Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-07-08
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.SHERlTIN,S CASE.

From Mr.. Potter's letter to John Sherman,
published in Yesterdays GLOBE, it appears
that there is no ground for complaint of
the unfair treatment of the latter. Nearly
all the witnesses examined during the past
two weeks-Pitkin, Campbell, jerks, Mrs.
jerks and Weber-were summoned at Sher-
mans request. The committee generously
gave him every advantage which he claimed.
He had the additional advantage of an OPP
portunity to "coach" his witnesses, and
with the exception of Mr.. Weber, they all
testified to just such facts as suited his case,
and either refused to answer questions which
would be prejudicial to him, or had con-
veniently forgotten all about them.
These being Sherman's witnesses, the
public may justly conclude that their testi.
mony constitutes his case. Let us see what
kind of evidence they gave. Pitkin insisted
that the election in Louisiana was fairly car
ried by the Republicans, but that in order to
reach this result it was found necessary to
throw out several parishes in which intimida-
ton was alleged to have prevailed. He did
not personally know of any bulldozing, and
even confessed to informalities in many
of the protests entered. He failed to sue
cessfully contradict the statement of Ander-
son relative to the manner in which his pro-
test was procured, the facts as stated by him
tending rather to confirm than to dispute
Anderson's testimony. Campbell agreed with
him as to all essential particulars. Pitkin also
confessed to having obstructed the in
vestigation of the House committee, sent to
Louisiana to inquire into the elections by
concealing the official returns. This he did
with the knowledge and connivance of Sher-
man. 1t is hard to see wherein Sherman
has been benefited by Pitkin's testimony.
The evidence of jerks was of negative
character. He denied a little of everything.
including an affidavit of his own which was
subsequently proved to have been made and
sworn to by him. His lapses of memory
were somewhat extraordinary-th onlv re-
markable thing in connection with his testi-
mony.
Mrs. jerks story is fresh in the minds of
all readers Her brazen effrontery in alleging
that she was the author of the Sherman let
ter, and the glaring inconsisten cies that ap-
pear all through the published record of her
answers. stamp her as one of the most con-
scienceless liars on the continent. She care
fully avoided or refused to answer queries
that would tend to throw any light on the
real questions at issue. As evidence it
amounted to nothing; as an exhibition of
cheek it was perhaps the greatest success of
the century.
sherman's last witness, Weber, neglected
the opportunities so lavishly offered him of
private interviews with the secretary Of the
treasury, and although told that he could
command a lucrative Office at any time, he
went before the committee with an honest de-
termination to tell the truth. Instead of
being good card for Sherman.
however, he turned out to be the
strongest and most important witness vet
examined for the prosecution. His state
ments of the election in the Felicianas and
the plots of Packard, Kellogg and other Re-
publicans in Louisiana were corroborative in
almost every particular of the statement
made by Anderson. He proved
the existence of the Sherman
guaranty, and satisfactorily accounted for it's
completely exploding the
theory sought to be established by Mrs. jerks
that the document was forgery. The
anxiety of that woman and her co-workers to
obtain possession of the letter is strong pre-
sumptive proof of its genuineness, for it
passes belief that large amounts of ready
cash would be offered for letter known to
DC forgery, when it is patent that it's bogus
character could be demonstrated the moment
it was produced.
This, then, with the exception of Kelloee'a