The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1872-06-28
SOCAL ASSASSINATION.
The ETCrh OF Andrew Joltnson-s
Enemies.

The Ma. hvillc Banner, paper
that has beer. consistently hostile tc
ex-P President 10 hrson, has the follow.
ing:
Some two or thrs esseeks ago vague
rumors commenced to reach Nash
Vile seriously affecting the reputation
of ex-President Johnson and lady
of Greenville-wife Of tho posimas-
ter Of that place. We made il quiry
and were informed on good au, Ia dirty
that the statements were bas. less
and refrained from making any a.ilu-
sion thereto in our columns. But Ia :
gossips would not desist; all manner
OF reports concerning the lady and
gentleman mentioned were persistent
ly kept in circulation. and we finally
telegraphed to a prominent citizen Of
Greenville, who answered, several
days since, as follows:
There is not an atom of truth in
the alleged scandal. Lying tongues
have driven virtuous Christian lady
to insane snicide. This is a candid
statement of the facts"
Convinced OF the foul injustice that
had been done, we still forbore, out
OF respect for the parties involved, TO
give it undue publicity. but the fol
lowing dispatch from Brooklyn, n.
l., to the indianapolis Journal, shows
that the slanderers were determined
not to be defeated of their purpose:
"A few days since it was announced
that Mrs. Emily Harold, wife of the
Postmaster at Greenyille, East Ten
nessee, had committed suicide by
shooting herself through the head
with a revolver. A letter Just re-
ceived by a resident of Greenville.
now in Brooklyn attending the Meth
odist General Conference, conveys
the Intelligence that Mrs. Harold had
been seduced by ex-President john
son, and that discovery and exposure
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 say
ing that, for heartless cruelty on the
part of the perpetrators, this af-
fair stands unparalleled in the annals
of social murder. 1t was frequently
referred to by prominent East Ten
nessee Republicans 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 fasle as
the malice Of those who invented them
was inappeasable and devilish. All
of these gentlemen were Mr.. J Johnson's
political opponents-some of them his
personal enemIes--yet they all ex-
pressed the firmest conviction of his
innocence, all bore testimony to the
time piety of the lady with whose
name his bad been SO fatally associa-
ted. They explained that Greenville
is gossiping village of some 5000
inhabitants, and that for Mr.. johnson
to SO much as bow to a lady on the
street is sufficient to make her the So
eial prey of his enemies His moral
conduct since he retired from the
Presidential chair to his home in that
place has been inrreproachable. Even
had such not been the case, he would
hardly have been base enough to be-
tray the wife of his oldest friend-of
the man who toiled beside him in the
same shop, and who was not forgot
ten in the days of his fame and pros
perity.