Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-07-02
JOHNSON'S LETTERS.
what He Did and Did hot Say About
Colonel LOgwOOd and Colonel
Adams, his Attorneys and
Advisers.
GaFbled Extracts-FIXfnE the RsSpOH'
EibiIIiy-why Ehe Jurors Did EOt
Return n Ranging Verdict.

EDITORS APPEAL-I desire to say q
few words to the public through your
columns, because / am satisfied that
what l say will not be garbled by YOU
Two letters " ere published in the AUG-
L1Hchc OF the first instant, purpOrting to
be letters from Ed johnson, known as
one OF the express robbers. The original
of these letters were shown to me several
DAYS ago by Mr.. Ellis, to whom they
were handed by some person at the Jail,
with the request that he would mail
them. When the letters appeared in
print | saw Mr.. Ellis and asked hin if
he had the publication made. He said
Mr.. Walsh, an employee OF the South
ern express company, had called on him
three times to get copies OF them, and
he twice refused it. But when he came
the third time he claimed that the COM
paDy had a right to copies Of
the letters, and he let Walsh take
copies, with the understanding that
they were not to be made public. |
called on Mr.. Walsh, and asked him II
he had furnished the copies to the AUG'
ldnche for publication, and il those fur
nished were true copies Of the originals.
he said they were. ] showed him the
original letters which Mr.. }. d. Adams
and myseif nad obtained from Ellis,
and called his attention to the difference
between the originals and those pub
lished, and he said the changes and
omissions were made at the Office Of the
avalanche, but that they were made
through consideration for Mr.. Adams
and myself. On comparing them, l
find in the published letter that "CsrFie,
Logwood spent two hours with me yes
terday. He has been my true friend,
but old Adams went back on me-" The
original reads: "Logwood spent two
hours with me yesterday. He has been
my true friend; but, darling, all l have is
that money and | do not want to lose it.
L. is not, in my opinion, tricky" Not
one word is said in that letter about Mr..
Adams. Again: @ the letter addressed
to Dear Il ;" the AUGE0Tlche has: do
not, under any circumstances, believe
! money was paid out in my case, no mat
ter what | write to you, for it is at LIS
own request l do So" The sentence in
the original is the same, except that in
stead of the letters "L." there is dash.
II certainly does not look as if there
was a friendly consideration" for me
to so insert the first letter Of my name
as to leave the impression that request
ed the writing Of such a letter. When
Mr.. Ellis showed me these letters last
Monday, l told him that Ed. johnson
had through my advice long ago placed
Major Willis in possession OF all the facts
about the money buried in Arkansas,
and about Sammy" and that ] had
freely conferred with Major Will
lis about it, but had never
learned whether Major Willis had
got the money. So far from
my even telling Johnson that for
one thousand dollars [ could "get him
out in six months. "In answer to q ques-
ton, l told him that il he had fifty
thousand dollars it would not avail him.
And Mr.. Adams assured me that he
never had any such conversation with
him. l deem it but due to Mr.. Adams
to say, that so far from going back on
johnson, he aided me most ZealOusly and
ably in his defense, and know him to be
incapable OF trifiing with the interest OF
his client. / associated him with me in
the defense of Johnson, and have no
cause to regret it. The allusion made by
Johnson in his letter to III - after
speaking OF my services, he says:
"Adams played right TO the express
company. think jewelry present to
L. very proper" l put this in here at
the request OF Mr.. Adams. If any one
has the desire to read the original letters,
which have been so garbled in the
publication, they can do so by
calling on Mr.. Adams and myself. It is
but due to Mr.. Curtis to say that ipjus-
tice has been done him by the pUD!lca-
tions in the AUatG,ache, for l know the
fact that when he had the interview at
the Jail with Johnson and Mat Morris
several ladies and gentlemen were pres
ent. And Curtis told the prisoners that
if the jary had been satisfied OF the sani-
ty Of johnson they would have rendered
a verdict of hanging,
T. II. LOCKWOOD.