Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-05-27
SOCIAL ASSASSINATION.
A VirtuORs Woman Done to Death by
SlauderOus Tongues.
How the Scandal Started, and its Ter
rible Results.
A Warming to Seandal-MOngers, the So
cial AsSassinatOrs.

From the Nashville Bannerl
Some two or three weeks ago vague
rumors commenced to reach Nashville
seriously affecting the reputation of ex-
President johnson and lady of Greene.
willie, wifeOf the postmaster at that place
We made inquiry; were informed on
good authority that the statements were
baseless, and refrained from any allusion
thereto in our columns. But the gOssips
would not desist; all manner of reports
concerning the lady and gentleman
mentioned were persistently kept in
circulation. and we finally telegraphed
to a prominent citizen of Greeneville,
who answered, several days since, as
follows:
''There is not an atom Of truth in the
alleged scandal. Lying tongues have
driven a virtuOus, Christian lady to in
sane suicide. This is a candid state
ment of the facts"
Convinced of the foul injustice that
had been done, we still fOrebore, out of
respect for the parties involved, to give
il undue publicity, but the following dis
patch from Brooklyn, New York, to the
indianapolis journal, shows that the
slanderers We're determined lotto be de
IeaJeu OF Inelr purpose:
"a few days since it was announced
that Mrs. Emily Harold, wife of the
Postmaster at Greenville, East Tennes-
see. had committed suicide by shooting
herself through the head with a revOl-
Yer. a letter just received by a resident
of Greeaville, now in Brooklyn attend
ing the Methodist General Conference,
cOnveys the intelligence that Mrs. Har-
old had been sedUced by ex-President
johnson, and that discovery and expo
sure led her to the commission of the
rash act. Great Indignation is expressed
among the citizens Of Greenville against
the ex-President, and many of the best
citizens refuse TO speak TO him on the
street"
We have had every opportunity to
learn all the circumstances so grossly
misstated in the dispatch above quoted,
and have no hesitation in saying that,
for heaTtless cruelty on the part Of the
instigators and perpetrators, this affair
stands unparalleled in the annals Of So
cial murder. 1t was frequently referred
to by prominent East Tennessee Repub-
licans during the State Convention of
their party recently held here, and they
were unanimous in declaring that the
reports which rendered Mrs Harold
insane and led her to take her own life
were as false as the malice of those who
invented them was inappeasable and
devilish. All of these gentlemen were
Mr.. Johnson's political OppOnents-sOme
of them his personal enemies-yet they
all expressed the firmest conviction
Of his innocence, all bore testimony to
the life-time piety of the lady with whose
name his had been so fatally associated.
They explained that GreenVille is a gos-
siping village Of some thousand inhab-
itants, and that for Mr.. johnson to so
much as bow to lady on the streets is
sufficient to make him the social prey of
his enemies. His moral conduct since
he retired from the Presidential chair to
his home in that place has been ire
prOachable. Even had such not been
the case, he would hardly have been
base enough to betray the wife of his
oldest friend-Of the man who tOiled be
side him in the same shop and who was
not forgotten in the days of his fame |
and prosperity.
Prom the Knoxville Chronicle.l
About the last of April, the detailed 4
circumstances Of a great scandal, based 1
on occurrences said to have taken place
in Greeneville, reached the Chronicle
reporter, and under circumstances that
indicated that they had at least some
foundation. Desiring to act with proper
care and Judgment before giving the
rumOrs publicity, we telegrdphed to re-
spOnsible citizens of Greeneville, asking
as to the truth of the stories. They /
promptly answered by telegraph that /
the charges We're false. Subsequently /
the story reached US again with full cir |
cUmstances, and in order to ascertain |
the real truth the editors of the ChrOn-
jcte went to Greeneville to make an in 4
vestigatiOn OF the case.
THE FALSE RUMORs.
As the names of the parties and the
charges in an exaggerated form have
been made public, we propose now to
give the result of our investigation. The 1
card published in Yesterdays Chronicle |
came to us too late on Thursday night |
TO enable us to send this statement forth |
with it, as we should have done had the |
parties interested in Greeneville sent US
a copy Of the card referred to in proper
time.
The story originally started was that
Mrs. Harold and ex-President Johnson
had had improper intercourse with each
other for some time. The story ran that
these meetings took place in Mr.. Jshn-
sons library, which is next door to Mr..
HarOld's house. and that the tidsOa was
discovered by Mr.. Harold's meeting his
wife late at night coming from the
library with a blanket shawl thrown
over her head. The story ran that Mr..
Harold had suspected the intimacy, and
on the night referred 10 had watched his
wife and caught her on the street dis
guised as referred TO. He was said to
have halted her, asked her who she
was, pulled the shawl from her face,
but that she had avoided him and gone
around behind the house, hoping to en-
ter by the back door unobserved. Her
husband, however anticipated her, went
to the back door and there found his
suspicious confirmed. The report was
that they had high words, and that their
quarrels had been overheard. This was
substantially the story as it originally
came out in Greeneville. We may be
mistaken as to some of the details, but
we give the main facts as we heard
them. The statements were false in
every respect.
HOW THE REAL TROUBLE BEGAN.
But the facts that brought about the
suicide are substantially as follows: On
one Of the last Sundays Of April, some
mischief-breeder dropped an anonymous
note TO Mr.. Harold, through the post
Office, intimating to him that an i'm
proper intimacy existed between his
wife and Mr.. johnson. Mr.. Harold and
Mr.. johnson had been personal and !
warm friends for thirty years. Their
families had been intimate for most of
that period. Mr.. Harold had lived hap '
PLY with his wife for near forty years. !
She had his entire confidence and deep {
love. For thirty years she had been an I
active, exemplary and most consistent {
member of the Presbyterian Church. As r
soon as he read the letter he went prompt I
ly 10 her, showed il to her and assured a
her he did not believe a word of it. Mrs. b
Harold read the letter, and was so indig- q
nant that she could hardly restrain her s
self At one time in the evening, she 4
was found almost crazy with excite i
ment, with a gun in her hand, and de-
claring she intended to shoot her tradu- 4
cers. So excited did she become that /
she almost lost her reason. She repeat I
edly assured her husband of her inno- I
cence. But the idle gOssips who infest
Greeneville and other places took upthe ;
scandal and talked about it constantly.
In a hundred different ways was it pre- I
sented. So positively was il asserted,
that some few, always ready to believe G
III of their betters, believed it. Mrs. !
Harold seemed borne down by these rep
stitiOns Of the scandal. About this time q
her only son, a Lieutenant in the Uni {
led States army, young man Of high i
character and excellent traits, came /
home ON a leave Of absence. 1t was O
thought best 70 keep him ignorant Of the n
SANDERS, as it would only make his visit o
unhappy. A few days after his return, C
word came to Mrs. Harold that her p
mother was dangerously i'll. 1t was de- 0
that Mrs. Harold should 90 to 8
he sick bed I'm Rhea county, rather than z
Ter sister living with her, as the visit
would take her from the scandal and p
1--WE her rest. Her son accompanied
aaF