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The Davenport Election Fund

The Davenport Election Fund image
Parent Issue
Day
12
Month
May
Year
1876
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

It bas been the good pleasure of the lirt-eating partiaan administration papers f í the coiuitry to belittle the importance ] i tho eviilence against the President rought out by Caulfleld in his discovery f the payment, on Grant's order, of ] arge mms of money for election , )oses t) Johnny Davenport. It has j seen said that Davenport has got the itart of the committee, and that he has ihowed that the money given him was ïecessary for the prevention and ■ ;ion of the Tweed frauds in New Xork. rhis was Davenport's smart explanation, mi at it every administration-lover howled with delight, and also at the ïheerful manner in which Davenport ;aptured the committee. This was all rery well lili Davenport was called upon to prove what he had said. To do this lie brought over from New York a trunk Eull of vouchers, and talked around town in the most confídent manner, saying that he could show exactly where he bad spent eveiy cent of the fund given him. To-day Davenport weakened under the examination, and is now about as demoralized a being as one could woll imagine. In order to account for the large sums of money given him, he has raked high and low for vouchers of all kinds. He has had to go back over a year from the time when he received any money from the secretservice fund and has continued his vouchers up to a time overa year beyond when the last payments were made. These vouchers cover all sorts of expenditures hi Davenport's office, but they Visito nn mnrfi rfiln,t,ion to the tures of the secret-service fund than so much waste paper. Davenport was very much discomfited when Cauifleldrefused to allow ln'tn to explain these vouchers. " Put in your vouchers," said Caulfield, sternly, " and we wiii examine them without your aid." This so discomfited Davenport that he committed himself beyond a hope of explanation. In his further defense he admitted that when this nioney was given him by order of Grant, he banked it with his private funds, and kept no separate account of it. It was a general fund, amounting to upward of $200,000, to which various political organizations had contributed. He had spent it as he had seen fit to prevent election frauds. This was Davenport's explanation. None who heard him could doubt bufc that it was used for the pure purpose of carrying the election for tho Bepublicans by every possible means. When Davenport confessed that he had banked this Government fund into a general pool, and then had kept no separate account of it afterward, Caulfield turned toward his committee and said, "What, then, is the use of continuirig this investigation?" His idea, as thon expressed, was that no amount of testimony could better show the gross criminality and wrongful use of this money than ihis bare confession. According to Ackerman and other administration defenders, tliia secret-service fund was used for any but the pure and lowly purpose of preventing and detecting fraud. The committee, while they were of opinión that this was the crowrong evidence of Grant's guilt in the perversión of a lawful appropriation for the corrupt uses of a partisan ring management, y?t thought it best that little Johnny might bo still further required to testify on the ground that he might yet further commit himself. The case as it now stands proves absolutely that Grant caused to be given illegally largo sums to this man Davenport for use in carrying elections in Now York, and that this man was not required to givo any sort of security for its proper disbursemeut. It is also fully demonstrated that Davenport cannot show correct vouchers for the expenditure of any of this fund. If there is not material here for the President's impeachment, it will nevé be found.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus