The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-08-20
VOL. XLllL-N0. 342.
CDANTlSM IN SOCIAL LIFE.
.ur sToRY or THE WTLLJAAs
IyONYMOUS LETTERS.

rnnH
a..r.t Aspect of Grnnttsm vet heNe"'e"'
pom ~ herald
w,s,,,xoroV. Aug. 1s.-In tho winter OF
,-'a,1 Tho sprinr of 1875 several Cabinet Minis
49,, ord the,r families and the Presidents fam
a., n,d rereived anonymous letters IL was
.,,o ,lme before tho different ones became
.,r,re that any other than thor own families
h,d received them. but reference 10 the mat
,cr by one soon brought out the TACT tnat tne
others had also received these letters. Atlehg'n
,f,rmM Investigation was set on loot Oy some
,o,,hera Of the Cabinet, tho Solicitor OF the
Treasury, Gen. Babcock and Gen. Porter ana "
w,s the notes Of this Investigation ana some
letters and reports concerning 1t to wh'ch "en
Grants attention was called as documents oou-
l,ined among Solicitor Wilson's private papers
when he (wilsonl thought the President "oulu
NOT care TO have looked over by officers In the
rreasurv Department who were not aware OF
tbe,r character and 1t was on this account that
wilson requested the President to send his son
a. look through the papers with Wilson.
a About the lst Of March, 1875 Secretary Bel
kpap met Solicitor Wilson and showed him the
envelope Of what he said had covered an anony-
NOUS letter which he had lately received, charg-
lns upon himself and mis- family improper con-
nocilon with the French arms sales. and he was
very anxious that Wilson should nnd man In
The secret service DIVISION VINO tOulO trace tno
writer Of the letter. The solicitor showed this
envelope to the chef Of that force, but nothing
was accomplished toward discovering its author.
MORE ANNOYING STATEMENTS.
About week after Secretary Delknap came
to the Solicitor with another letter In the same
hand making still more annoying statements re-
hecung upon his family; After y,o some CONVEX
sion, he promising, at the request OF the Secre-
taTy, 10 see what he could do personally toward
uuding their author. He took them to his ofhco
IN the Treasury Department, and after obtain
tng an anonymous letter which had been writ
Ten to secretary Bristow aud turned over to
him by the Secretary, he began a comparison Of
the Two. The letter TO General BfistOw was one
demanding that he should discharge certain
lady from the Treasury Department because.
~ was alleged. she had made herself obnoxious
toward one or two ladies IN Cabinet circles ami
because the President himself had expressed
great dissatisfaction with her course and the
fact that tue Secretary ret lined her, lne whole
made tuis removal certain charges would BE-
brought against him that would drive him from
tbe Cabinet. No attention Whatever had been
paid to this letter except that Wilson retuem-
bered that he ha1 put IT In one OF bis
letters soon convinced the solicitor thai
tney were not written by a man, unless his hand
sast tnan is usually seen, An allusion IN one Of
the letters had sugRe ted the possibility OF their
hasins 9risihateu Win Sol "nitey, INC famous
capital letters IN. \. s. IN the words NEW
iORK Sun. which had been linked over 10 m4Ae
them appear larger, appeared, ON comp irison
with Whitley's writing, to nave very strong
marks OF similarity. The fact tnat Col hitley
sas on intimate terms at the house Of the At
torney-Geneth turned attention In that direc-
ton anu Major wilson wrote to Secretary
Beiknap asking MIN to send notes which he
might have received from that house In case he
had retained any. One OF these subse-
suently furnish ed and its comparison with the
anonymous letter strengthened the suspicion
shicn had been aroused. At Secretary Bel
tnap's request, the Solicitor visited the War De-
pattnent and had prolonged interview upun
kDe subject with Gen. Belknap alone, who inn
pedistely became convinced tnat they had 90
tained the right cew TO the origin OF the letters.
FOLLOWING UP THE CLEw.
The next day, at the secretary's request, an
other interview was had In the Mar Department
n regard to the mater, at which Secretary
brought letter received IN his family from the
same anonymous source aud the three letters
lhen IN possession OF these gen emeu were sub.
lected to a very close ana critical examination
BY both the Caoinet officers present, and both
agreed that the nfst surmise In regard their
lOuroer was correct. The following note fixes
lhe fact OF this interview:
wAsHrSGroS sunday Morning March IA 1878.
Ny DkAR sIRi Please call at m, ofnce # convenient,
- MORO" ~ nhs AZ cOcA orluglng ne papers
Aaother Yours very truly WILLIAM W BELKNAP.
LETTER OF STRANGE INTEREST.
At the close OF this interview the Solicitor
wrote the following note to a member OF the
Cabinet (Mr Bristow) then absent from the city,
IL regard 10 the matter: -
My DEAR SIR We nnally succeedyl TINS morn
anonymous corfespondencs The writer of The let
s.. Mrs. George II. Wiiiams--three u
T. IN oar Judgment conclusive. 6ct1 iron The esirn
Sskaap are MANU. sd ' you'd P:
xoee murder or kiliug rather, II the auth mar.
Eravest character the successful treatment oi
fs Of s nd u the f ftRcs or s as
ass s sa 10 a " o hs Raus. RRaa ines S e a.
~ ght 10 darkness" endeayore1 Impress this upon
ecae. IT, a to accept % ne tn %
b. should not untI he has Ldviseu you aud
A AZ ia,
BIS own honor aud tnat Of his family ne must
course aud TO the manner and measure u repars.
uCu and repri's ;uygssted that he ,hould see Pol
emergency would be Wise ana disc hand Another
Reknsp have exchanged confluence u the ,xtcnt OF
ssc-ttsning that they are ooih victims Of tue same
i ned aud ior Ihis reason i loo is to ne a. tioS n
ef rs Nm fa Wss sa sSd Gty any M
, s'i S9s INA. fsTee me Gs9 ana .as
ne President sad ne wlll insist On wnllI,s steppins
da sGa 's'Sn @ to t5sSPt sppo.s te
go they w Lfh aud 80 10 many respects is one ot
-. w ny % lrts down all ana vii, OF course, stop
an sure tnat ne jug 10 be told. Ii Is not however
sy " 10 % sis M 1Ys .ns,.c syey G eSaadeaee your
ttnaP. Aud NV, nna,ly p.rdon mo ior writing this.
Ysrso1 10 regor' Prose', oe have i9s Gesi e.s5a
Ef too important to swait yoas rr1 tuna lhe mat
Very respectfully, BLUFono WILSON.
WOMAN AT THE BOTTOM OF ALL
In obedience to the request 10 that note ana
She request sent also by Gen. BIbo lck Gen
Porter came 70 NaAhington TO AID In d lie fur,
ther investigation, and TO advise In regard 10
the course 20 he pursued. Tue day after the
above letter bad been written another interview
TOOK place at the Off 20 OF the Secret 4ry OF ar
At winch there were present Belknap, Robesou
BtbcOck, and isOn. Gen. BabcOcK brought A
letter which had been written to Mrs Grant
aud that was also carefully COMPARED with the
rest by all present, and the conclusion previously
reached ia regard to the nrst letters was onli
ucepened by comparison OF the last one OBJ
lhiuod. Ihese same gentlemen "a few days later
had a further and prolonged consultation with
Con. Porter, and the whole held wAs looked over
Ne .lly all the gentlemen present were convin Ell
Mat no one except AIs. Williams was cOsniz iut
pl certain fact stated In one VI these let ers
InI the conc uslon OF all present at the close OF
lhis view was that no doubt whatever existed
lhat Mrs Williams had written these letters
Natious pl1ns were suggested to detect her In
~ hing them, Among others II was suggested
lhat the POstmaster-G eneTal or the city Post
~ 'sier should he consulted In regard to having
tli the mail matter deposited In the street boxes
D"afest her residence collected by itself ana
examined with a view OF seeing II any further
nn"hi imous letters OF the same sort had been
d. .lled there, II was also teTmined tnat
Col Whlti7y should he watched for the pur-
pose or determining whether his visits TO the
ely were at the times when these letters made
their appearance, and tho dates Of hi. previous
Ni-is were also ascertained, ana II was found
thht the dates OF tue letters cOTTespOnded very