The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1878-06-28
The Woman in the Case.

reNViution vi Iotter Wnoei nuheS hio S"oO
assume an uglier form. We were led to ex-
pect that the appearance of Mrs. jerks as
witness would clear up the whole matter of
his letter to Weber and Anderson, and give
the country at last the bottom facts in regard
to that document, about which his own mem
ory is 80 treacherous. SO far from that, this
eel-like witness slips back and forth through
the hands Of the committee without doing
anything towards the exoneration Of MIR.
Sherman, and only making more than ever
apparent the devious ways of Louisiana pol
iticans. Her own right to call herself one OF
this set was fully vindicated by her bold men
dacity, her pert use Of political slang and her
unbushng confession that while she might
belong to one party in the morning and an-
other at night she called herself Republi-
can. and was "wiling to do anything for the
good of the party" Her real purpose from
the first seems to have been to advance the
political and pecuniary prospects of her stupid
husband, who was one of Kclogg's tools. To
do this she was willing to become the emissa-
ry of Anderson and Weber to the visiting
statesmen to betray their confidence by open
ing and reading a letter committed to her
care to use the knowledge thus gained to
acquire influence over Kellogg, Packard, Mat
thews and Sherman, and to come as near as
possible to confessing herself forger, All
this she has done, cording to her own sto-
ry, to say nothing of playing fast and loose
with Anderson and doing as much prevarica-
ton and downright lying as was necessary
to keep hold upon both parties until one or
the other came to her terms. When woman
thus unsexes herself to bear hand in poll
tics she can lay no claim to courteous treat
ment The figure Of clever woman turned
political huckster and cclipsing all Others in
the trade was all that was needed to make
the picture of Louisiana ipfamy under the
pet-baggers complete in all Its repulsive
| details.
Mr.. Sherman would clear bis own bedrag-
gled skirts by having this woman fasten upon
herself the improbable crime Of forging the
| document which has been her stock in trade
for the last two years. Anxious to please him,
but having still bare vestige of self-respect,
| she goes only far enough to show that she is
willing to have that theory received 'f it can
be done without actually shouldering crime.
The silly compromise upon which she dropp-
ed is the statement that she dictated the ia.
nous letter, and she would have us believe
that she did so in the presence Of the visit
| ing statesmen in their private paror, without
| any of them knowing or suspecting what she
was about. This story is shaken to tatters
by cross-examination, but cings to the main
thread with tenacity that leaves no doubt as
to her desire to clear Sherman at any hazard
of her own veracity. Whoever had any
thing to do with the guarantee she is careful
to say again and again that Mr.. Sherman had
no completely in the matter. t. er most dra
matte manner aud most startling rhetoric are
reserved for these declarations of accquittal.
She knows her Business Mr.. Sherman must
be acquitted. 1t is a wonder that it does not
occur to this clever woman that there is sucf
a thing as protesting too much. People are
apt to inquire the motive of this zeal in his
behalf, involving such strain Of probability
and so many inconsistencies in her story, Il
is magnanimous, no doubt, for this fai
creature to stand up, "in presence of thi
committee and the country at laige," ant
avow her own responsibility for the politica
dishonor laid at the door Of the Secretary o
the Treasury: but Mrs. jerks is not the wo
man to give her magnanimity away withou
its price. The whole testimony thus far ellie
tied shows that she knew the market value o
the document in her keeping. 1t is wortl
either place or money. She did not ge
place.
1t is scarcely necessary to point out that We
are still without MIR. Sherman's denial of the
authenticity of the famous letter. Wher
brought to book he was unwilling to say tha
he did not write it. His own denial would
be of greater value than that of Mrs. jerks
Why is she so much!more positive than he il
as to his innocence of the crime of condoning
forgery and perjury? Under the circumstan.
ces the verdict Of guilty already entered
against him by the county must remain. l,
I is proved that Anderson and sWeber declined
to go on with their crime without guaran.
tee of preferment; hat they asked that guar
antee of Mr.. Sherman and that Mrs. JERKS
presented that demand, knowing the nature
of it and that they received such guaran
tee as induced them to keep quiet 1t is
proved that Louisiana politicians generally
believed ip. the existence of that document, land
regarded Anderson, to whom it was supposed
| to have been given, as the holder of claim
| upon the administration which could not be
slighted. Anderson produces copy of that
document, which sustains common fame as to
its nature, and the alleged writer declines tc
say that it is not genuine. This is as strong
a case as could be made out without the pro-
duction of the original. 1t is case that GOV.
ers John Sherman with dishonor and involves
the administration of which he is a member
in disgrace, Such pert gable as that tc
which MRS. j enks has treated the Potter com
mittee serves only to make the desperate
straits of the accused more contemptibly APP
parent.-7imes.