The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1866-10-16
The Csrious ExpIanatiea or the Last Phila.
deIphia Canard.


The Curious ExpIaaasis. Of the Last Phila-
deIphia Canard.
The explanation given by the Philadelphia
Ledger of its romance about the President and
the Attorney General seems to US as great
conord as the original hoax. The Ledger says
that II received the despatch from its regular
Washington correspondents, and the correspond
from person named Flint. What Flint says
is very clearly and forcibly summed up a. fol-
lows:-"Mr. Flint states that the person in
Office told him that another person had told
the person in office that he, the other per-
son. said he had seen the paper, and that his
informant about the alleged conversation in the
White House between the President and an I'm
innate friend said that the intimate friend
had told another friend, who had told another
person, and that this fourth person had related
the conversation to him" ANYBODY who can
understand this explanation is Individually en-
titled to leather medal. II is quite as COM
plicated, but not half as interesting, as some
Of the stories in the New York Ledger, with
which paper our Philadelphia contemporary
will have to be ranked hereafter if it allow
itself to be imposed upon again.
As to the Mr.. Flint who has struck all this
blaze, we are not quite sure Of his identity.
We have shrewd suspicion, however, that he
is the person who wrote rebel letters to
a copperhead paper, during the war, over the
signature of druid" This cQn0rd has the
same characteristics as those letters. II will
be remembered that druid" professed to
have some peculiar sources of information, and
pretended to tell all about the strength Of
the rebel armies, the plans of the rebel
generals, and the extent Of the anticipated
rebel victories. According to his state
ments the rebels were never beaten.
After every defeat they were stronger
and more dangerous than ever. England and
France were about to help them, and they
were sure of success. Then England and
France were not going to help them, and they
were still surer of success To support his
theories he would quote from rebel official
documents, ell invented by himself As we
once said Of poor Scoville, 80 We might have
said Of "Druid," that he had imagination
enough for nrst rate novelist. Scovills took
the hint and wrote novel that caused great
sensation in England; but 1t seems that
"Druid" has resumed his real name Of Flint
and is still hanging about Warrington and
examining the Philadelphia Ledger CORES
pondent with his bogus reports.
Our own explanation Of the conard is very
different from that Of the Ledger, but is more
generally accepted as correct According to
our version the false information originally
came from Washington to New York, having
been sent by Flint or somebody Of the
same calibre, and was telegraphed from
this city to Philadelphia BY the New York Bo-
hemians, who were envious Of the reputation
the Ledger had acquired for soberness and cor
rectness and were anxious to use II for gold
gambling purposes. A variation Of this
hypothesis, also current In Wall street, is that
Forney was the author Of the original despatch,
and as Forney q no more reliable than Flint
We are not indisposed to accept that amend
nent The object Of the Bohemians was 70
create a sensation like that occasioned by How
ards bogus proclamation, and, thanks to the
agent Of the Associated Press, they very nearly
succeeded. Some people profess to be able to
point out the very office in Wall street where
the matter was written out for the Ledger. At
any rate, it appears 10 be certain that the pre-
tended news came from Washington to New
York before it was forwarded to Philadelphia,
and rs this circumstance is not alluded to In
the published explanation We must regard the
statement as incomplete and unsatisfactory.
Let us have an explanation Of the explanation
a little mose definite and decisive.
The STREET COMMISSION FRAUDS AND THE
COMING EIEcrIoNs.-We hear nothing more
from Governor Fenton about the Street Com
mission investigation. Is he going to hang on
to II without doing anything, according 10 bis
usual style Of managing such mattess We
learn further that Grand Jury in this city
have just been discharged when they were on
the point OF indicting Cornell on charges SINH
lar to those preferred against him by the Citi-
zens' Association. All these matters connected