Samuel C. Pomeroy

Samuel C. Pomeroy
United States Senator
from Kansas
In office
April 4, 1861 – March 3, 1873
Preceded by (none)
Succeeded by John J. Ingalls
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
In office
1852–1853
Personal details
Born Samuel Clarke Pomeroy
(1816-01-03)January 3, 1816
Southampton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died August 27, 1891(1891-08-27) (aged 75)
Whitinsville, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party Republican
Profession Politician, Teacher, Railroad President

Samuel Clarke Pomeroy (January 3, 1816 – August 27, 1891) was an American Republican Senator from Kansas in the mid-19th century, serving in the United States Senate during the American Civil War.[1] Pomeroy served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He also was the mayor of Atchison, Kansas, from 1858 to 1859,[1] the second president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad and the first president to oversee any of the railroad's construction and operations. Pomeroy succeeded Cyrus K. Holliday as president of the railroad on January 13, 1864.[2]

In 1864, Pomeroy was the chair of a committee supporting Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase for the Republican nomination for President of the United States over the incumbent, Abraham Lincoln.[3] Pomeroy also spoke in support of Chase's candidacy in the Senate.[4] The Pomeroy committee issued a confidential circular to leading Republicans in February 1864 attacking Lincoln, which had the unintended effect of galvanizing support for Lincoln and seriously damaging Chase's prospects.[3]

On December 18, 1871, at the urging of Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden and after learning of the findings of the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871, Pomeroy introduced the Act of Dedication bill into the Senate that ultimately led to the creation of Yellowstone National Park.[5]

Bribery charges

During the Kansas senatorial election of 1873, it was alleged that Senator Pomeroy paid $7,000 to Mr. Alexander M. York, a Kansas state senator, to secure his vote for reelection to the Senate by the Kansas State Legislature.[6] York publicly disclosed the alleged bribe was an attempt to pin a bribery charge against the senator.[7] Pomeroy ultimately lost the election to John J. Ingalls. State Senator York was also one of the brothers of Dr. William York, one of the murder victims of the Bloody Benders Family.

Pomeroy took to the Senate floor on February 10, 1873 to deny the allegations as a "conspiracy ... for the purpose of accomplishing my defeat,"[6] and urged the creation of a special committee to investigate the allegations.[6] The payment of the $7,000 was never disputed by witnesses, but instead of being a bribe it was described to the committee as a payment meant to be passed along to a second individual as seed money to start a national bank.[8] The Special Committee on the Kansas Senatorial Election issued its report on March 3, 1873, which determined there was insufficient evidence to sustain the bribery charge, and instead was part of a "concerted plot" to defeat Senator Pomeroy.[8] Senator Allen G. Thurman of Ohio disagreed with the special committee's findings, stating his belief in Pomeroy's guilt and calling attempts to explain the payment as something other than a bribe as "so improbable, especially in view of the circumstances attending the senatorial election, that reliance cannot be placed upon them."[8] However, Thurman chose not to pursue the matter further, as March 3 coincided with Senator Pomeroy's last day in office.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 "Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present". Retrieved July 5, 2005.
  2. ↑ Waters, Lawrence Leslie (1950). Steel Trails to Santa Fe. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas.
  3. 1 2 Goodwin, Doris Kearns (2005). Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Simon & Schuster, New York. pp. 605–07.
  4. ↑ Congressional Globe. 38th Cong., 1st sess. 10 March 1864. 1025-27.
  5. ↑ Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden and the Founding of the Yellowstone National Park. Washington, D.C: United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey, U.S. Government Printing Office. 1973.
  6. 1 2 3 Senate Journal. 42nd Cong., 3rd sess. 1214-1215.
  7. ↑ Richard A. Baker (2006), 200 Notable Days: Senate Stories 1787-2002, U.S. Government Printing Office Page 106
  8. 1 2 3 4 Senate Journal. 42nd Cong., 3rd sess. 3 March 1873. 2161.
United States Senate
Preceded by
(none)		 U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Kansas
April 4, 1861 – March 3, 1873
Served alongside: James H. Lane, Edmund G. Ross, Alexander Caldwell		 Succeeded by
John J. Ingalls
Business positions
Preceded by
Cyrus K. Holliday		 President of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
1863–1868 		Succeeded by
William F. Nast
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