New-York tribune., 1878-12-19
MORE CIPHEHS.


The new Florida cipher,'Of which we pre-
| sent a few specimens this morning, throws a
curious light upon the operations of one of
| the Tilden agents during the memorable
aftcr-campaIgn,-a gentleman whose figure i'll
| these important historical scenes has always
appeared to us somewhat grOtesquc. Mr.. John
| f. C0ylc Is frce-handed person, with un-
| rIvalled ability III the way OF travelling at
other peoples expense, and pIincely taste
for good living and hospitality. Sent upon
| secret and distant expedition, which involved
much travelling and many hotel-bils. and with
a paymaster too far removed to check the
| charges for sundrics and refreshments, Col
Oncl John F. Coylc must have been for three
| halcyOn weeks one of the happlrSt men on
the North American continent. His tclcGrms
do not show that he was particularly anxious
abOut the result Of the count, or vcXcd by
the proceedings of the adverse politicians
whom visitors of a serious turn of mind like
Mr. Marble were accustomed to call "inicn1l
"scoundrcls" and "ague-smttcn PGriahs."
He had nothing to say about politics. He
bore defeat with easy good nature, and per-
haps ne would have borne victory with the
same sort of cOmposure. Nothing troubled him
-or the bad quality ofthe Tallahassee champagne.
As long as he had the luxury of $500 in hs
pocket, he rolled blissfully along, saving the
Democratic party in fine style. If pcrchancc
a draft was protested or remittance was de-
laycd, there was frantic telegraphing to New
York about the embarrassment to the
great cause at most critical ume;" but
the dry season never lasted long, and Colo
Coyle was not suffered to go thirsty.
He drew upon everybody. He drew almost
every day. If n new cipher is translated, the
first disclosure made by it is fresh draft by
Colonel John f. COyle. Most of his supplies
seem to have been obtained from the mys-
teIious person who concealed himself be-
hind the name and address Of Mr.. Henry
Havemeyer Sometimes he appealed directly
TO Colonel Pelton. On several occasions
he drew upon the unknown Twenty
"threen This morning we find him varying
these levies 10y demand upon Mr.. Edward
Cooper for 81 900. Mr.. Cooper was the treas
urcr of the Democratic National Committee
and there was nothing out Of the way III his
furnishing money, il reasonable amount, to an
accredited agent of the party at time when
money was needed for lawyers, messengers,
| telegraph bills, and other lcgitimate cx-
| penses. We are assured that Mr.. Cooper has
preserved a careful list OF all the payments
| which he made as treasurer OF the
| National Committee, on account Of these
drafts from Southern agents, that he
! is perfectly willing to give it to the
| public at any time, and that there is
nothing whatever in his connection with
the business that requires either conceal
! mcnt or explanation; and we do not doubt
! that this assurance is strictly correct.
The "signal and peculiar mark of Mr..
| Coyles operations however, was that he
| obtained money so often and from so many
! sources. While he was drawing upon the
! committee for sum which we should suppose
! to be large enough for all his proper expenses,
| he seems to have been i'll the receipt of other
supplies from Gnmercy Park which the COM
mttee perhaps knew nothing about. There is
record of nearly $4,000 obtained by him
| within few days, and there are indications
that this does not represent all of his drafts
We need hardly remark that $4,000 Is II
large sum-a suspiciously large sum for one
man to spend in State like Flor
ida after the election and before the
count; and we can hardly help be-
heying that before Messrs. Marble and Wool
ley reached the point of offering $4,000 for
the Canvassing Board, somebody must have
wasted an enormous amount of material aid
in other ways.