Augusta County: William S. Eskridge to John McCue,
May 21, 1858
Summary:
William S. Eskridge complains about political corruption and problems in Augusta
County.
May 21. 1858
Bayou Sara La
Dear Sir,
The Kinneys have had possession of the public offices of Augusta long enough, as
might be shown by many circumstances, I will mention one or two, some years ago
Mr. [illeg.] C Kinney held virtually the Deputy Clerkship of Augusta,
having rented the office of E. Stribling, & the place of D Sheriff of the County at the same time.
[unclear: Sff] Woodward did the sheriffs part of the business, Kinney
attended to the [illeg.] During the time of this joint business, there
were two run a way Negroes [unclear: sold] out of Jail, on the same day,
Churchman who acted at the time as D Sheriff of one
of one half the County sold one & Woodward the other; the course of
business as you know is the D.S. reports the
amount of sale to the Ck, the Clerk certifies it to
the auditor, so that when the D.S. attends
the auditor for settlement, charges of this kind are made to appear against him,
in the sale above refered to, the sale of Churchman's Negro sold as [unclear: a
restaid] was certified, Woodwards was not, and it was a mere
accident that the money on the last mentioned sale was
[unclear: wirpared] into the treasury, the circumstances of the case
come out in this way. Churchman some year or two afterwards, had sold another
Negro out of Jail taken about paying the money to the auditor spoke of the
former sales, the auditor said he did not recollect of but one Negro's sale
being accounted for, this led to an investigation, and it was found, but one had
been reported, Mr. D. W. Patterson, as he
[page 2]
informed me, informed Mr.
Kinney of this [unclear: omission] the money was of course immediately
paid into the treasury--Now I would ask any [unclear: replacting]
whether this [unclear: omission] was by design or not, would not the
fact of certifying the sale of the Negro by Churchman, call up to the mind of a
man, [unclear: situated] as Kinney [unclear: was] the sale of
the Negro by Woodward???
Another case, in which I was concerned, in May 1831 a short time before I was
ejected by honor Judge Thompson & Mr. Kinney appointed to my Office,
about $800.00 was paid into Court as the case of [unclear: Paseter]
& agt.
[illeg.], as soon as the money was recd. I
loaned it to Thomas J. [unclear: Michie] and of course took his bond as
the security for it, I will here remark that when I went out of office, I had a
good deal of public money loaned out to some of my friends, which I did not wish
to go into Mr Kinneys hand, for several reasons, therefore ask [illeg.]
to retain the bond as [unclear: reiceived] (which his honor most
graciously awarded) & pay the money as it might be called for which
[unclear: good] for several years, [unclear: mild nearly]
all the money in my hands was paid out, in the case above referred to that
collected of Miche & feared [unclear: over] as well as I can
recall [unclear: ect] some three hundred & odd dollars in 1837,
being a great deal. From [unclear: home] at the time I determined to
transfer the bond of Mche in this cast to Mr Kinney as
[unclear: reciever] of the [illeg.] which I
[unclear: rcd], at the same time I filed amongst the [illeg.] in
the case a statement sharing the amount of money rcd. & the amount
[unclear: year'd] &c sharing a balance due [illeg.]
[illeg.]
[illeg.] of [illeg.] $750, with interest from 1837. You may
Judge of my astonishment when in Charlottesville in 1853, on reciving a notice
from [unclear: Court Henderson stationy]
[page 3]
that Mr W Kinney was
[unclear: ringing] the payment of the [unclear: appointment]
balance in the interest as due from me Immediately and sued
[unclear: Herndon], that I had not a [unclear: card] of momey in
my hands in the case, and asked him to get Mr. Kinney to [illeg.] his
papers, and see if he could find any [unclear: hav] of this
[unclear: money] he said he did so, and [unclear: he denied]
that he had ever any thing to do with it, or know any thing about it--in this
state of the case & found it necessary to visit Staunton, I had kept a
book, in which I [unclear: sol] down the receipt of
[unclear: palker] money to whom loand
&c, on looking into this book I found a statement showing all about the
matter, and on [unclear: sacing] Mr Miche he stated he had made required
payments on the bond, & that Kinneys [unclear: lite] held it
with a balance due-[unclear: him] My opinion is that Kinney
[unclear: thought] as I was two thousand miles off & as
[unclear: seven]
[illeg.] had [illeg.] he could [unclear: throu] the
chains on me, & thus [illeg.] some fifteen or sixteen hundred
dollars. He did not think I could explain after such a long time, nor perhaps
should I had it not beef for the [unclear: minco landam] which I kept
[unclear: admil] he acted [unclear: Cowardly] on this
matter, about which I shall, [unclear: soull] can hardly [deleted: ] it was an unpardonable piece of neligence, on his part not to be able to give
any amount of such a large sum of money which had in [unclear: partpass]
& [unclear: recipt] his [unclear: hands]. That he has
used the public money I never had a doubt because I have heard numerous
complaints of his not paying out money in his hands, belonging to cases when
called for a long time, indeed for years, and see it was the
[unclear: Cassione] course pursued towards him by the Judge, that I
heard it charged that it was supposed the Judge had himself
[page 4]
borrowed
some of the money--but I was glad to hear Mr. Stuart say he had
[unclear: asiamined] into the matter and he did not think it was the
case--I [unclear: wonder Chocran] and not charge him with withholding
the public money where colled for this charge could
easily have been sustained I could give you some more of Mr. Kinney [deleted: ]
[illeg.] but it hardly [unclear: anch] while
Very Respectuflly Yours
Wm S. Eskridge
NB I hope you will be able to read the
above it is badly written but I have been sick a good deal lately have had
chills & fevers--still a worse case
old age I am now ruar by
severely two years old [illeg.] can use my hand trembled
W.S.E.
