Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-08-23

their character, and 1t was on TINS &C.
couat that Wilson requested the Presi-
dent to send his son to look through the
papers with Wilson. The prominence
given to the matter by Mr.. Cochran
10 the whisky frauds investigation,
aud the still greater prominence
caused by Attorney General Williams's
emphatic and indignant denial, caused
much talk here in Washington among
the eight or ten persons who were &C.
quainted with the various features OF the
story and the investigation. This talk
has made it possible, by inquiries ad
dressed to one after another or them, to
present the following statement in re-
gard to the steps taken in cabinet cir
cles to discover the author of these let
ters.
EFFORTS To TRACE THE WRITER.
About the first OF March, 1875, Secreta-
ry Belknap met Solicitor Wilson and
showed him the envelope of what he
said had covered an anonymous letter
which he had lately received, charging
upon himself and his family improper
connections with the French arms sales,
and be was very anxious that Wilson
should find man in the secret service
division who could trace the writer CT
the letter The solicitor showed this
envelope to the chief OF that force, but
nothing was accomplished toward dis
covering its author.
MORE ANNOYING STATEMENTS.
About week after Secretary BsIknap
came to the solicitor with another letter
in the same hand, making still more
annoying statements rejecting upon his
family. After some convels alton the
letters were put into Wilson's poss es.
sion, he promising, at the request of the .
4cretary, to see what he could do PERI
sonally toward finding their author. He
took them to his office in the treasury
department, and after obtaining an an
onymous letter which had been written
to Secretary Bristow and turned over to
him by the secretary, he began com.
paIison of the two. The letter to Gen.
eral Bristow was one demanding that
he should discharge a certain lady from
the treasury department because, as was
alleged, she had made herself obnoxious
toward one or two ladies in cabinet cir
cles, and because the President himself
had expressed great dissatisfaction with
her course and the fact that the secreta-
~ retained her. The whole closed with
threat that unless the secretary made
the removal certain charges would be
him from the cabinet. No attention
whatever had been paid to this letter |
except that Wilson remembered that he |
had put it in one OF his pigeon.hol |
An examination Of the letters soon con- |
WINGED the solicitor that they were not |
written by a man, unless his handWrit- |
ing was much finer and of more fem |
mine case than is usually seen. |
An allusion in one of the letters had |
suggested the possibility of their having |
originated with Colonel Whitley, the |
famous chief of the secret service d. |
vision, and the capital letters IN. Y. 81 |
in the words New York Sun, which had |
been linked over to make them appear |
larger, appeared, on comparison with |
Whitley's writing, to have very strong |
marks of similarity. The fact that Col |
onel Whitley was on intimate terms |
at the house of the attorney general |
turned attention in that direction, and |
Msjlr Wilson wrote to Secretary Bel |
KNAPP, asking him to send notes which |
he might have received from that house
in case he had retained any. One of
these was subsequently furnished, and |
its comparison with the anonymous let
ter strengthened the suspicion which |
had been aroused. At Secretary Bal
knap's request, the solicitor visited the
war department. and had q prolonged |
interview upon the SUI ject with General
Belknap alone, who Immediately be-
came convinced that they had obtained
the right clew to the origin of the letters.
FOLLOWING UP THE CLEw.
The next day, at the secretary's re-
quest, another interview was had at the
war department in regard to the mat
Tor Of ROhoooT1 |
present The latter had also brought
letter received in his family from the
same anonymous source, and the three
letters then in possession OF these gen.
tlemen were subjected to very close
and critical examination by both the
cabinet officers present, ard both agreed
that the first surmise in regard TO their
source was correct. The following note
fixes the fact of this interview:
"WAsHINGToN, Sunday, March II, 1875.
"To Bluford Wilson:
"MY DEAR SIR-Piease call at my
Office, if convenient, tomorrow at one
o'clock, bringing the papers with you.
II that hour is not agreeable, please
name another. Yours, very truly,
civilian W. BELKNAP."
LETTER OF STRANGE INTEREST.
At the close of this interview the So
licitor wrote the following note to
member OF the cabinet then absent from
the city, in regard to the matter:
MARCH 20, 1875.
MY DEAR SIR-We finally succeeded
this morning in touching bottom in the
matter of the anonymous correspond
ence. The writer OF the letters was Mrs.
George II. Williams-three to Belknap,
Il to ITi,n |
in our Judgment, conclusive, both from
the extrinsic circumstances, and on COM
pairing the writings. The letters to Bel.
KNAPP are infamous, and would provoke
or killing rather, if the author
was q man. This discovery we cannot
but regard as Of the very gravest char
acter, and on the successful treatment of
the matter may depend in large meas
IRE the good name of the cabinet, and
he Influence OF General Grant aud his
It will, if badly man
aged, make scandal to which that OF
he Eatons will be as eight to Darkness"
endesvored to impress this upon Cen
.ral Belknap this morning, and [ be-
leve he fully appreciates ii, but declines
o accept my suggestion that he should
lot move until he has advised with you :
md Others, claiming that in matter af- /,
Getting, as this does, his own honor and l
hat OF his family he must reserve to
imself the exclusive right to decide up
n his course, and as to the manner and 8
neasure of reparstion or reprisal. | e
ugE ested that he should see Porter. He |
as seen Bsbcock, bat Porter in such an b
mergsncy would be vie and dis C
seet hand. Another thing that gives v
1e csnceT n-Mre. Robson and Mrs. b
'slkusp have exchanged confidence to &
he extent OF ascertsining that they are v
9th victims OF the same hand, and fl
bus the curiosity OF the ladies all around E
infamed, and for this reason it looks o
} ms as though an explosion of the ! d