IN ASSEMBLY, February 15, 1833. CONFIDENTIAL JOURNAL Of the proceedings of the Assembly of the 11th February, 1833, published pursuant to a resolution of the 15th February. Mr. Spencer, from the select committee appointed to ascertain the author of a letter addressed to John De Mott, Esq. a member of this House, and to report their opinion as to further proceedings to be had in relation to the said letter, REPORTED: That the committee have taken the testimony of John De Mott, Ira Tillotson, Thomas Bishop, Daniel B. Swartwood and Joshua Lee, Esquires, members of this House, in relation to the subject on which they are directed to inquire and report to the House, which testimony is reported herewith. The committee are unanimously of opinion, from the evidence adduced, that Alvah Beebe, of Ithaca, in the county of Tompkins, is the author and writer of the letter to Mr. De Mott. With respect to the further proceedings which should be had, your committee are of the opinion that the letter referred to them contains a direct offer of a bribe to a member of this House, and is an attempt, by corrupt means, directly to influence a member of this House in giving his vote upon an application, then pending in the House, for the incorporation of a bank by the name of the Tompkins County Bank. They think it impossible for any one who reads the letter to give it a different construction: and they can not hesitate to pronounce it a gross and flagrant contempt and breach of the privileges of this House. The offender appears to be a man of some standing in community, and a sincere and zealous advocate of the application for the Tompkins County Bank; and his offence must therefore, at present, be presumed to be intentional. Under such circumstances your committee are of opinion that it is due to the purity of legislation, to the character of this House, and to that confidence which the people of this State should repose in the integrity of their representatives, that the offender in the present case should be brought to answer for his conduct, and should be dealt with in such a manner as to repress and prevent similar attempts in future. The committee, therefore, unanimously recommend to the House the adoption of the following resolutions: WHEREAS it satisfactorily appears to this House by the testimony of John De Mott, Ira Tillotson and Thomas Bishop, Esquires, members of this House, taken on oath, by a select committee, and reported to this House, that Alvah Beebe, of Ithaca, in the county of Tompkins, in the month of January last, addressed an anonymous letter to John De Mott, Esq., a member of this House, requesting his aid in favor of an application then pending for the incorporation of a bank by the name of the Tompkins County Bank, and offering to him ten thousand dollars of the stock of the said bank, and threatening an opposition to other bank applications, in case the said application failed; and whereas, the said letter is an offer to bribe a member of this House, and is an attempt by corruppt means, directly to influence such member in giving his vote upon the aforesaid application, and is a contempt of this House, and a breach of its privileges; therefore Resolved, That the Speaker of this House do issue his warrant to the Sergeant-at-Arms, commanding him to arrest the said Alvah Beebe, and to bring him before this House, to answer for the said contempt and breach of the privileges of this House. Mr. Speaker put the question whether the House would agree to the said resolution and recital, and it was decided in the affirmative. Journal of the select committee appointed by the House of Assembly to ascertain the author of a certain letter to John De Mott, Esq., a member of that House. Saturday afternoon, 4 o'clock, the committee convened at Bement's Hotel, in the city of Albany. PRESENT J. C. Spencer, Thos. Herttell, and Dudley Burwell. JOHN DE MOTT, Esq. a member of the House from the county of Seneca, being duly sworn, deposes, that a letter now exhibited to him, and which is hereto annexed, marked A, was received by him perhaps about two or three weeks since: it was brought to his room, according to his best recollection, by a servant, but it may have been left on his desk in the House; he has no knowledge of the person who brought the same, nor of the person who wrote it, and there is no circumstance within his knowledge to indicate the author. Dr. Lee, a member of the House, and of the bank committee, was in the room of witness soon after receiving it, and witness casually mentioned it to him and Mr. Halsey of the Senate, who was present, and showed it to them. The next morning Dr. Lee requested witness to let him have the letter, in order to lay it before the committee, and witness handed it to him, with an injunction that no use should be made of it without the permission of witness. His motive in imposing this condition, was, that he thought the matter too contemptible for notice, and he did not wish to excite attention to himself. The letter was read in the House this morning, without his assent or knowledge. Sworn Feb. 9, 1833, before me, J. C. SPENCER, JOHN DE MOTT. Chairman, &c. IRA TILLOTSON, a member of the House from the county of Tompkins, being sworn, deposes that he is not sufficiently acquainted with the hand-writing of the letter marked A, hereto annexed, to swear to the same. From a comparison of the handwriting of the superscription of the letter, with other letters seen and received by him, he thinks he can recognize the writer. Witness, on being required by the committee, produces a letter which is hereto annexed, marked B, as one of those he has seen, and which he refers to, as being in a similar hand-writing. From a comparison of the writing, he thinks a superscription of the letter to Mr. De Mott, marked A, was written by the same person who wrote the letter marked B., Alvah Beebe. Alvah Beebe resides in Ithaca. He is not in the city of Albany, and has not been during the winter, to the knowledge of witness. Beebe is in the flouring business. Witness has received several letters from Mr. Beebe on the subject of the application for a bank in Tompkins county, and among others, bundles of petitions, some of them sealed and others open, chiefly directed to members of the House. Witness was unacquainted with the contents of those which were sealed. Beebe appears to be a warm advocate for the bank, Sworn, Feb. 9, 1833, before me, IRA TILLOTSON. J. C. SPENCER, Chairman, &c. THOMAS BISHOP, a member of the House from Tompkins county, being sworn, deposes that he is acquainted with Alvah Beebe; he is not particularly acquainted with the hand-writing of the said Beebe, except what knowledge he has acquired from letters received from him since witness has been attending the Legislature. On examining the superscription of the letter to Mr. De Mott, marked A, witness says, that judging from letters he has seen from the said Beebe, he should think the direction of the letter to Mr. De Mott was in the writing of the said Beebe. Witness cannot say whether the hand-writing inside of the letter is the same as the direction, but has no doubt that a part of it is. He has no doubt, in his own judgment, that the letter to Mr. De Mott is in the hand-writing of Alvah Beebe, Witness received a number of letters, directed to members, under cover of a wrapper, in which was writing in the same hand as the letter to Mr. De Mott, requesting witness to deposit those letters in the post-office, which he accordingly did. Witness does not know that they were all sealed, but those which appeared to have writing on them were sealed, Witness and the other members from Tompkins, were unacquainted with the contents of the letters thus enclosed to them. Sworn, Feb. 9, 1833, before me, J. C. SPENCER, THOMAS BISHOP. Chairman, &c. DANIEL B. SWARTWOOD, a member of the House of Assembly from Tompkins county, being sworn, deposes that he has a slight personal acquaintance only with Alvah Beebe, but has had no communication or correspondence with him during the present winter; he has not received any letters from him for distribution or otherwise, and has no knowledge of a letter to Mr. De Mott. Witness saw the letters received by his colleagues, Messrs. Tillotson and Bishop, and knew of their having distributed them, but did not know the contents of any of them. A part of those letters were sealed, and a part of them were not, and witness supposed they were all petitions for a bank at Ithaca. Witness saw some of them, that were of that description; these were not sealed. D. B. SWARTWOOD. Sworn, Feb. 9, 1833, before me, JOSHUA LEE, a member of the House from Yates county, being sworn, deposes, that in a conversation with Mr. De Mott, at his room, he mentioned having received the letter marked A, and read it to witness. The next morning witness asked Mr. De Mott for the letter, with a view to show it to the bank committee; Mr. De Mott told witness he might have it, but did not wish his name used; that he considered it contemptible, and an imposition on him; witness stated that his object in getting it was to compare the handwriting with other letters on the same subject, to see if the author could be detected. Witness took the letter and handed it to Col. Litchfield, chairman of the bank committee. Mr. De Mott followed witness into the room where he was with Col. Litchfield, and remarked to him that he had no objection to the committee using the letter, but that it was not to be made public without his knowledge and consent. It was left with Mr. Litchfield, who left the city the day the report against the bank was made, and handed |