Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Parker, cj *jf' i , ex-Treasurer of South Carolina, in an in- m A. / . k , terviow with a reporter of the New York m 5 T J?L- WijHdjmba>??dt at his house in JerseT ^ i ^ Cp$,'abd was taken down phonographs*!? rc 1 J ?ly. The statement was made without pre- st; vious preparation, which will account in th . ^, x* a 1 l r* ?icab iMURsurc tu? looseness 01 arrau<je'uient, and also for any slight inaccuracies 0f tof dates or figures. The confession is as nr follows 3 P PARK Eft1 8 RECORD AND ELECTION. di I settled iu Charleston in Februrary, ?f 1.865, engaging in planting aud the mercan- t0 tile supply business. In 1867 General au Canby appointed uie au Aldermau in the Pa city of Charleston. Gaillard was Mayor ^ at the time, JUid there was a place iu the council made vacant by death. A few Pr ., months later I was appointed chairman of u" the Committee on Legislation uuder the re- ta -construction nets. After 4)l? discharge of Pu -that duty I devoted myself again to privato I111 business. I was soon, hewevor, elected a 1Z< member of the constitutional convention ~^ from Barnwell County, though I made uo Sc effort to secure my nomination or election. uu In that convention I was the chairman of ce the Committee on Finance and succeeded su in raising the amouut necessary for the cxpenscsof the convention. In the discharge of my duties I had the co-operation and goood will of Governor Orr. As u mem- C(1 ber of tho convention 1 opposed tuo pas- ll( sago of tho law authorizing the State to is- hi suo bonds. I took tho grouud that the State indebtedness and tho curront cxpeu- ^ ses could be provided for by taxation and u,; that any further issue of bonds was unuoc- a'! essary. As in previous years tho State expenses had not exceeded 8400,000. L did la not believe that uiore than 8000,000 would ^ bo needed to coyer them. Tho surplus amount paid into tho tronsury as collected of taxes would be enough to moot the pay. ' inent of interest on the State debt, consoli- W1 dated and floating, and settle, i.i the course Co r ' wt ' of a few years, all outstanding elaims not represented alroady by State bonds. The act was incorporated in the constitution, U1 , >? howover, in spite of my opposition. ce ' At the first election under the new con- "J" stitution I was put in nouiinatiou for State Treasurer and elected. This nomination grow wholly out of the success which I had nc achieved in raising the cxpunses of the convention. I went into office in July, 1868. to Scott was Governor, Chamberlain was At- uj tornoy Geueral, Cardozo was Secretary of w< State, Frank Mosses was Adjutant General re and Nenglo was Comptroller General. The an constitution of the Legislature was entire- th ly Republican, I think, without au oxcep- 81 tion. The Democrats refused to take part of in t.liA nUpfinn Mnfiimllv KnfK KivnutA ami Mi IIouso were composed very largely of col- \\ ored members. Prank Moses was the be Speaker of the House?undoubtedly the pi most influential member of it during his gc four yoars' term of office. la When I took charge of the State Treas- tli ury there was only 812 in it. By the I Comptroller General's report for 1867 the 01 bonded and stock debt was nearly 80,000,- hi 000, and there was considerable interest T outstanding, as well as other unadjusted aj debts amounting approximately (o 8*1,000,- b( 000. The tax of the first year was 84 mills ni upon the assessed valuation of the property of the State. This tax was expected to a yield 81,200,000 or 81,300,000. The fis- pi cal year of the State closod on October 31, is: 1868. We went into office in July, and a si special session of the Legislature was called pi immediately. Instead of imposing a tax to F oover the expenses of the current year as sa well as the year ending October 31, 1860, ui , we only imposed one tax, as wo had then b; an honest intention to relieve the people of la the State of all but necessary burdens. So . we made a tax for one year only, mteuding \ to provide for outstanding claims by the is- . f sue of bonds. Of this tax imposed wo colf. lected about three-fourths, and the balance g( was left outstanding. No extraordinary ol i . i . sc measures were resorted to in order to en- ? force its collection, and I think thatjudg inont was never obtained against the dclin- ^ qucnts in the courts. OIIAMBRIILAIN'H PECULIAR HILLS. ?] Under the provisional government a law lc had been passed authorizing the funding of ai all outstanding debts, interest and principal, ai up to July 1, 18G7. The Legislature in C July, 18G8, passed a bill to pay all interest w due from July 1, 18(17, in gold. This hill ai was engineered by the State Financial s< Agent, II. II. Kiuipton. Ho was a friend ci and classmate of Chamberlain's, and was h introduced by liini to me as the proper man S to bo the. financial agent of the State lie a was appointed by tin; Financial IL>ard ll , Scot I, Chamberlain and tny.-ell The bill (I wis regarded by us as Kiuipton's measure. t: f h ad he represented that it would raise the aluo of bonds materially and cnhaucc the redit of the State. In this view ho was lpported by Chamberlain. Hero I may ly that I never knew a financial act to pass to Legislature which was not proposed as bill by Kiuipton and sanctioned by Chamjrlaiu. Ilis bills wero always passed as resented. In regard to this particular bill should be added that the interest demanjd was paid in gold uutil the winter 1809), when the law was changed so that thcrctcr the interest was paid in currency.? iuipton was himself obliged to obtain the. lange of the act, as it was impossible' to ect tho demands upon the treasury lor fid. Tq jJm fi?~ "f 1868 and 186U ?,the egislature passed acts to provide for the demptiou ut par of all floating debts oUtatiding. All these financial measures aulorizing the issue of bonds were susceptie of two interpretations. The wording ' oue net will sufficiently illustrate this : tint: "The Governor is hereby authorized and I rected to borrow 81,000,000 upon bonds ' the State of South Carolina, said bonds i be signed by the Governor and Treasurer i id sealed by the Secretary of State, to be l yablo iu South Carolina and at the New < ork financial agency." The debatable point is whether bonds ro- i cscnting 81,000,000 were to bo put on the 1 nrket; or whether 81,000,000 was to be ob- j incd by the saleof bouds at auy price. This s >int I will take up prcseutly. In round j imbors the Financial Hoard was author- f ;d to raise 83,200,000 iu the.years 1808 t 19 by the issue of bouds 6f the State of < iuth Carolina; 81,000,000 for the pay- . jut of interest on the public debt at 0 per ; ut.; 81v000,000 lor the relief of the trea- I ry at 7 per cent; 8500,000 lor the re- I ujption of Governor Orr's currency ; and 00,000 for the purchase of lands under e Land Commission; 81,200,000 was call- i 1 for iu addition to provide for the redeuip- ] )n of the bills of the State Hank. These ? lis have not yet been redeemed, but are i lating about in considerable quantities, < ougli 1 do not believe auy oue knows how ( any are in existence. In this session, i so, the famous couvcrsiou act was passed. ] lis act authorized the issue of bonds to t ke up all outstanding bonded and stock iu- 1 ibleduess of every kind, and authorized j rthormore all holders of stock or auy kiud J government securities to convert them | tit flii'Si> lunula- Tlift nhioct nf* this ni*t is declared to be to give uniformity ai d : nsolidation to all classes of securities.? ( 11 these acts, 1 repeat, was represented by e Financial Agent, Kiuipton, and urged >on the Financial Board by him as a uessity. They were never prepared by Scott myself, but always by Chamberlain and j impton. Chamberlain used to say to uic at Kiuiptou declared these measures tu be j scessary, and he supposed that they were so. < Under the act authorizing the Governor ( borrow ?1,000,000 to pay the iutcrest j >on the public debt, ?2,000,000 of bonds s i'rc issued ; ?500,000 of these bonds were ) turned iu presence of the Financial Board ( id others ; ?250,000 were exchanged by , o Finaucial Agent for conversion bonds ; ( 1,250,000 remained out. The ?500,000 bonds that were returned had passed rough the hands of the Financial Agent, j Tiile in his possession coupons might have , sen taken off, or they might have been ap- , ied for the payment of interest, and so ( >t into the hands of the public. In this j st way they might have been presented to ^ ie State Treasury honestly for funding.? , was sued upon a civil process for ?450,- , )0, in 1874, the allegation being that 1 | id funded that amount illegally iu the reasury. A judgment was rendered , r.itnot ...? C7 r. Ml Ilk ??? ,?;n 1 V ) J'JU " '" ( iar in miud, was the judgment on a tech- ; cat wrong in a civil suit. As noou as the conversion act was passed 1 very large uumbcr of these hoods were rintcd. Of these bonds 81,200,0(10 were ' sued strictly in accordance with the proviou of the act, but all others issued were at on the market in an arbitrary manner or all that, the money obtained by the do of these bonds, which were outstanding i*til repudiathed by Frank Moses, was used y me, as Treasurer, in accordance with w. ENORMOUS ISSUES OF BONDS. Now, the 8o,200,000 which the Legislate authorized the Governor to raise by the ilc of bonds had to be obtained at a sacri;e. The bonds of the State would not ill at anything like par. In fact, when rst issued we were obliged to dispose of icui for twenty cents on a dollar. When 10 acts passed the Legislature I understood, ad I think it was generally understood by 11 member^pf.the Legislature, except those .t into the secret, that$3,200,000 in bonds t par wan tin* total sum authorized by the eta. When the acts were passed, however, haniberlain and Kimpton pointed out lint was the literal interpretation of the els. They contended that bonds could be ild at any sacrifice to obtain the sum in ash of $3,200,000. Holying on (Ihainerlain as the legal advisor of the board, eott and I consented to the issue of the mount of bonds necessary to raise the aulioriziil sum \W found, however, that lie i idinary bonds or the State were not. d;en readily when put on the market.? Bnukers require the best securitypossible bclbrc they will invest their money in the purchase of bonds that the bonds are legal- ' ly issued. This point was involved in some i doubt, and wheu thoy nlso discovered that there were uiore than a million of bouds ' issued under the aot to provide for the pay- i ment of the publio debt, they refused to 1 deal iu these bouds, or rather to take them 1 in any way. I In this exigency recourse was had to the i act authorizing the issue of conversion t bouds. The act provides that these bonds i shall be issued for the redemption of other ? State securities, but it was contend ?d by < could bo put on the market and sold like ? ordinary bonds, and the prococds devoted i to the redemption of outstanding claims r aud to meet other State expenses. Scott ! and I were prevailed upou by Chamberlain | and Kiuiptou to countenance this issue of v bonds. When, therefore, these conversion t bonds were put directly on the market thoy i were sold (juite readily, for bankers had 110 a means of knowing how many were issued or c could be issued in ouc year. So they secured i these bonds as collateral security and pur- u chased theui iti preference to the others.? y Derhaps this was not exactly fair, but we v went on the principle that outsiders were ( bound to look out for themselves. The ob- t ject of the Financial Hoard in this was to s secure money at the least cost to the Stale, n ind there was no intention to defraud the a State thereby. During the four years in which we were iu office ttRTboTided ^bt of .he State was increased about $10,000,000. , \11 outstanding claims were provided for j uid wiped out, so that at the end of the j( four years the only outstanding debt was for the current expenses of the State during ^ l872- " o This board has been censured for causing :hese acts to be passed. Who drew up and ,j presented the acts ? Chamberlain drew up j} ivery one of them and Kiuipton presented ' :hem. The proposition for the issue of ' conversion bonds diroctly was made by Chamberlain. 1 looked upon this issue as a ? necessity. 11 iok upon it now as I did then. My lirst opposition to the issue of bonds in u ;he constitutional convention was due to the j iclicf that the State expeuses could be pro- ^ provided for without this issue, by taxation. ^ Wucn I'f wind; however, font uie oiate"S'x-" senses were extravagant and demands were (( nado upon the Treasury by law for money, I tcquiosced in the measures proposed by (| Dhauibcrlnin and Kimpton. V SERIOUS ClIARdK AO AIX ST KX-UoVEllNOK () MOSES. 1 There was a terrible increase of expeu- 1 litures at each succeeding session of the t< Legislature. Frank Moses was in the choir, c uid 1 am told by trustworthy persons that d 10 has acknowledged to having signed away S *500,000 dishonestly, though I aui sdi;c a diat it was a much larger sum. 1 believe T ;hat three or four millions of dollars wofe iv (pent in excess of the necessary expenses oi for the meetings of the Legislature during ai hese four years. Both Senate and House y were responsible for this. The first Prcsi- a; lent of the Senate was a prei^'good man, n Poozer. They soon got him out, however. s< He was elected a .Judge and went out dur- s< ing the first session, ltansier, a colored si man, took his place. He was equal to the w occasion. Corbin was President pro tern, a [>f the Senate when Boozer, the Lieutenant w Governor, was absent. 1 paid Corbin a good deal of money. Still he held a large h number of offices aud received large sala- tl ries and regular perquisites therefrom. I I know nothing, therefore, to inculpate him. a I had no doubt that a number of charges brought against the treasury were iinprop- 0 erly passed by the Legislature. In particu- " lar, there were a number of ?5,001) claims " presented which I thought were outraireous: certificates issued by tlios" who purchased ^ Senators and Representatives. The ccrtificates were properly authorized, however, d and I had to pay theui. Suppose J had re- 11 fused to honor tlicm, what would have been P the result ;' Why, I should have been 11 kicked out for not doing u.y duty as Trea- " surer. There was too much influence 11 brought to bear against me. If 1 bad stood ^ out alone it would not have made any dif- 0 fercnco. Why, I have been to Frank 11 Moses with tears in my eyes, and said to t him: "You will have no money at all in the l1 treasury if you goon in this way." Frank 0 Moses would only look up and laugh.? "Talk about these Republican reformers," ho would say ; "you never heard uio say any- 1 thing about reform." "No," said I, "I nev- t cr did." n 1 went out (if offico on October 31, 1872. c Scott went out tbc same time, and Moses j came in as Governor. Samuel Melton succeeded Chamberlain as Attorney General, i but when Chamberlain wont out of offico j he became Melton's law partn^r^ov^ so got ^ right behind the throne again. j U_Jwf the first acts passed by the LegislaJa? J7 after r Frank Moses becamo Governor was an act r directing the Attorney General of the t State to prosecute the late Sinking Fund t Commissioners of the State for corruption, i These Commissioners were Scott, Neaglo. < Chamberlain, the Chairman of the Finance t Committee of the Senate and the Chairman i of the Ways and Means Committee of the i House. Ihd Melton doit now? What | did lie do ? Waited until April, 1874, and then commenced a prosecution against me. The complaint was made by Daniel II. Chamberlain, then Governor and ex-officio President of the Sinking Fund Commission. The Attorney Gcueral brought a suit for the recovery of 925,000, alleged to have becu fraudulently misapplied. I was arrested nud held to bail. A night or two before my arrest Chamberlain had been talking with mc as pleasantly as ever in the theatre where Anna Dickinson was lecturng. Wo had a loving parting, but he lueakcd off and caused me to be arrested m the next day, or within a fow days at i. TIM T 1- J 1 y^'Tf Tf'ft-i " "t!" A Jiuececueu, no,wcver, iu dressing too thiug to a suit it was nolle prosed (??r) by the Attorney General. On vhose shoulders docs the blame for the bor o^ing of the $25,000 lie '( The Sinking 'und Commissioners ought to have been irosecutcd for their part in the matter, as roll as for other crimes which they commited. The treasury needed the money, and t was none of my business who lent the mount. It was not my funeral at all. I onsultcd with Chamberlaiu, asking him if t was any crime on my part to borrow this noney. "No," ho said, "it is no crime of ours." Chamberlaiu will say now that he ras in the minority on the Sinking Fund Commission, and that the commission lent he money to the treasury without his eonent. At tiny rate, the Sinking Fund Com* lissiouers are responsible for this matter, nd not myself, the Treasurer. ,T UK JILL'A lUllUK II All,ROAD SWINDLK. In regard to the Rlue Ridge Road swinle, by which the State is said to have been iefrauded out of $1,300,000, 1 can say at jast that I had nothing to do with the road xcept when called upon in my capacity as ;tate Treasurer to pay over to the officers f the road the. scrip voted by the Lcgislaurc. When llarrisou was President of he road $4,000,000 was voted by the Legdature iu Statu scrip to defray the excuses of its construction. Harrison aplied to Scott, wiio was then Governor, for loney, ami Scott requested Kimpton to | urnish $200,000 to Harrison for the road, 1 return for ?000,000 of the bonded stock j f the road owned by the State. Kimpton, believe, still has that 8(500,000 of stock, 'amoron succeeded Harrison as President , f ilutXiuuLuuJ I'ulUitKm UUVOOOII.MI Cum run. So i'attcrson came to have control f the 8 1,000,000 of stock, less the 80,00,00 which Kimpton had gobbled. It is liis $3,000,000 that he has got now to ae- | ount for. I know that he borrowed $325,- , 00 from a gentleman in this city, Mr. K. >. Wesley, giving 8700,000 of (lie Hlue lidge lload stock as security. I cannot jll what disposition lie made of any portion ( xcept of this amount. 1 never owned a ^ ollar's worth of stock in the rend myself. ( cott owned stock in it and holds it to-day. ( is to the letter of Patterson to me as State , 'reasurer, published a few days ago, author:ing me to deliver to II. II. Kimpton rev- ' nun land scrip amounting to 8114,250, I j m ready to admit that it was genuine. If ou ask me whether I paid this order, 1 nswer that I paid every order for this scrip lade upon the treasury by Senator Patterin as President of the road. I did not ( ?e that I had any authority to withhold the , 2rip so long as it was drawn in accordance j itli legal provisions. If the scrip was ( fterwards misapplied I had nothing to do | ith this subsequent handling of it. As financial agent of the State Kimpton | ad in his possession all bonds of the State ( liat were ever issued tor raising money.? le was in t obliged by law to exhibit his ( ccouuts to the State Treasurer or to tho ( inancial Hoard, nor to render any vouch- ( rs thereof, and he never did so until his , nal settlement. When his financial settlelent was made in accordance with a special et ho received from tho Financial ltonrd a uc-bill of about 8150,000, mid .settled with ( he board uj?on what is stated to be a frauulent set of books. Chamberlain was a iciiibcr of the hoard and took an active art in all that peit-iins to the issue, niangement, and settlcineiit of its finances.? udgc Willard told me that Kiuipton had Kinul'aotured a fraudulent set of hooks, ut I cannot assert it of my own knowldge. I suppose this statement will show >y hand to him, hut I do not care much, 'hauibcrlaiii signed the settlement and paers iu that matter, and took part in all thcr transactions of the board. THE 1'KINTIKO SWINDLE. The appropriations for the benefit of the tepubliean Printing Company wero in he main a gigantic swindle. Woodruff ,nd Jones who ran the company, will be ompelled to tell how the money was appropriated. The following dispatch to the Charleston yews and supplements Mr. 1'arker's >rcdictiou in regard to Messrs. Jones and Woodruff: "The agreement with Jones and WoodufT, the late clerks of the House and Scute, is that a nolle jiros. shall he entered on ,hc indictments against them, they to tesify in behalf of the State when called ipon to do so. Kaoh surrenders ?28,000 )f bonanza warrants and all claims against he State for printing, &c. Jones also surrenders his Heaiifort property, valued at ? 12,000, ami Woodruff surrenders the lle[ 'iblican J'liuling tympany's building and fixtures in Columbia, valued at about $7,000, and also claims against the Bank of < tho State for 8130,000. Both Jones and Woodruff saved their respective residences in Charleston as settled upon the wife in Woodruff's case, and the children in that of Jones." As to the Thoma* W. Prico Printiug Company, continued Mr. Barker, 1 know* that Thomas W. Prico is a merchant in Philadelphia, and I am quite positive that wheu his claim for printing was first presented it was for 80,000, and was afterwards raised to 816,000. James Thompson, Chamberlain's right-hand man and tho Ed- 4 itor of tho Daily Union-Herald, acted as an Rgont between Price and the treasury. CHAMBERLAIN DIRECTLY CHARGED WITH CORRUPTION. I don't wish to say anything which may appear like a personal nttnek upon Chamberlain, though I acknowledge that 1 have linon llfTiwill.xl Im Lie (rnnll.ini.? - 1 a mvabUltUl UI IJIU. X do object, however, to being made the scapegoat of the ring, and I am by no means willing that Chamberlain and Kimpton should foist off any of their load upon my shoulders. I am tired of hearing about . what Parker did and how he acted in this transaction and that, when 1 know that my share in the questionable doings of the ring 4rom 1808 to 187-1 was no greater, to say the least, than the other members nK whom 1 acted. During these six ycarfl^ corruption and peculation increased yearly, and it is idle to attempt to paliato or deny-"**- it. If the present investigation in South Carolina is pushed, tho extent of the corruption will be laid bare and all who were parties to it will be brought, to judgment.? 1 wish it to be understood that 1 do cot shrink from this investigation. 1 desire rather that it be made as thorough and searching as possible, and 1 am ready to hold myself responsible for my share in it. If 1 have sinned in the matter I am ready to make the amends which the State shall direct. All that 1 ask for is that tho part which each one of the ring took in the transactions of those six j-cars shall he exactly determined, and condemnation meted out in proportion to tho extent of the offending. For Cluiuihcrlain and Kimptou to deny that they were privy to what was going on is simply absurcd.? Some thingsujmjouhtedlK.GLunbotlainhad ? no band in directly, though they were done under his nose, and he must have known ibout them. In other transactions his name did not appear, but there can be no question that lie was couccrncd in them in some ivay. In other cases still he reaped a direct benefit from bis co-operation. Take the case of the Marine and Fiver Phosphate Illining Company. The Shady transactions connected with the management of this company and the bills lobbied through the Legislature for its benefit are juite generally known. Tho measures by which the interests of its stockholders were juhscrvcd in the Legislature have been published in the Charleston papers, hut Chamberlain's connection with it ha* not hereto lore been Plated. The stock of the company was owned largely by members of the ring, snd Chamberlain held onc-fittcenth of it. It was 8500,000, I believe, in all, so that Chamberlain's share of the stock was 832, 200. Tim Hurley, Chamberlain's rightliand man and the Treasurer of Charleston County, lobbied the bills for its benefit through the Legislature. Then there was the (Jreenvillo and Columbia Railroad. The bills passed in connection with this road were notoriously disreputable. Its capital stock was held in twelve shares, I think, of 825,000 each.? Seott, Neagle, Patterson, Chamberlain, Cariozo, Kitnpton, Hurley, Crews and myself were stockholders. A HIT O < DIRECT CORRUPTION. I know also that Chamberlain received 82,000 direct for his connection with a transaction which I do not care yet to make public. 11 was the same transaction alluded to in the letter whicb Elliott read in the lust nominating convention. He rose in his seat, brandishing this letter, and threatening to make its contents puhlie. An agreement was thereupon patched up between him and Chamberlain, and he made the best lie could of his previous threats against him. lie read the letter, omitting the names of the persons eoncorned, one of whom was Chambeilain. I have spoken of the 8150,000 due-bill in favor of Kimpton, audited ' by the Financial Hoard. Now, when Kimpton was appointed financial agent, an agreement was made between him, Chamberlain ' and myself, that all commissions accruing to him should be divided equally among the three. Scott was left out of this arrangement, although he was on the Returning Hoard. Chamberlain and myself wero thus entitled by this agreement to 850,000 of the audited claim. As a matter of fact wc never got a dollar of this amount, for Kimpton's due-bill hns never been paid, and I should be very much surprised if it ever should be, iu view of the coining developments in the pending investigation. Hoth Chamberlain and Kimpton will deny this arrangement as a matter of course, but it is a fact, nevertheless. You may remember the letter from Chamberlain to mo, published iu the Charleston Nnoa mot Courier some time ago, which rend, as nearly as 1 ran now remember: "Dear Darker, bow (< i.Nf l I f>l-1> ?>N SEC?SI> l AC.tl