An appeal to the record

Front matter

No. 1

PRICE. 25 CEiVTS

AN APPEAL

I. How Robinson Made Money

"Here is in for Making the Tin" — Robinson's Toast Drank with

Hon. James F. Legate.

The following article relating to the bond swindles of Governor Robinson's administration is reprinted (almost entire) from the Lawrence Daily Journal, of October 28, 1884. The article is composed principally of extracts from the official record of Robinson's impeachment trial. Robinson was at the time of its publication a candidate for office in Douglas county. The paper was published by Thacher & Webster.

[ From the Lawrence Daily Journal^ October 28, 1884.'\

OLD STORIES RETOLD — A FEW EVENTS IN THE POLITICAL CAREER OF EX-GOVERNOR CHAS. ROBINSON. . . . He disclaims belonging to any political party, and says he is a political bushwhacker. Would it not be more appropriate to say a political moral and social bushwhacker? One who, like the Irishman we read of, hits a head whenever he sees it. He has bushwhacked nearly everybody and everything, living and dead, and from the saloon to the pulpit, and even went so far as to applaud and laugh at the rantings of a speaker at the Liberal convention at Ottawa, who denounced Mary, the mother of Christ, as a prostitute, and no better than any other prostitute. Such demonstrations may in the Governor's judgment be very smart and very cunning, but it was certainly not in very good taste for an ex-Governor of the young State of Kansas to make such a spectacle. Before his settlement in Kansas he w^as a practicing physician of limited practice, and not as abundantly endowed with this world's goods as at present, and came to Kansas as the paid agent of the New England Emigrant Aid Company at a salary of $1000 per year, and came as hundreds of others did, viz., to make money. To James F. Legate, of Leavenworth, he denied coming for any other purpose, and drank a toast with that gentleman as follows : " Here is in for making the tin." No man in the State amongst the early settlers was as successful as the Governor in that direction, as his present surroundings show.

The 21st of May, 1856, Raid Claims.

On the 21st of May, 1856, a pro-slavery sheriff of Douglas county at the head of a pro-slavery mob of five or six hundred persons burnt the Eldridge House and Governor Robinson's residence.

In 1857 the Territorial Legislature appointed one H. J. Strickler to audit the claims for damages for losses occasioned by the border troubles of that time between the Pro-Slavery and Free-State parties. Gov. Robinson appeared before this commissioner and put in the following claim :

Copy from the Kansas Claims, Volume 1, Page 108, Case No. 61.

To the Hon. H. J. Strickler, Commissioner for Auditing Claims under the provisions of An Act to provide for the Auditing of Claims, and the Act supplemental thereto, passed and approved February 23, 1857: Your petitioner, Charles Robinson, of Douglas county, Kansas Territory, respectfully shows that your petitioner as hereinafter stated was engaged as an agent in said county; that on the 21st day of May. A. D. 1856, your petitioner, then living in said county; that on the day and year above mentioned there was taken from the possession of your petitioner, by some men who were said to belong to the Territorial militia and marshal's posse, whose names are entirely unknown to your petitioner, the following, which is fully set forth in a schedule hereto annexed, and valued at fifteen thousand and eight hundred dollars; and your petitioner further states that he has not received any pay from any person or persons for the same. Your petitioner therefore prays that he may receive the sum of fifteen thousand eight hundred dollars for the loss which he has sustained, as is set forth in the foregoing petition, and that the same may be paid therefor pursuant to the statutes made and provided in such cases. And for such further relief as your petitioner is entitled to in the premises. C. Exjbinson.

Subscribed and sworn to before me, D. H. Weir, a notary public, on this 17th day of November, A. D. 1857.

[l. s.] D. H. Weir, Notary Public.

SCHEDULE.

One frame house 13,500

Barn, hay, stable, and furniture 1,500

House furniture 3,000

Library 3,000

Clothing, jewelry, and private papers 3,000

Furniture in hotel and used by Congressional Committee 600

One Porter's rifle 40

Two Sharps' rifles 70

Two Colt's revolvers 40

One horse stolen 150

Two horses poisoned 400

$15,800 False imprisonment four months $10,000

If that schedule, made and sworn to by that honest old Governor, does not produce a smile on his countenance, it will produce one on the face of every old settler who can bring before his mind's eye that little frame house that stood on the hillside, in size about 14 x 20 feet, 10-foot studding, made of native lumber, and cost about $400, and especially the clothing and jewelry items, when we consider how much of a dude the Governor is. Then the furniture bill, $3600; $3000 in his house and $600 loaned out to Col. Eldridge to enable him to accommodate at the Eldridge House the investigation committee of three.

Another party swore that they had loaned $500 worth of furniture to accommodate this committee of three. The Governor also swears before that same committee, on behalf of Col. Eldridge, that the Eldridge House was furnished better than any hotel in St. Louis, and his furniture was worth at least $14,212. One would ask, did that committee need all that furniture, or did some one lie? Then his item of barn, hay, etc., $1500. Aside from the Eldridge House barn and the stage barn, it is a question if all the barns in the county, at that time, cost the half of $1500; $100 would have been a big price for the barn. At the present time the Governor lives in one of the finest houses in the county, which must have cost seven or eight thousand dollars, and is furnished accordingly; yet, in his tax list for last year, he lists his household furniture at $50. Quite a difference. It looks as if the Governor schedules his property to suit the occasion. To appreciate the furniture oath, it is only necessary for the reader to have some idea of the way our houses were furnished at that time. Except the Eldridge House and the National Hotel at Lecompton, it is a question if there was $3600 worth of household furniture in the county.

If the above does not entitle the Governor to the belt as the champion truth-teller of Kansas, then there is no use in having a champion's belt; yet he is very free in applying the word liar to that immortal old martyr, John Brown, when discussing the old hero's record. To illustrate the elegance of our household furniture in those days, we will quote some extracts from Horace Greeley's correspondence to the New York Tribune, who three years later than this time made an overland trip to California. In May, 1859, Mr. Greeley writes from Leavenworth as follows : " The twin curses of Kansas, now that the border ruffians have stopped ravaging her, are land speculators and one-horse politicians." The latter, he says, " gravitate irresistibly toward the sham Democracy, in whose embrace the whole tribe will bring up sooner or later." (He proved to be quite a prophet so far as the Governor is concerned.)

In an overland letter written from the plains, Mr. Greeley said:

" I believe I have now descended the ladder of artificial life nearly to its lowest round. . . . The progress I have made during the last fortnight towards the primature of human existence may be roughly noted thus : May 12, Chicago, chocolate and morning newspapers last seen on the breakfasttable; 23d, Leavenworth, room-bells and baths make their last appearance; 24th, Topeka, beefsteak and washbowls ( other than tin ) last visible — barber, ditto; 26th, Manhattan, potatoes and eggs last recognized among the blessings that brighten as they take their fiight; Junction City, last visitation of a bootblack, with dissolving views of a broad bedroom — chairs bid us good-by; 28th, Pipe Creek, benches for seats at meals have disappeared, giving place to bags and boxes. We write our letters in the express wagon that has borne us all day and must supply us lodgings for the night,"

If the above is a specimen of Kansas household furniture in 1859, the reader can imagine what it was in 1856, the time of which the Governor swore.

In the spring of 1859 a new commission to audit these same claims was appointed, consisting of Samuel A, Kingman, Edward Hoogland, H. J. Adams, before whom our sturdy old Governor appeared, having seen how easy it was to swear in imaginary claims and have them allowed, concluded to try his hand at it again, and put in the following bill, and did not hesitate to swear to its truthfulness:

SCHEDULE.

A manuscript history of California $3,500

A manuscript work on anatomy and physiology, ready for the press 2,500

A series of popular lectures on the above subjects 1^000

$7,000 The commissioners awarded him as follows:

Strickler's award confirmed $15,800

Interest on same 2,370

Three manuscript works 5,029

Interest on same 754

$23,953

He had already put on file a bill for $3000 for clothing, jewelry, and private papers. In what way had these papers increased in value since 1857, if they were not included in the original bill? Why not, if they had any value ?

If the value of that manuscript of California history and medical lecture is to be estimated by the value of the trash the Governor publishes in the Lawrence Herald, its value would be one-fourth of a cent per pound for waste paper. If a man could buy the Governor's manuscript and his reputation for truthfulness and integrity at what they are really worth and sell them at the Governor's valuation, the transaction would leave the investor a richer man than Jay Gould or Vanderbilt. The commissioners awarded the Governor an additional $7253, and for which they gave him a certificate, which he gave to the Territorial Auditor in exchange for w^arrants, and by a kind of persuasion peculiar to the Governor, the Territorial Treasurer was induced to give Territorial bonds in exchange for his warrants, which he had no right to do. (For which act the Governor afterwards rewarded him by giving him a commission as colonel of the Second Kansas Regiment.) These Territorial bonds that had been voted were to pay the current expenses of the Territorial Government, and not to pay these award certificates, as it was understood that the Territory only assumed the indebtedness as a matter of form, with the expectation that they would be paid by the General Government when we were admitted as a State. No man in the Territory knew this fact better than Governor Robinson, when he gathered in those bonds to the amount of $24,000. This questionable transaction was evidently a collusion of the parties connected to rob the Territory of its bonds under the color of law. But the color was so thin that none but the parties in collusion could see it.

The county and Territorial conventions of both parties denounced by resolution the actors therein. The Territorial Legislature denounced the transaction, and by act refused to make the Territory responsible for this debt. The first State Legislature, in 1861, took similar action. The Republican State Convention held at Lawrence, April 11, 1860, to elect delegates to the National Convention to be held at Chicago passed the following resolutions :

Whereas, The executive officers of this Territory have issued a large amount of bonds and warrants, purporting to be based upon certain claims for losses during the war and troubles in Kansas, and in satisfaction of said claims: therefore.

Resolved, That we believe said bonds and warrants were issued without authority of law, and that the issue thereof involves a gross act of infidelity on the part of public officers to the people of the Territory and a fraud upon the public.

Resolved, That while we recognize the validity of the claims aforesaid as against the General Government, so far as they have been or may be established by authority of law, we denounce as unjust and absurd any attempt that has been made to collect the first dime of the amount from the people of the Territory.

These resolutions were published in the newspapers from one end of the country to the other, which rendered these bonds valueless. Some of them had been sold, and the parties buying them had to suffer the loss of all they had invested in them. H. S. Walsh, the Pro-Slavery Territorial Secretary, to his everlasting honor refused to sign these stolen bonds. He said he would sooner suffer his right arm to be cut from his body — which shows that we had one honest man in the Territorial Government, and that one a pronounced Pro-Slavery man. These bonds were sold in New York, and the manner in which they were sold is a standing monument of infamy to all the parties concerned, which ought to have consigned them to the penitentiary. They deposited the bonds in New York, where they were made payable, and without a dollar's appropriation to pay them with. They employed an agent to pay the first coupons with their own money, under the pretext that he was acting for the Territory, and then had it announced on the Stock Exchange that young Kansas had promptly, to a day, paid her first interest on all her bonds, and then took back from the broker their own money and destroyed the coupons. By this dishonest transaction, the stock brokers to whom Gov. Robinson sold his fraudulent bonds (the Thompson Bros., publishers of Thompson's Bank Note Detector, doing business at No. 2 Wall street) were induced to invest in these bonds. Thaddeus H. Walker, who had introduced Gov. Robinson to the Thompson Bros., was for a long time suspected as a party to this transaction, and suffered without eause from this outrage, — he not suspecting that Gov. Robinson would sell

Kansas bonds that had been fraudulently obtained, were illegal, and would never be paid.

Query: Does not this transaction account for the Governor's 2160-acre farm being in the name of Martha Robinson?

Robinson in the Legislature.

Since this time, Governor Robinson has been in the State Senate and House on different occasions, and each time he has been there he has endeavored to have a bill passed by the Legislature (but always covered up by other matters), to legalize and make provision for the payment of these fraudulent bonds, and on one occasion came very near doing so; but the Hon. Elijah Sells, member in the Legislature from the Palmyra district, saw the little joker and exposed the transaction, thus causing its defeat. From that time to the present we have not had a Governor that would sign such a bill, if passed. It was a more barefaced and infamous steal than the Galveston Railroad bond steal.

Thieves and Swindlers Rob the State to the Amount of $50,000. Governor Robinson impeaifhed hy a unanimous vote of the lower house, hut gets of with the Scotch verdict of not proven, hy the Senate. — The Secretary of State and Auditor unceremoniously kicked out of office, one of whom dies of a broken heart; one lost to fame; one starts a whisky-shop in Chicago; the boss rogue lives on a 2160-acre farm on the hanks of the Kaio, and Kansas gets the name of " the rotten commonwealth J' January 29, 1861, the Territory was admitted into the Federal Union as a State, and the first Legislature voted a series of bonds, and appointed a committee consisting of Chas. Robinson, Governor, John W. Robinson, Secretary of State, and Geo. S. Hillyer, Auditor, to negotiate their sale.

This forms another chapter of the many crooked transactions in which the Governor's good name has been mixed.

The full history of this new bond steal is set forth in a

report

Of the special committee appointed by the House of Representatives to investigate the accounts of the Auditor and Treasurer of State, the sale of bonds of the State of Kansas, etc., etc., January 30, 1862. The special committee, to whom was committed the duty of investigating

the sale of Kansas State bonds, and the accounts of the State Auditor and

Treasurer, beg leave to submit the following report:

On Thursday, the 30th day of January, 1862, the House of Representatives adopted the following preamble and 'resolution, from which your committee derive their authority, to wit:

"Whereas, It appears from the reports of the Auditor and Treasurer of State that a certain amount of the bonds of the State has been disposed of ; and

"Whereas, Said reports do not fully set forth a detailed statement of the facts in relation thereto: therefore,

"Resolved, That a special committee of five be appointed by the chair to examine and investigate the accounts of the Auditor and Treasurer of State, and to ascertain all the facts connected with the sale of bonds of the State of Kansas, the disposition of the proceeds thereof; what amount of scrip has been issued; what amount redeemed, and what amount has been bonded; what amount of bonds are remaining on hand and unsold; and whether or not State officers have been speculating in the indebtedness of the State of Kansas, — with full power and authority to send for persons and papers, and with instructions to report at an early day."

Before proceeding to call testimony touching the subject-matter of investigation, it was deemed best to make a careful examination of the different statutes of the State in relation thereto. They find that an act was passed by the last Legislature and approved May 3, 1861, authorizing certain persons, to wit, Austin M. Clark and James C. Stone, to negotiate the sale of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars of the bonds of the State, and report to the Legislature, within seventy days, their acts in the premises. By reference to the journals of the last session, and on page 382, it will be seen that they did report that any attempt at that time to negotiate the sale of Kansas bonds would be utterly useless and unavailing.

After receiving the report of said commissioners, an act was passed by the Legislature and approved June 7, 1861. supplementary to the first-named act, authorizing the sale of one hundred thousand dollars of the bonds of the State for not less than seventy cents on the dollar. This act gives authority to the Grovernor, Secretary of State and Auditor to negotiate the sale of these bonds, a majority of whom can act. This law provides that the Treasurer shall prepare bonds to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars, with coupons attached, bearing interest at the rate of 7 per cent, per annum, and to be made payable in fifteen years, the interest to be paid semiajinually. Another act was passed by said Legislature, which was approved June 7, 1861, providing for the issuance of twenty thousand dollars of the bonds of the State, bearing 10 per cent, interest, and made payable in two years.

These are the only acts that your committee have been able to find, bearing upon the matter of the sale of Kansas State bonds.

With regard to bonds issued by the State during the year 1861, under the acts referred to. your committee would state that the total issue of bonds of every description amounted to $189,400. Of these, $40,000 were 10 per cent, bonds, issued under the act of May, '61. and known as war bonds; $31,000 of these 10 per cent, bonds have been sold by the Treasurer to R. S. Stevens for forty cents on the dollar; the balance are in the Treasurer's hands. It appears on evidence before us that a large portion of these bonds ($26,000) was sold by Mr. Stevens to the Interior Department at Washington for 92 cents on the dollar. Of the 7 per cent, bonds, $62,200 were used in taking up State scrip, and $87,200 were delivered to R. S. Stevens, for which 60 cents on the dollar was to be accounted for by him to the State. It appears from evidence before us that these bonds were sold to the Interior Department at Washington for 85 cents on the dollar. The evidence before your committee regarding the sale of bonds is quite lengthy, and will be placed before your body in printed form.

The conclusions arrived at by your committee are such as to warrant them in the belief that this House will take decisive measures ; and deeming a fair and full examination of all the evidence proper in the premises, would commend it to the attention of the House.

Of the $40,000 issued under the act of May 7th, your committee are clearly of the opinion that $20,000 are illegal, and the House should take some action regarding them.

Your committee also are clearly of the opinion that the Treasurer had no authority to sell any of the 10 per cent, bonds at less than par, and is liable to the State for the face of all 10 per cent, bonds sold, and of which $12,400 have been paid into the treasury, leaving a deficiency on bonds sold, to be accounted for, of $18,600.

Of the 7 per cent, bonds sold, your committee would call attention to the fact that they are sold by Mr. Stevens as State agent, he deriving his authority from the State officers authorized by law to sell these bonds. It appears on evidence, that he was authorized by them to have all he could realize over sixty cents on the dollar. Your committee are of the opinion that the State officers are not authorized by law to make any such agreement, and believe Mr. Stevens liable to the State for all bonds sold by him. for the full amount for loMch he negotiated the bonds, viz., 85 cents on the dollar. An unlawful act cannot be rendered lawful by any sanction given it by State officers, in 4;he opinion of your committee.

We would further state, that from the evidence before us, it apepars that the $87,200 of 7 per cent, bonds were not negotiated with the Interior Department UNTIL AFTER THE SEMI-ANNUAL INTEREST HAD MATURED, the bonds

having been issued on July 1st. 1861, and negotiated on or about January 1st, 1862. This interest, amounting to $30.52. it appears upon evidence, has been paid to R. S. Stevens, and thus the State has realized on bonds sold, but 56% cents on the dollar. Your committee are of the opinion that this interest properly belongs to the State.

We would further state, that of the $87,200 of bonds placed in the hands of R. S. Stevens, it appears upon evidence that he has accounted to the State for $56,200 at 60 cents on the dollar, by the payment into the treasurv of $33,720, the balance of the bonds ($31,000) being negotiated but not paid for by the Interior Department at Washington. Your committee would recommend that an act be at once created appointing an agent to go to Washington to take charge of this property, with full power to transact all further business necessary in the matter on behalf of the State.

Your committee call special attention to the extracts from letters, and the receipts, copies of contract, and appointment, accompanying the evidence. In reference to the State Treasurer, the committee ask time to take further testimony, which, in their opinion, is necessary to a proper disposal of the case. From the evidence which your committee submit with this report, they are of the opinion that there has been a collusion of Charles Robinson. George S. Hillyer, and John W. Eobinson, with R. S. Stevens, to defraud the State of Kansas of a large sum of money.

Your committee therefore unanimously report the following resolution, and recommend its adoption, as a measure demanded by public justice, and a proper regard for the rights of the people of Kansas:

"Resolved, That Charles Robinson. Governor. John W. Robinson, Secretary of State, and George S. Hillyer. Auditor of the State of Kansas, be and they are hereby impeached of high misdemeanors in office."

Martin Anderson, Chairman.

H. L. Jones.

B. W. Hartley.

Thomas Carney.

Sidney Clarke.

The reader will take notice that $31,0€0 of the 10 per cent, bonds were sold by the Treasurer to Mr. Stevens for 40 cents on the dollar, and that he had no authority to sell them at less than par. We notice that he sold $11,000 more than the Legislature voted. To fully appreciate the true inwardness of this transaction, it will be necessary to state that a Mr, Tholen, of Leavenworth, an honest, straightforward man, who could not be used by Gov. Robinson or any other man, had been elected State Treasurer, but he could not make his official bond good enough or strong enough to suit Gov, Robinson, whose duty it was to approve it, notwithstanding he had upon it some of the best and wealthiest men in Leavenworth. In disgust he resigned his office and w^ent into the army, and to fill his place Gov. Robinson appointed H. R. Button, a more supple tool, and one who could be used.

Gen. Collamore and W. F. M. Arny testified that they told Gov. Robinson that they could and w^ould negotiate the war bonds at par. It is evident from the evidence of both these men that the Governor did not have any notion of giving them an opportunity,

evidence.

Geo. S. Hillyer testified that R. S. Stevens was appointed State agent to sell Kansas State bonds by the Governor, Secretary of State, and himself. . . . The agreement was that he should take the bonds, and, when sold, account to the State for 60 cents on the dollar. The bonds were delivered to him as he sold them — he gave no security for them.

Q. Did you know when you made the agreement with Mr, S. what he was going to do with the bonds?

A. I supposed he was going to negotiate them with the Interior Department. There was no agreement that if they should be sold for more than 60 cents the State should receive the amount over 60 cents. . . . The Governor gave to the Secretary verbal authority to sign his name to any paper that might be necessary in effecting the negotiations. . . . The cost to the State, besides the per cent, to Stevens, was about three hundred and fifty dollars — expenses of Secretary and myself to and from Washington.

Q. Do you know whether Mr. Stevens had any partner in the sale?

A. I do not. He intimated to me that he had to interest other parties, but he did not know who. ... It was upon consultation of myself, Secretary and Governor, before receiving his appointment, Mr. S. proposed to buy the bonds. He proposed to buy fifty thousand dollars' worth at forty cents.

D. H. Weir, clerk in the Secretary of State's office, testified:

Mr. Pomeroy wrote the letter giving the information that the bonds could be sold, so the Secretary informed me. I understood from the Secretary that the bonds would not be sold for less than seventy cents on the dollar, and perhaps a larger price would be realized. From a memorandum in the Secretary's desk on which was computed the amount of bonds at eighty-three cents on the dollar. . . . The Auditor was so confident that the bonds could be sold that he advised me not to bond my scrip, as there would be money to redeem it.

The Secretary of State wrote from Washington to Mr. Weir: "Keep entirely mum about the bonds. Do not say a word to any person alive — not even to your wife — for we ivant it as secret as it can he, till it is fixed. Yours very truly, J. W. Robinson."

The above is the way the bank burglars and Jesse Jameses want it.

The Way Bob Stevens Negotiated the Bonds.

A few days later he again wrote:

" I had an interview with Mr. Lincoln night before last, in his private parlor, and he seemed desirous to do all he could, and promised to order the negotiations made, if it was not seriously opposed by any of his cabinet or the people of our State. . . . We may possibly put in the lot at 60 cents, but it will never hurt the State a dime or will even be heard of, but I shall thank God. . . . Keep still.— J. W. R."

Treasurer Dutton swore that he

" Sold the $31,000 of war bonds to Mr. Stevens for 40 cents on the dollar and took his receipt. ... I also gave him $27,000 7 per cent, bonds and took his receipt for them, to be returned or sold at 70 cents on the dollar. The bonds were not returned to me. He came back, and I was informed by the Auditor and Secretary of State that they had made an arrangement for the sale of the bonds, and I took an additional receipt for $53,400, FIVE thousand dollars being retained by the Auditor to redeem SCRIP."

Robert Morrow's warrants issued in payment for supplies furnished to the Quartermaster-General of Kansas were paid in money to Mr, Stevens. Here is another dish of sweetmeats. The Treasurer gives Stevens, who was Gov. Kobinson's partner, $113,400 in Kansas bonds, to be paid for when the Secretary of State had sold them, and for which no security was given, and in which Stevens had not a dollar invested. Five thousand dollars was generously saved to redeem scrip at par, presented by the common people, but Robert Morrow, another partner of Gov. Robinson and R. S. Stevens, got par for his warrants given for supplies, at a price to be paid in scrip worth, supposed to be, 30 to 40 cents on the dollar, but received in payment in money at 100 cents. When one has a good thing there is nothing like keeping it in the family. It is not to be wondered at that Gov. Robinson is well fixed. Mr. Morrow, being sworn, says: