The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-02-13
.-ssB q e
A CARD.
From Mar. PIcke't In Defense Of His Action
In the Louisiana Matter.

From HIr. Picket In Defense Of His Action
| In The Louisiana Matter.
WASHINGTON, D. O., Feb. G. 1877.
| To the Editor of the Herald:
l. You have, unadsitedly, | trust, done me
iriu ,ice 10 your issue of last Friday, to which
my attention is u,t now called You refer, in
| an editorial on The Returning Board, to ''the
testimony of 1t lsfeld, their Secretary, and
OF Pickett and Maddox, their accompices. "
Thsye never been aoq nsinted with ror held any
communication with any member of the Re-
turning Board, and the tsrm ''acco nplice. /"
which you apply to Inc, signifi s neariou
association. i iefsld, the Secretary, stands
q self ntes1ed forger of returns, and Mad
dox, confidential agent of the Government,
was informer agaii 81 The Ubiquitous pun pos,t
of the Board. l simply used the information
10 thwart their purposes. It is strange con-
fus on of ideas which would place me in the
same relation to that board AZ either Of these
official personages. They are Republicans;
ain a Dsmoc!a. Li.tiefeld WIS used as an
instrument in the perpetra'ir N of a stipend
Gus frand upon the cons tuition and laws Of
his country, the object of which was 20 DE-
priv the people Of their choice of PretideBt
Maddox was sent to Now Orleans by the ad-
mipstration as an agent OF its secret service,
otsns1bly on revenue matters but with col
later al instruc ions 10 look into and report on
the political situa:icn. Some days after he
was gone I learned the fact ipcid entally, and
inasmuoh as he had said he was going to St.
Louis my suspicious were aroused, and 50 l
warned my Democratic friends in New Or
leans to beware of him, as I knew that bis
former high standing in that community
would secure him the entree to Democratic
orioles, and, perhaps, the unguarded conf
denoe of macy with regard TO political move
menIs.
When he returned to Washington be CON-
planned that had impeded his wcrk; but be
also informed me Of the fact that Tilden b I'D
carried the s ate by more than 5000 majority,
and that the r stunning Beard was in tho mar.
ket end would no; relieve the suspense of the
country until the last dsy the law allowed
namely, the 6 December. He furthermore
show ed me the Wells letter, which authorized
him to act (as it seemed to me) for that indi-
vidual; he named his (Wel.'s) price, and said
that if it were not forthcoming the vote OF
the State would be declared for Hayes. He
asked me to become the bearer of these facts
New York, and undertook to do SO, not with
the slightest expectation that they would
consent to buy such rascals at any figure, but
in order to b able when the time came to |
show the country what they were willing to !
do. Had l failed to lay the facts before
Messrs. Hewitt and Morrissey should have
lost the connection with the authorities of the |
party necessary to sustain the ctss, and |
nothing would have remained beyond MIR.
MaddCx's statement of what they wished him
to do. He has given his own reasons for not
aiding the Rsturning Board to consummate
its villainy, and ne cd not repeat them. He
gave me the opportunity of doing service to
the country at some sacrifice to myself, and
of establishing the guilt of the Louisiana
Bo'rd. For this I am roundly
abused by the press, even by the hypocritical
and oowardly portion of the Democratic
press, which is quite willing to avail itself OF
the advantages OF my movement but exceed
inely anxious to avoid all esponsibility for it.
My past life is reviewed with harshness, but
--.---. JOHN f. PICKETT.