Since the days of the founding of the Republic, political scandals have been part of our public life. Sen. Stephen W. Dorsey, an adopted New Mexican, was a prime example of such conduct.

Vermont-born, Dorsey arrived here in 1877, having purchased the large Uña de Gato grant east of Springer. In time, he would build a log and stone mansion, stock his range to become a cattle baron, engage in railroad development and become entangled in a national scandal involving the U.S. Post Office.

Upon casting his lot with the New Mexico Territory, Mr. Dorsey was in his mid-30s and already had an unsavory record in Eastern politics. After serving as an officer in the Union army, he moved to Arkansas as a carpetbagger, quickly rising in Republican circles.

Initially, as president of the Arkansas Central Railway, he was accused of fraud in the mishandling of money. That didn't prevent him from becoming the junior senator from Arkansas.

After completing a single term in the U.S. Senate, he headed for New Mexico and a new career. During the building of his extravagant mansion, Dorsey learned that his Uña de Gato land grant was a forger and he did not own the land.

In the emergency, he sent out his cowboys to homestead 160 acres around springs and water holes over a wide area, and then purchased them from the employees. This was frequently done in the West, because he who owned the water sources also controlled use of the surrounding range.

New Mexico Gov. Edmond Ross charged ex-senator Dorsey with illegally annexing adjacent parts of the public domain and fencing them. President Grover Cleveland himself denounced the practice.

On the eastern edge of his ill-gotten empire, Dorsey organized a new town in 1887 on the Colorado and Southern Railway. He platted lots and constructed stock pens on a railroad siding. The community was named Clayton for his son Clayton C. Dorsey.

Of all his activities, bad and good, none guaranteed him a place in New Mexico history books more than his participation in the Star Route mail contracting scandals.

During this period, the Postal Service let contracts to private individuals or companies to deliver the mail to small towns where there were no railroads. These so-called "Star Routes" were common in the West.

Often unscrupulous speculators would acquire these contracts by bids, submitting dishonest estimates of their costs and afterward applying for significant operating increases. Thus, contractors who had originally received a few hundred dollars for servicing a Star Route managed to defraud the government and obtain thousands.

The national press reported that "Stephen Dorsey and his gang" out in New Mexico were among the leading offenders. The gang included Dorsey's brother and a half-dozen associates. All were hit with federal indictments.

The trials, held in Washington, grabbed headlines. Although Dorsey was charged with bilking the government out of $500,000, he won acquittal, for he still had some influence in high places.

Virtually bankrupted by legal expenses, he was forced to sell much of his ranch and other assets.

Although his reputation had been permanently tarnished, Dorsey continued to wheel and deal to the end of his life. In 1892, he and his wife gave up the mansion that had served as the ranch headquarters and moved to Denver.

There he became involved in developing several mining prospects and an irrigation scheme. In 1897, he showed up in London trying to raise money from British investors for his mining ventures.

In 1901, Dorsey moved to Los Angeles to further speculate in mines. He died there in 1916.

In several instances, Stephen W. Dorsey left a positive mark in New Mexico. One was the ranching town of Clayton in the northeast corner of the state, of which he was the founding father.

For another, he answered the call of fellow Union veterans of the Civil War who wanted to honor their late famed comrade Kit Carson. Dorsey funded and provided the cut stone for placement of an obelisk dedicated to Kit, which in 1885 was placed in front of the U.S. Courthouse on Federal Place in downtown Santa Fe.

Since he was an investor in The Santa Fe New Mexican, Dorsey's good deed received ample local coverage.

Dorsey's remaining contribution of note is his Victorian mansion of 38 rooms in the middle of nowhere. After his departure, it passed through half a dozen owners, and briefly, beginning in 1976, it was protected as a New Mexico State Monument. Today, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The building is now celebrated as one of New Mexico's most haunted houses. However, its multiple ghosts are all claimed to be "sociable and energetic creatures."

Historian Marc Simmons is author of numerous books on New Mexico and the Southwest. His column appears Saturdays.