Mexico weekly ledger., 1876-10-05
Reply OF Judge Sinnott.
= NEW YORK, Sept. 20, 1875.

. NEW YORK, Sept. 20, 1876.
Hon. ADRIAN S. HEWITT, Chm.
Mg Dear Sir: | have received your note
with the copy of the Times of September s,
in reference to Mr.. Tilden's income return
for 1862, and have taken the earliest time
which my official engagements would permit
to send you the information you solicit.
/ was in Mr.. Tilden's law Office during
the whole period covered by the allegations
of the Times, and was more familiar than
any other p~erson-perhaps even than Mr..
Tilden himself-with his professional serv-
ices and with the earnings Of his office, it
being among my duties 70 keep such record
or memoranda of them as was preserved.
The charges to which you specially refer
are epitomiZed and placarded on the front
page of the Times, where, in parallel col
umns, are displayed a fac simiIe of Mr.. Til
cOntrasted with a pretended statement OF his
real income for that year.
[ have examined this statement with care,
and from my personal knowledge, find it to
be false in every important particular.
The first thing in this fabrication of the
Times which arrested my attention, was the
evident intent to mislead which character
ICES it. Itpurports to be made up of sepa-
rate items, the wording of which is varied
in order to give the reader the idea that
these items had been taken directly from
bills, or accounts which had been rendered
W SOilit Out, VI udU UGSu Sul6ISU III SOIuc
book of accounts.
For example,: the first item reads, "Feb-
ruary 10. Fee for Trustees and Master Com
missioners' Deed" etc. but the wording
of the second item is made different, and
reads: "~February %. Fees and expenses
item is put in still another different mode of
expression, thus. ''March 1. For Draft
ing, ETC., First Mortgage Deed,' while
in the fourth item the word ''fees' land
this time without the ''~eXpenses'') is
brought into requisition.
The obvious intent of these contrivances
is to give color to these bogus items, and
the appearance of being copied from some
real paper. ....
The first six items of this statement relate
to matters connected with the Pittsburgh,
Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, and a
right understanding of Mr.. Tliden's rela-
tions to that enterprise, prior to and during
the year 1862, is important at the outset.
Now, the fact is that no such accounts as
are contained in these six items ever eX-
listed, and no one of these pretended items
has ever been made the subject of a specific
charge by Mr.. Tilden against any individual
or corporation whatever.
Mr.. Tilden became counsel for the holders
of various classes of bonds secured uponth
Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Rail
road, which was and is a railroad running
through four different States, and built in
sections by three different corporations,
which were afterwards consolidated. When
Mr.. Tilden became counsel for the bond
holders in 1859, it had outstanding nine diff
ferent classes of bonds, upon all of which
default had been made and its affairs in
general were in apparently hopeless bank
ruptcy and confusion. To rescue this en-
terprise, Mr.. Tilden labored continually.
and much more laboriously than a lawyer
ordinarily does in regard to any one partic.
ular case, from 1859 to the early part Of
during The years 1860 and 1861. -gfs.-.
Suits Of foreclosure were instituted early
in each of the States, and these had so fal
progressed by June, 1861, that DEGREES o.
' foreclosure and sale were then entered,