The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1878-05-28

lying shout me long enough now. The
Republicans seem to think that my card
to Potter the other day meant that 1 am
going to stand by them. Why didn't
they remember me when | needed it?
Now l am independent Of them, and l
intend 10 keep so. But I'll go on with
the story and then you can judge wheth-
er am able to give any evidence to
make certain parties tremble little"
"Whst was the date of your first trans
action with ShermsuH"
"Well, the protest TO the vote of East
FeliCisna was was dated November 10th; ;
that Of West Felicisns November 18th.
| believe Sherman reached New Orleans
about the 10th of the month. Things
were then in very critical position,
| Dan Webber, who was supervisor of elec.
! tiOns in West Feliciana, had signed his
| protest but l had not. He was right In
what he did, and so was l. From whst
l heard at tho time, felt sure that Dan
was acting in the line Of duty by putting
| his name TO the protest, because in one
part of the parish, down IN the river re-
| gioD, there was small body of disOr-
| derly roughs who interfered with
| the negroes from pure cussedness
There was not much politics about it
| Dan Was not very firm, however in the
| faith He had his dodbts whether the
! protest should be made TO cover so much,
and had made up my mind that | did
not propose TO testify officially TO init
mldstion when there was no sign of II on
| the day OF election. The thing had all
been set up beforehand, bat l had no
| right TO swear that any voters were in
teriered with unless knew of actual
cases of violence on election day. There
were none. The election was as peace
iul as any IN the country. So refused
TO sign. 1t was very few days after
| this, as the dates show, when Sherman
arrived IN New Orleans Dan Webber
| and | were both weak, and it was
/ vital that our parishes should
| be thrown out. told you months ago
of the way my signature was obtained to
a blank sheet OF paper, and how tha. was
| sfterward filled IN without my knOwl-
| edge with q most sweeping protest. Gc-
companied by forged jurat That was
| fraud. | had made up my mind TO de-
/ nOuuce It. Just then the visiting states
men came on the field. WebDer and
/ | both needed back bone. There is no
use in telling great long story now /;
| but we were written to by Secretary
| Sherman. We wanted written gueran.
tees that we should be cared for if We
allowed this crookeiness to go unre.
buked, so that the Returning Board and
the Republican party could take ad-
vantage of the wrong,
odd the Secretary write to each Of
your"
"NO, the letter was written TO US JOINT
| ly. 1t did not come through the mai.
/ 1t was directed to ID. A. Weber and
James L. Anderson. The stories about
there being two letters are islse. 1t WAS
transmitted to US through third party"
/ How did the letter reat2"
well II was one OF those shrewd
things which nobody but shrewd poll
tician would devise. He simply said we
should be literally cared for If we stood
! firm"
"DJn't you know that when Mr.. Sher-
man is placed on the stand he can laugh
at that letter and say the only object Of
it was to let you know that the leaders OF
the Republican party would stand by
you if you performed your duty"
Yes; | realize the force OF that, but
1t happens that the vital point in this
mstter concerns the fact whether Mr..
Sherman knew when he wrote that let.
ter that Webber had his doubts about
what his duty meant, and that l was on
the point of denouncIng the forgery OF
which | had been made the victim"
"And you think you can prove that he
was fully aware ST all these facts and
meant his letter to be guarantee that
you should be provided Tor II you con-
sented to shut your eyes and hold your
tongue?"
That is exactly what we expec. TO do.
Suppose that Lawrence testIges that he
informed sherman of the way things
stood in the FeliClsna parishes, and sup
pose that Pitkln testlfes that Sherman
understood the situstlen exactly, and sup
pose Whitney testifes more fully than
he dld before the Morrision committee
that one day at the St. Charles hotel l
displayed an Envelope which contained
the Sherman letter, and said, i have got
enough here to bust the whole thing
then where will Sherman be2
"W hatever became of tha. letter.
IL cave il to Dan Webber, snd don't
knew exactly what he did with 1t. on
remember be was murdered at ST. Fran
cisvile very shortly siterward. There
always has been peculiar mystery
hanging about Web5er's murder. have
heard that the Democrats clam 20 pos
sess photographic copy OF that letter,
but | can't state whether 1t is true or
not. You also remember when we
called on Mrs jerks last winter that
she intimated that the original letter was
safe and sound in place where 1t could
be easily reached. That may be true,
but the great importance Of the lnvesti-
gstion so far as Sherman is concerned
will consist in proving not that such q
letter was written and not that 1t cen
taired such and such words but that he
knew when he addressed 1t to US that
we were being bribed to submit to tor
geries." ..,,,
.'Do you think 2 tkin will testify!
Il know he will
"AnG you have nOdOubts that you can
make the whole matter so clear that the
country will understand it,
u believe we can make Sherman come
down from his high horse"
When do you expect to be sum-
moned?'
"Have not the least idea, l am ready
sny time. l never took doIisr from
any member Of the Republican or Demo
cratic party. l am under no obhgstIon,
and propose to tell the whole truth, no
matter who is hurt
Later in the day the correspondent ran
across Judge SlOanaker, the individual
who was taken in aud housed for awhile
in Louisiana during the csrpet-bsg gov
eminent, and das for many months been
hanging around the White House IN
search of bone.
Got EN- this time, sure remarked
the worthy judg'. "D5 you see that little
srooth.faced fellow there talking with
I - M.rEa7 That l. Harry Pyle He