Letter of Alexis Coquillard and Samuel Edsall to William Medill, December 30 1847: Sheet #4

Transcription

Two dollars & fifty cents per day, is equal to $912 per an. which is much more than a sub agent receives. The letter of instruction, says "for every day necessarily employed." Well, the game for the first year was played thus.

1^st. The issues were ordered to be made every few days--This young Vaughan lives with his father 30 miles from the Miami issue house, and attends to raising stock and other [illeg] of his own--He takes one day to ride over to the issue house, then one day to see (in the past year) 250 rations issued--this was the business of an hour--and no more, never took longer--the next day was employed to ride back home again--There are three days out of the five, or $7.50 to be fleeced off the Gov^t or the contractors, and put into the pockets of the sub agent or his son, for about one hours work--Thus the game was played for the first year. Men equally as competent and as as [sic] reputable as young Mr. Vaughans could have been employed to attend these once in five days and [address?] the issuing of these few rations at $1.00 per day, that would be $1.00 for every five days.

When the undersigned contracted with Mr. Jas Clymer to subsist the last small emigration of sixty-one Miamies, it was in October last. the suprt was there and being called on by one Alexis Coquillard, stated that "once in thirty days was often enough to issue the rations to these people."

We so contracted with Mr. Clymer to subsist them, and to issue only once in thirty days.

Immediately after Major Harvey and ourselves had left there, say on the 1^st Nov last, we are informed that Col. Vaughan issued a positive order to Mr. Clymer, requiring him to issue every ten days. The design is too manifest to require any comment from us, It is warranted only by the most barefaced peculation, and to