THE WORK OF COMMISSIONERS 107 
duties and released from their joint bond of 
$100,000. Between 1875 and 1881 several bills 
were introduced into Congress to abolish the 
board of commissioners and turn the business 
over to one man. Among those who introduced 
such bills were Senator Sherman and Represen- 
tatives Douglas of Virginia and Durham of 
Kentucky. The object of the bills was to legis- 
late Purvis and Creswell out of office and leave 
Leipold to wind up the business as rapidly as 
possible. Durham proposed that Congress pro- 
vide for the purchase of the Freedmen’s Bank 
building, order the prosecution of the trustees 
against whom evidence of fraud existed, and re- 
place the three commissioners, whose powers 
were inadequate, with one man (presumably 
Leipold) empowered to close up the business at 
once under the supervision of the Secretary of 
Treasury. The friends of Creswell, Purvis, and 
the trustees united in opposition to this and other 
measures and succeeded in defeating them. 
Rainey, a Negro congressman from South Caro- 
lina, was the chief advocate of Purvis and 
Creswell. 
1 Durham’s bill was strongly opposed by General B. F. Butler of 
Massachusetts and by Randall of Pennsylvania, both of whom wanted 
to prevent Purvis of Philadelphia from being legislated out of office. 
Randall said that since the whites had done so badly by the Negroes the 
latter would have confidence only in a board which contained a colored 
man. Senator Hawley of Connecticut opposed the Durham bill because 
he did not think that the bank affairs should be settled by the Secretary 
of the Treasury but ought to be handled as usual through bankruptcy 
proceedings.—Cong. Record, January 26, 1875, pp. 751, 752 and March 
3, 1875, p. 2261, 
12 This building was leased in 1874 to the government for the use of 
the Attorney General at a rental of $14,000 a year. Finally it was pur- 
chased by the government and occupied by the Court of Claims.— 
Bruce Report, p. 21. 
18 Bankers’ bi agazine, June, 1875,