Samuel C. Pomeroy

Samuel Clarke Pomeroy
United States Senator from Kansas
In office April 4, 1861 – March 3, 1873
Preceded by	(none)
Succeeded by	John J. Ingalls
Personal details
Born	(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

v t e United States Senators from Kansas Class 2 Lane Ross Caldwell Crozier Harvey Plumb Perkins Martin Baker Burton Benson Curtis Thompson Capper Schoeppel Pearson Kassebaum Roberts Class 3 Pomeroy Ingalls Peffer Harris Long Bristow Curtis Allen McGill Reed Darby Carlson Dole Frahm Brownback Moran