Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1867-09-05

10 attempt 10 squirm out Of the false
position 10 which their representatives
now find themselves placed, by seek
ing 10 shift the responsibility Of their
discovered perddy 10 the shoulders Of
their political opponents, making them
appear rs likewise in secret conference
with the convict Conover The stale
cry of "you're another is an admis-
sion of the verify Of the original
charge against the accomplices Of
that party who have left no agencies
untried by which they might substan-
tiate charges, whether true or false,
against the President, and all who
favored his policy. 1t is the frantic
cry of the fugitive criminal, who bel
lows "stop thief in tones louder than
his pursuers. But is the charge
against the President and his sup
porters, of having attempted to use
Conover for their own party purposes,
substantiated by the facts ? Let the
public remember the past, and they
will then, on candid examination, dis
cover who were the patrons and sup
porters of the suborned perjnrer, and
who it was that officially denounced
(by implication, at least, } the Shaftes-
bury of the whole conspiracy. Inves-
tigation will expose the fact, that
Holt and Stanton, and still later, But
lcr and Ashley, with others less
prominent in everything but unscru.
lous management,) quietly manipula.
ted this infamous creature for their
own purposes On the other hand,
though certain Democratic leaders
might have desired to use the mere
tool of superior villainy as an informer
against his unprincipled patrons
regarding him in crime as only less
culpable than the parties who urged
him on-their denunciations of both
patrons and perurers have been open,
ly promulgated and persistently urged
in entire condemnation of both parties
to the crime. From the period that
Mr.. A. ]. Rogers made his minority
report (about one year SINCE as one
of the investigating committee on the
subject of the assassination, it has
been universally accepted by every
fair mind, Gncluding Mr.. Greeley
himself) that gross and palpable in
justice had been perpetrated in giving
credence TO any statements emanating
from the unworthy sources upon which
innocent men had been held up tC
public scorn. Mr. Clay was suffered
TO 20 free, and Mr. Davis finally re
leased, whilst Conover was eonvicts cd
of perjury, and has been sentenced Il
ten years Imprisonment in the Albany
Penitentiary. If this does not deter
imitation of his example, what penal
ty is sufficient TO keep men from
crimel Mr.. Rogers covers his opin
ion of Holt with very transparent
veil, when he says; Conover il wa:
who found Merritt, Campbell, Sneve
and the rest, who rehearsed and
taught them, and as professor of per
jury, watched his pupils in their deliv
cry thereof at lesson time, before Judg,
Holt. Singing under this palpablC
rebuke, there was no recourse left fol
the officials who bad employed these
mendacious agents, but to apparently
assent TO the prosecution of Conovel
Cthough they might secretly urge hi,
pardon y and Holt himself appeared
on the stand, aud in his testimony
admits that Conover's affidavit, at the
time Of the assassination, was writer
in his oon hdndvritiRg. Conover'i
words thus were taken down by that
party who desired to shape theil
meaning to suit his own evil purposes
and draws out by artful questions tC
the ready tool before him, the desired
responses. To account for this fact
the only excuse offered is, that ht
believed the man was telling tn,
truth"-though mere belief, in a courl
of justice, is rarely offered in the ab
sence Of positive knowledge. Let u'
see what proof Mr.. Holt could have
had of the character of the man he
was using for his own purpose. The
record Of Conover's villany had al
ready been published to the world
The proof Of this mendacity is sci
forth by the following statements, il
parallel columns. Conovers state
ments were respectively these: