The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1877-10-03
Letter From Major Z. A. Burke.
a Sweeping Denial and Denunciation
Of the Charges of the Sun
Correspondent.
NEW ORLEANS, I
Sept. "a, 1877. {

Lblioh DEuOChAI-
A letter dated September I'd appear
ed in the New York Sun, containing
certain false and malicious statements,
which supposed had beer fnlly refu.
ted in the Sun of September 5th, al.
though my statement had been elnas-
culated somewhat by the editors of the
Sun, who were unwilling to condemn
their correspondent in their own col
umns.
Due regard for Others who have been
referred to by the Louisiana press in
connection with these statements now
prompts me to say that Mr.. Gibson,
the sun correspondent, has written a
tissue of falsehoods, knowing the same
to be untrue when lie wrote them.-
On or about the 29th of August l tele-
graphed Governor Nichols from the
White Sulphur Springs that there was
an unexpended appropriation availa-
BILE with the War Department, which
might be secured for the reconstruc-
ton of Tones bayou dam, and asking
if he would approve my visiting Wash
ington with view of securing favora-
BILE action. Receiving no answer, and
learning that the Governor was sick. I
started for New York, and stopped at
" ashington to see if the government
could be interested in this work. Upon
my arrival ascertained that Congress
man Ellis had promptly and efficiently
attended to the matter.
l called upon the President, and at
his invitation spent pleasant evening
at the Soldiers Home, discussing top
les affecting the material prosperity of
the South. No allusion was made to
the suppression of evidence against
members of the Returning Board or to
Federal appointments in Louisiana,
and the statement of the Sun cores
pendent that | told the President. or
any other person, "that the prosecu-
ton OF Wells and Anderson would not
De pushed, because an arrangement
had been made by which the witnesses
who were to prove the forgeries in the
returns from Vernon Parish were made
to the order of Wells, would not testi-
fy." Also his statement "that lad
vised that the men who had manufac-
tured the testimony for the visiting
statesmen and the Returning Board be
taken care of, as Wells and Anderson
demanded, by dismissing the Herwig
crowd from the Custom House, and
giving the dangerous gang their
Places" pronounce wilful and mali
cions lies.
| regard the bestowal, directly and
Indirectly, of the Federal patronage in
Louisiana upon the Returning Board
as blot upon the record of the Ad-
ministration, and have SO asserted to
every person with whom I have con.
versed upon the subject.
The prosecution of the Returning
Board is matter exclusively under
the Jurisdiction of an incorruptible ju-
dietary, and no good citizen of the
State could or would interfere with
their functions.
Concerning the personal illusions in
the Sun letter, | have simply to say
that a journalist who will deliberately
tabrlcate a SANDER renders himself
contemplate. Every citizen of Lou.
isiam knows, and Mr.. Gibson had op-
portunity to know, that l never held
office under Radical rule, and never
had anything to do with the Republi-
can party in this State, except to fight
it. AS to my actions at Washington
when representing the government OF
Louisiana, they have been approved
by Governor Nichols, ratified in all
essential particulars by the Legislature
and people of Louisiana, and are,
therefore, removed from criticism BY
foreign journals.
ResDectfi111v