so that it would reach me on 25th instant? If so, please telegraph me (night message) at my expense, and oblige,

Very truly, yours,

H. H. BENNER, First Lieutenant, Eighteenth Infantry.

(Indorsed :) Lieut. H. H. Benner. Telegraphed him willingness to comply on account of circumstances.

You have heard Benner's letter, and here are the checks and other vouchers, from which you will see that if I was a "ghoul" I was at least an odd one:

No. 29.]

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23rd, 1878.

Winslow, Lanier & Co.: Please to pay Lt. H. H. Benner, or order, three hundred and seven dollars.

$307.98.

98

(On the left-hand margin :) W., L. & Co. (Stamp.)

No. 37.]

J. A. WALSH.

SEPT. 5th, 1878.

Winslow, Lanier & Co., 27 Pine street: Please to pay Lt. H. H. Benner, or order, one hundred and thirty dollars.

$130.00.

(On the left-hand margin :) W., L. & Co. (Stamp.)

J. A. WALSH.

No. 3.

The United States to 1st Lieut. H. H. Benner, 18th Infantry, Dr.

I certify, on honor, that the amounts charged in the foregoing account are correct and just, as authorized by law, and that they are rightfully due me as stated, and that I am not in arrears with the United States on any whatsoever. I was last paid to October 31st, 1878, by Paymaster and I acknowledge to have received this 187 of Paymaster U. S. A., in full of this account, the sum of one hundred sixty-two & dollars, by check No. (Signed in duplicate.)

day of

No. 3.

on

H. H. BENNER, 1st Lieut., 18th Infantry.

The United States to 1st Lieutenant H. H. Benner, Eighteenth U. S. Infantry, Dr.

Salary.

Time paid for.

Months.

Pay per
year.

Amount

For myself for over 15 years' serv. From 1st Dec'r, 1878, to 31st 1

ice.

Dec'r, 1878.

I certify, on honor, that the amounts charged in the foregoing account are correct and just, as authorized by law, and that they are rightfully due me as stated, and that I am not in arrears with the United States on any account whatsoever. I was last paid to November 30th, 1878, by Paymaster to have received this

and I acknowledge day of 187 of Paymaster Wm. B. Rochester, U. S. A., in full of this account, the sum of one hundred and sixty-two & dollars, by check No. on the U. S. (Signed in duplicate.)

H. H. BENNER, 1st Lieut., 18th Infantry.

These are the papers that that man Dickson saw. They were shown to him as secretary of that commission, and with the full knowledge of the genuineness of these papers and their character he gave to the world the statement that the reason he did not believe me as a witness was that I had attempted to pass a "fraudulent" claim before that commission. I have asked the Government time and again to prosecute the men who thus libelled me, claiming that it was nothing but simple justice to me that they should be prosecuted; but Mr. Bliss said no, no; that he was opposed to it; that the Government was not called upon to "fix up these fellows" that happened to be witnesses in its behalf.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. Lieutenant Benner was an officer of the Army, and simply applied to you to have his pay discounted in advance?-A. Yes, sir; Mr. Benner did nothing that was at all improper in the matter.

Q. And after obtaining that loan from you he died of yellow fever.A. Yes; he volunteered and died like a man. Having made the loan under such circumstances, and there being a considerable fund raised, I tried first to get my pay through that commission, and having failed

there I thought that perhaps Mrs. Benner, having this money, might feel moved to pay her husband's debts of this character, but she did not, and I dropped the subject, as I have dropped thousands of other debts in my life, and I thought no more about it until Mr. Dickson was kind enough to revive it in this slanderous manner. Here is what the Critic said about me. [Reading:] "John A. Walsh, a ghoul as well as a liar." Where I was born it would cost a man his life to put that in type, or else he would shoot me first, but up here I have changed my ethics. Here is the heading of this Critic article in full:

JOHN A. WALSH.

A GHOUL AS WELL AS A LIAR.

Uncovering an Honored Grave and Insulting the Memory of the Dead-A_Brief Sketch of the Yellow Fever Scourge in 1878, and of Lieutenant Benner's Heroic Self-Sacrifice-A Fund Raised For the Relief of Mrs. Beuner Excites Walsh's Cupidity, an With the Aid of Ben. Shekell He Tries to Get a Slice-The Infamous Proposition Which Shekell Wanted Dickson to Sign-Walsh and His Clerk Convicted Out of Their Own Mouths.

And here is an extract from the National Republican, the organ of the Administration, the organ of the party to which I belong, and for which I have spent a great deal of money in an endeavor to advance my own theories, which I merely claimed I had a right to do, though many of my ex Confederate friends insisted I had not. Dickson said: "There was nothing against Brady until Walsh's testimony was intro. duced, and that evidence I placed no weight on uncorroborated." He also said in a significant way that he had known me in New Orleans. I went to see Mr. Dickson, and said to him, "You say you knew me in New Orleans; a great many people in New Orleans knew me, and really I think I am known quite favorably there. Some of the people there believe I am a crank on political matters, but that, you know, is not criminal. Now, will you kindly tell me what you know about me in New Orleans? I do not remember that I ever had the pleasure of your acquaintance there." "Well," said Dickson, "that part is a mistake; I did not know you there, but I saw you one night crossing the rotunda of the Saint Charles Hotel. I was talking to Governor Warmoth and Mr. Fairfax, the secretary of state, and Governor Warmoth said, "There goes John Walsh.'" Said I, "Was that the extent of your acquaintance with me?" He answered, "Yes, sir." "Well," said I, "that is good; that is a good reason certainly for not believing me under oath." Dickson in this interview goes on to speak of the remissions made in my favor as having something to do with my testimony.

Now, the remissions had been made, as I have testified, just about one year or, perhaps, thirteen or fourteen months before I went upon the stand as a witness.

Q. Was there any thing in the cross-examination in the Dorsey-Brady case to bring that evidence to the knowledge of the petit jury?-A. Yes, sir; Brady had made remissions in all or nearly all cases. That fact also was brought out. It was an entirely proper thing to make remissions on a proper showing. There was nothing wrong or irregular in that. It is the practice of the Department. But the main point made by Dickson was that I had presented a fraudulent voucher in the Benner case. Of course I do not for a moment imagine that the man really thought it, but if he did, I have shown what evidence he had to go on.

Q. After the adjournment of this grand jury without indicting, when did

you next appear as a witness in any of these cases?—A. I published in the New York Herald and the New York Times what my testimony had been. As a result, a cry of indignation went up all over the country, and representatives of the Government felt that another effort must be made. Mr. Merrick, at least, felt that way. I do not believe George Bliss ever felt that way; I think he thought that there ought not to be any effort made. At any rate, in December, 1882, or somewhere along there, Mr. Merrick wrote me some letters in relation to appearing again as a witness before the grand jury to secure an indictment on the evidence which would be adduced. I received Mr. Merrick's letters and answered them. I refused to appear as a witness for the United States if the Government was to be represented by George Bliss in the grand-jury room. I refused on the ground that Mr. Bliss was not an honest man, and that Mr. Merrick knew as well as I did that he was not an honest man. I said that in my opinion Mr. Bliss was as much a defendant as any man at the bar of that court, and that it was an utter travesty of justice to pretend to prosecute anybody in these cases through the agency of Mr. Bliss.

By Mr. MILLIKEN:

Q. What was your opinion based upon?-A. It was based upon what Mr. Merrick had told me about him as to his neglect or omission to tell Mr. Merrick of the testimony given by me before the first grand jury. Mr. Merrick told me that Bliss had never mentioned that testimony to him, and my opinion was based upon that mainly. Mr. Merrick felt indignant about Bliss's conduct in that matter. He said it was a violation of professional etiquette and of good faith, and that it had left him utterly in the dark. He said, "Here is a case staggering through court and here is evidence that we might have had all the while. I have not been able to see you. I have repeatedly asked Bliss to bring us together, but, for some reason or other he has failed to do it right straight along."

Q. Was an indictment found by the grand jury?—A. An indictment was found against Brady and Price. Mr. Mitchell, the foreman of the first grand jury, testified here that I gave testimony in the Brady-Dorsey case. I never did. Mr. Mitchell was mistaken about that. The only testimony I gave before the Mitchell grand jury was in relation to Brady, Price, and Kellogg, and Brady and Price were indicted.

Q. Then the testimony was not kept from the grand jury by Mr. Bliss?-A. No, sir. I gave the testimony before the grand jury.

Q. And no indictment was found?-A. An indictment was found against Brady and Price, but Kellogg was left out, and Mr. Merrick afterwards came to see me in relation to what my testimony had been before that grand jury, it having come to his knowledge in some vague way.

Q. Do you testify here that Mr. Bliss was a dishonest man because he did not communicate all the testimony that was given before the grand jury?—A. Yes; because he did not tell Mr. Merrick about my testimony, and further, because I thought his expression before the grand jury that it was "a serious matter to indict a United States Senator," was made in the interest of one of the defendants. I did not think it was a proper remark, or made for a proper purpose.

Q. The foreman of the grand jury testified here that he did not make that remark.-A. Mr. Mitchell testified that Mr. Bliss did not make that remark before the grand jury of which he (Mitchell) was chairman; but it was not before that jury that the remark was made; it was before