Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-07-06
JUDGE SPALDING AND THE
BOUNTY BILL.
His Letter to General Bierce.
A Charge Denied by The Latter
1T IS REAFFlRMED UNDER OATH
AftidaVits of N. W. GOOdhue and J. ]
Hall, Esqs.


Wednesday morning We reprinted a
i article from the Summit Journal givin
the substance of letter from Judg
/ Spalding to General Bieree, in which b
stated that he was opposed to the bill 70
the equalization of bounties, That articl
). has called forth the following
LETTER FROM GENERAL BIERCB
J. which appears in the Akron Bsaeo, Q
this week:
MEssRs EDITORS: An article signed
' argus appeared in the Journal so grossly
> false that l feel it duty to notice 1t.
The writer SAYS that l have received an
e answer from Judge Spalding TO criticism
of mine on the vote of Judge s.. ia favor
of the bill eeualizing soldiers bounty
which stamps him Judge S. as being one
of the most corrupt politicians that ever
disgraced the halls of Congress. 1t was
in substance as follows:
aMY DEAR GENERAL II don't blame
you for swearing at me for Dly Uotc on the
Bounty BIZ. In my judgment, and IN the
judgment Of tl0o thirds Of the House, the
bill is a bad one. But Dick Parsons and
his friends are bringing the soldiers i'!fH-
enee to bear against me, and my only Satra-
ton q0as to rote for the Bill.
l state positively, and unequiyoeGlly
that l have received no such letter as
"Argusr pretends to give copy of-and
the publication of such forged letter
shows "Argus" more corrupt than he
charges Judge S. to be. On the passage
of the bill to equalize the bounty Of sol
diers, wrote to Judge Spalding protest
ing against his vote in favor of it, as 1t
would, if it become law, add two hun
dred million dollars TO our public debt,
depreciate our national credit, cause gold
to 90 up, or, rather, our bonds to 90
down, and by the increased debt, l feared
/ would make TeUudiatiOJt or what was tan
tamount, itabiIityto pay, necessity. And
| | repeat that my antieipations were more
than realized, as the passage, by the
House, of that bill, caused gold to go up
from $l.25 to 81 55-or deprecated our
| government securities thirty cents on the
dollar-snd, if it passes the Senate, will
raise gold to S2.00-or depreciate our
| bonds so that it will take two dollars of
| them TO buy one i'll specie To that l re-
ceived letter from Judge 5. justifyng
his vote, and so much of the pretended let
ter given by ARGUS" as is not italicised,
is correctly quoted that marked as ital
les is manufactured by "Argus," and is a
base forgery.
On the receipt Of the letter l read il to
n. w Goodhna. Parsons Deputy Col
| lector, and c. A. Baldwin, as there was
nothing private or corrupt A few
days afterward, John J. Hall, ESQ., Par
sons agent for this county, called on me
and wanted the letter, for publication.
| told him l had as lief tell him the con
tents as not but as it was prirate let
ter he could not have it for publication.
The letter, with Judge Spalding's frank
| on the envelope, was then on my table
| and / Nave not seen it since. 1t was
| stolen from my table-and, as Parsons
friends boast that they have it or a copy,
they must have stolen it, OF participated
in the theft. Parsons was here on Fri
day, the day before the pretended letter
was published, and is undoubtedly ar
gus" He had better be explaining his
participation in the arrangements at Guy
ahoga Falls, by which the Government |
WAS defrauded out of $4,000 by the whis-
key distilers, than meddling with my
correspondence.
L. Y. BIERcE.
The publication of this letter called |
forth statements from J. J. Hall, Esq, |
and N. W. Goodhue, Esq, which we
append:
LETTER FROM }. J. HALL.
AKRON, July 4, 1866.
J. s. CARPESTEE, Tsq.
Dear Sir: In the Summit County |
Beacon of the date of July 9TH is letter |
from General L. V. Bierce from which |
certain interested parties have inferred /
that he designed TO charge me with pur-
loining letter, written by Judge Spald- |
ing to him, explanatory of said Spald- |
ing vote in favor of equalizing Soldiers |
Bounties. As the most friendly, personal |
and social r. cations have always existed |
between General Bierce and myself, i |
could not believe that he had designedly /
asserted or Intentionally insinuated even, |
that had been guilty of such superlative |
meanness.
1t is true, that 1 called upon General |
BeaIce at his office, and asked him to let /
me see the letter above referred to. He |
expressed TO me willingness to comply /
with my request but said the letter had |
been mislaid and he could not do So de- /
sired the letter for publication and so ex-
pressed myself to him. He said could |
not have the letter fer any such purpose,
even if it could be found, and gave reas-
ons which were perfectly satisfactory TO i
me. He said, however, he had no obiec-
ton to telling me what the letter con-
tained, and did so in substance as follows:
al don't blame you for swearing, but |
L - Il IL
friends have charged me with being down |
OF the soldiers, and, if l had voted against |
the bill, might as well come down"
Believing, as above stated, that General
Bierce did not intend in his communica- /
ton to the Beacon to charge me with any
thing dishonorable, l called upon him |
believed him to be, he promptly furnished |
me with the following frank and generous
disavowal of any such intentions:
John J. Hall, Esq: .-.- s
Sir-I was informed by Mr. Lane and |
others that Mr.. Parsons friends boasted that |
they had the letter Cor copy from Judge |
Spalding to me. Had it not been for such |
boast, should have supposed the letter lost |
by other ways than wilfully carrying it |
off bet if they have, as they boast, copy |
copy was taken while it was in my posses
sion. I do not believe you did or would do |
such thing. L.V. BIERoE.
1 desire to remark, by way of conclu-
sion, that l do not believe either that the |
original of said Spalding's letter or copy |
thereof is in the hand of any friend of |
Mr. Parsons. That story has been told |
to General Bierce Tor the simple purpose
OF firing up his wrath-a result it was
well calculated to effect l make the |
above statement, because if said original |
letter or copy thereof were in the hands |
of any friend of Mr.. Parsons, 1 think l |
should certainly have known it.
J. J. HALL.
TIE STATE OF Ono, Oss
SUMMIT COUNTY 10
J.J. Hall being duly sworn on his oath
says, that the foregoing statement of the
contents of R. P. Spalding's letter to L.
V. Bierce relating 70 his vote upon the
Bounty Bill, is the same as it was stated
to me by said L. V. Bierce.
Subscribed in my presence and sworn to
before me, this 4th day of July, 1866.
5 cent stamp. JoHE MCGREGoR,
Notarial seal. Notary Public.
AFFIDAVIT OF y. W. GooDHUE.
Some weeks age General Bierce informed
me that he had written to Judge Spslding
swearing at him for voting for the Sol
diers' Bounty bill A few DAYS afterwards
7 1vas in his office c. A Baldwin and