Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-08-13
The Story Of the Magdaleo "Sylph,"
who Annoyed the President-Bab-
cocks Explanation of "$yIph''-
The InterpOlated Letter.
The "Sylph" Telegram-BlufOrd Wiz
son COntradicted Flatly Pro.
posed Increase Of the Army
Speaker Kerr Sinking Fast.
Horace Porter Before the whisky
Fraud Committee.

mittee on the whisky frauds to-day. In
reference to Buford V5IIlsenis testimo-
ny, he said ne did not aEude to "Sylph"
as a lewd woman, in speaking Of
her to M'Donald. General Babcock
made an explanation to the President
and attorney.general. If witness had
thus spoken Of "Sylph," he would
have been inventing a rumor which
would have reflected On the President
Witness denied positively that he told
Wilson the greatest favor he could do
the President was to shield Babeock; he
denied other assertions Of Wilson. Wit
ness said he never heard General Bah.
cock referred to as concerned in specula.
tions, except from newspapers
Representative C0chrane asked wit
ness whether he did not know that Ger
tain papers shown to the President i'm
licsting Babcock was the reason why
the President retained counsel to defend
him!
Witness replied that he did not be,
lieve that any papers were placed before
| the President duplicating Batcock.
Witness further stated that the PEST
dent intimated to him that nothing
whatever had come to his knowledge
which implicated BabcocB, directly or
| indirectly, or in any manner, with the
"Black Friday" transactions.
In reply to q question as to what ex.
| PLANTATION Babcock gave to the President
| and Attorney General PierTepont about
the "SyIph" " dispatch, witness said he
did not attach much significance to it;
he was not present with the President
and Pierrepont when the explanation
was made; he knew, however, that
Babcock gave to them the origin of the
term "Sylph," as was done during his
trial at ST. Louis; he did not know that
| the explanation made TO the President
and that in court were different; wit
ness was positive in saying he did not
tell Wilson that "SyIph" was lewd
woman, and had given the President
trouble, etc Wilson, however, did ask
him what the explanation OF "Sylph :"
was, and he told Wilson what he had
heard from others, although, as he had
before said, he did not attach much sig.
nifcance to it.
The question was asked "whether, at
any time, the President had said
anything to him about that
matter" and the witness replied
that nothing was said by the President
in bis presence or hearing, and any ything
he may have heard as coming from the
President, he declined to state. Subse-
quently, however, witness said that he
heard from StCrrs that the President had
| ssid the statement made by Major Nel-
son before this committee was incorrect; /;
that Wilson did not repeat this vulgar
slander to him; that Wilson commenced
saying something about an improper
woman, when the Pres!Jitz-t stopped
him instantly, and that he did not per
NIT the recital and discussion of the
matter; the President never either
directly or indirectly spoke to witness
on the subject, nor did witness ever
couple the term lewd woman with the
"Sylph" dispatch.
The witness explained his converse
ton with Babcock. The substance Of
his language was that Babcock was 3
distinguished officer of the army; was q
| graduate of West Point, and therefore
every officer in the army felt an interest
in the matter; that the President be.
| lieved Babcock to be innocent, but, il
guilty, he ought to be punished; Wilson
did say to him, in the course Of a con-
versatiOp, that Babcock should be fairly
dealt with, and no injustice done to him,
bu farther than that he could not go;
the witness did not assist Babcock in
| getting up his defense; he had not, since
| he had been summoned as a witness,
been to see the President, but had pur-
posely avoided calling on him at pres
ent, nor had he consulted with anybody,
but had read sOme of the evidence, and
had a general idea of it.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
General Porter being asked to state
what had occurred in the interview
which he had with Bluford Wilson
touching certain letters written by the
| latter to Mr.. Henderson in st. Louis,
said: "The interview occurred in a
| purely accidental manner. 1 will state
| just how it occurred, as it has been
| quoted enormously in the testimony OF
Mr.. Wilson. In November last, or,
possibly, in the early part of December,
spent day in Washington. 1 called
at the executive mansion to pay my Ie.
| spects to the President and his family.
In passing through General Babcock's IS
room fell into conversation with him
and one or two others who were present,
in the course Of which he said he had
received, through an anonymous source,
a very extraordinary letter, which he
handed me to read. 1t was contained in
an envelop post-msrked ST. Louis, hear
ing recent date. 1t appeared to be a
copy Of letter written by Wilson, ad
dressed to Mr.. Henderson. 1t was the
bottom and top of the letter
which the committee has had be-
fore it, and it was headed
at the top, "A true copy Then fol-
| lowed what purported to be 8 copy of
letter from Wilson to Henderson. 1t
was not the original letter, and did not
purport to be the original letter. AS l
| understood, neither Bsbc1ck nor any
of his assistants recognized the
handwriting Of the anony m 0us seudsr;
after reading the letter l stated that
did not believe Wilson had been guilty
of writing letter Of that character, and
| that it was my practice in business not
| to pay any attention to anonymous let
tiers; Babcock stated that was the course
he always pursued, and that he did not
| think it worth while to show this letter
| to the President; l 1derstood him to
say that it had been shown to Pierre
pont and BristoW; told him I thought
it would only be an act of justice to VII.
| s7n to send the letter to him, as ]
| thought the best way to treat the sub.
| ject was with entire frankness; he said
| that Wilson had been absent from the
| city, and that he had not yet had an op.
| portunity to bring the letter to his no
tice; l am p 'sitive about this statement
| said il the letter was given me l would
volunteer to take it to Wilson, and do
him the justice to show it TO him; the
letter was handed to me, and in the
course of the day went to call on
Wilson; think l met him on
the street or at his hotel, and
walked with him to his office
in the treasury department; told him
that such letter had been received, and
1 handed it to him; he appeared to know
all about it, and said he was not sur.
prised, as he had learned that tie letter
had been lost or stolen in the courthouss
in st. Louis; he said that it was not 8
correct copy OF his letter, ard aftel
awhile he brought out his letteT-press
copy of his original copy; one of us read.
ing this press copy, while the other read
the copy which mad brought; nv recoI.
lection is that they were Identical, ex.
cept as TO the letters w. H. which
in the anonymous copy were INF rrted in
parenthesis after the word 'top;' or
this discrepancy being pointed out,