Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1876-12-07
From the Now York Times.
Mr.. HeWitt's FictiOns.


From the opening Of the Presidential campaign
u It'll now. Mr.. Abram S. Hewitt has publicly and
prominently assumed the attitude of great moral
rsformer. He has wept over the degeneracy Of
the times. lie has been the Pecksniff of politics.
When he has posed himself before the American
people be has appeared as one who loved his coun
try better than party. He would suffer martyr
dom rather than tell . lie. When the Liberty
street agency, commonly known as the Bureau
Of Nincompoops,. circulated its outrageous false
hoods, people wondered how Hewitt felt about it.
For it was evident that Hewitt was SO good and
pure that the systematic lying of the "nncom-
peeps" must have caused him severe pain. 1t is
now. We regret to say, evident that the good
Hewitt was the handspring Of the false-reporting
bureau in Liberty street. He has been trying
series Of lofty flights Of Imagination. Each one
is holder than the last. One would suppose that
Hewitt had become so accustomed to using truth
with economy, tina, be was reluetan, to spend any
Of that precious commodity On a wicked and gain
ssying world.
Just before Congress adjourned, last summer,
Mr. Hewitt made an elaborate and glowing de-
Tense Of Tilden Is patriot. In his speech before
the House, he made the bold and original state-
ment that Tilden was "largc contributor to the
fund TO fit out the Tammany regiment lie rang
the changes on this, and eloquenty referred to
the "loyal and patriotic heart" of his nominee for
the Presidency. When asked to name what sum
Mr.. Tilden had subscribed, Mr.. Hewitt with
fine burst Of eloquence, declined to do so, saying
that patriotism was above dollars and cents "
This was pretty talk, but it did not meet the case
Mr.. Hewitt's assertion was speedily disproved.
The records Of the Union Defense Committee
showed where every dollar required for the Forty
second (Tammany) Regiment came from. 1t was
proved that MIR. Tilden never paid one penny
toward fitting out that regiment. lie never sub
scribed . penny toward the expenses Of that or
any other regiment. and Mr.. Hewitt knew it. His
statement on the floor Of the House, just as Con-
gress was adjourning, was reckless and random
statement, made for political purposes.
When Colorado chose three electors and its
State officers, the Liberty street bureau, guided
BY Mr.. Hewitt, at once claimed the State for Til
den. The democratic newspapers far and W ide
were crammed with lying dispatches, giving fig
ures designed to show that Colorado had gone
democratic. II was soon apparent that these dis
patches were concocted in New York They were
prepared for the purpose of keeping up a bogus
enthusiasm for Tiden until the October elect ions
We denounced these fraudulent dispatches at the
time, and showed how they must have been WI ii.
ten outside Of Colorado. But until the October
elections. the democracy inspired by Mr.. Uewiu's
bureau, kept up the fraud.
1t Is not necessary now to inquire how far Mr.
Hewitts management was invoked in aid of the
bogus betting pools prior to the election But i,
10 well known that while the democratic organ
was pointing to the odds in the gambling rooms
and loudly proclaimng that money talks" those
odds in favor of Tilden we've sustained by Tildens
desperate managers, and exaggerated reports of
the bogus bets were sent throughout the country
by the Liberty street Bureau. More falsehood
was coined when the election was concluded, ans
more false returns from the three disputed States
were put out by Mr.. Hewitt's agents in order TO
create public sentiment and forestsll political
opinion. The so-called Florida "returns" first
printed IN the democratic newspapers were manu-
featured just as the Colorado reports--n this CITY.
And 10 like manner, the chairman Of the repubi-
can National Committee was represented az tele
graphing violent and truculent messages TO his
Correspondents in Florida promising money and
the support Of the Army and Navy. These false
hoods have finally been outdone by fictitious ac-
count Of an interview between the President and
Hewitt. A telegram from Washington appears
in the Herald and World to the effect thar the
President informed Hewitt, that sowing to fraud
and intimidation, there had been no fair or legal
election In Louisiana, and that the Electoral vote
of that State should not be counted" That this
extraordinary statement emansted from Mr.. Hew-
lit himself, We presume there is no manner OF
doubt. Faced with peremptory challenge as to
it, truth, the reckless falsifer now acknowledges
that 1.-THE President stated it not his province
70 decide whether the election in the States had
been fair or not" and that the assumption in re
eard 70 Louisiana was Hewitt's own. A more
bumiIiafing position than this for a man who like
Hewitt, has perpetuslly whined about fraud and
falsehood, cannot be imagined. But we know
row where 70 look for the author of the campaign
fcsions which have been propagated during the
past four OF I've months.