, 1879-02-03
SCApEGOAT pI3LTON.
How the Nephew of His Uncle Has
Figured In the Drama Of
Our Day.
The Wnys and Works OF Person Made
Famous by TcicgrnpiIIe
.Trn.nps.
cnrretnonh<ttrs .yt,r tntt il'orit t}7.n,. ],

UHfle Sleeps tS-f!hy nL NHleeI!lttFBt. HllAk re-
mains Of another nephew of a,Io:llcr uncle rnay
br daily sccn at the Everett i1ousc In New York,
In the person Of Col. William r. rclton, lust
now made al interesting 4gnrc In tic eyes Of
Americans by the hpcf atioi.s Of certain "telc.
graphic tramps.' in 1903 str. re1tun first be-
CAME 4uast-pub'ic character at Chicago, where
ho then lived, busIcI with. n,nateur tupc,iu-
tcndcncc Of ono or two railways, nn,t ns inter-
ested in d patent for treating wool for pave
n1cnts With chemical prctesvatlvcs. At that
time Chicago was tnnocenliy preparing, that ktnu
of pavcmcnss for her fire 1T 1S1f. While nt
Chicago lie contrtvctl to get Ia Int water with
local organization known ~ the Chicago Club.
A. Chicago, ton, no cnEasch IN the following
fIsan'as!n a ~ ws :. ksy t. t ni: s1ractcr: In
tcspr!ses: he drew a sixtv.day draft upon hi.un-
cles, Tilden 1, Gu, Of New Lebanon IN Coiun,-
bin County, In this ssate which they, .nr hts ar-
possession. Keeping 10 h!nsclf; Us lrs no Ionbt
hadn commercial right to do, tIlc fact that twas
an accommodation draft, he employed q ,otu
broker Of Chicago Of thu prophetic name OF
gotlate.lt. upon capitalist ty Tie nanlc Of
Da!r,-not Montgomery. At flic maturity Of
tho bttl It was forwarded fur collection, when
paymen. Of It was declined. rclton had his
pr cent. Tic disllonored draft came back upon
litart nnl, Of courRc, upon pelton. lie wouldn't
pay Il, ani Blair co,nmencud suit. Al The de-
fendants pleaded usury,--selectlnE Nsw York,
for the Transaction. The rejoindcr WIS, tint
even under Illinois law there was no usury, nnti
tt.at At any rate, whether Chcago tic residence
Of tho drawer, Or Lebanon. the hume q the
action, the draft vas soil, md bought in open
market a1nl FELTON, had proated by tho proceeds,
and that ut tue worst ouly The excess Of tntctcst
should 10 deducted. The aslit was .stnobornlI
1874 ca,net and The dralt was five ycara old
whrn Justice Strong, delivering tho unanimous
opinion of tho Court, condemned the deiend-
snts TO nay tt,e Judgment ;nA Ct The s9nst below,
showed hs own personal optnon-ln which Il
course nit ,lle Court must have shared, and
judges Davis and Field weFo Of .lIc number
as culphat!cal!y Us n judicial officer tlarcs TO
ant. Ills opinton,, that was freely published in
tls papers Of the tiay, In rceittn the Iacts said:
"fhts bill was drawn upon Tit,lcn Il Co., with
the tnetnnssa Of which irsn he WAS nearly. re-
the suit by Joshua II. Vnn Colt, of lsrooktyu,
a,,l ll.e Chicago creditors by John F.. Durrlll.
The Court IL It's opinion also regretted III effect
TINT ln consequence Of tic plaintiffs not haytng
Judgment fur the full amount II tile .irait,
VITO this liz years. interest included. Those
who Wcro familiar With slo matter werr con-
Tinccd ttat tho uncles Of Pclton would have
lEfGl At&uUhHFEl l4sC N1h4t IL LltIU DEEu
something bchlud tho apparent facts for which
they blamed their nephew. The transaction led
to an extreme eoolncss between lin and fils
relatives.
iii. transaction also, in connection With m
affair ut tho chicago Club, ot which +. 3. Nc
Cagg, Esq, Was the first President, led him to
bring bis clicinfcal wool-paycsncut palcnt in tho
autumn Of lb70 to thc mtchscscGeu door Of
Twecd's New York Street Department, In conf
pany with mob OF patcHt.pascnlent Erabbers
who hnyc since all corie to Ericf, both pcrsonal
ly and o. patcntecs. no onleavoFod to neeo-
ti.te With Tweed upon the strength OF tho uumu
mtmer OF The I.etnnon firm. md who WAS then
Chairman OF the Democratic Stata Committee.
Tweei WIS willing to GIver l's1tun FREQ run of
wooden p1vetticnts II The Tllden recommends.
70 1,lacntc Mr: 'rsldcn, nnd would have done ANY,
thing under Heaven Or The other place to cnlst
hin III It's srhclncs. But Mr.. Tilden expressly
declined 10 Iudorac tho schene, although liz
naturally wished lIs nephew al! worldly snrreas
However, Tweed did "give" pclton IA street
Or two,"'-as the slang phrase OF ratrouage
wcut,-but ahe enterprise was not Er.4aH! sue
| ccsst md The pcltonian payements are nuw as
| dcat ns Cronn, Ut Oregon.
Tie nephew of Ills uncle for two or three
years afterwards lrllitd ulmlessly about town.
| At this tne he WAS u wlowrr, with charming
yDliMg daughter, uia thy tamlly lived On GrAn'-
/ cr.h,r tho housc,uuld substantially tnuvci to
| ALBANY. rcttun Askctt md expected III b.,
taken th!tler ~ prirato Gccrctary, but os'-
y!ou'y neither hs antceclcnts NOT hls ways
| wrrc such III to recommend him to II Goyerilnr
so 8E,rcwl u Atr. Ttden. wllo doubtless rcnsvll.'
bercd how Gov. Myrun II. Clark ha1 been
! mcrcaleasly, uni yet without susIec&ing 1t,
sasrsicc4 a.,l Eiye%n % away BY Private Secretary
aeu MAS Charles SteoIsils, rlcarheads. A,ltl
| hosorablo nun, md hu t.aI three assistants.
Pe!ton,. however. oltalned !he ornamental
plago of Miltary Secretary. a'l iIn,ned!s,sly H.
Probably III huudref thousand Eeople VIII muw
learn for tho lirst t[the that hv WAS nut the ntf-
vaiu secretary of uuy. 1'itAan, although !o u,,-
Ioub.tsdly d!t great deal Of clerical w'sk
eyer, Tor cauaing lcEtsat ors, Hnd lnbbytss, uI,d
yisisors to Albany, ami Reporters, niao to oc:
llcye tint llc was ''puwcr behind the thrunc."
was also reIatcyl to Goy. Iilius,. ,l,nrl1s tlIls
time u behaved h!nls,tE much bet ter tEall wtcll
he was operating ut tic Chicago Club.
! A person WhO knew lIi.l we'll IN tAls cra nl
187f7J thus described him a,ltl ut that li.u Ia
| latter: "pcltuu IL IL se!I'shIy generous lHln
tut Ia to sur. In anything wlllrti rr,tlntca Iii
bis uwu case Or enjoyment nnd tfl, eumtart Ut
thDsu Immediately anut him ho IT, Rsilcruus
u.tl sunctl,llca e.ottstiealy lavish. le IL vain
VI hts possibilities, nt!l thinks hlmseif vupal,le
Ut enterprises huL ,o has always failed In them
lie ls given tu wlsAt H. known al,roaI as* holiday
guinea oi Diplomatic tnar'sucs baiIt'"i rastai,I&,
lie Is energetic a'n! te.4y'ous. Ilu Is good III
to a certain ps,lHi. but lacks the eiesueslts oI
tr rlars*-piaycr Win sees lila lass Move bcture
! hu cuxt1es liz might do vel! In looking aites
Cnurs. but mt New iurk Stats. With all hia
seltihl Eencroslttcs hc counts tic dollars md
woulu takc tunre Tins in tying to aaye *Iuj out
Of $lH.VU than IN aln!ost surely aer.Il,plIsl.tn.,
III l,ntlrrtaklug by ustn. tbs wlrole s10.UU. Ill
Ia plausible u ttIur Gersuls wllo nru kupcrhcia
and cat get alo'x vel! ~ company With mcn ui
his oSn stamp; but wl,e, brought III c'utarI
with u dominating a,ii1 Ills lsnperfce,ioils b.:
c.lnrs Transparent. AT ttncs l.s |. ylat4yury.'
| lh!s analyais of bis charactcr, nlado III 1915
has bcrn cursoooratef by alter eyunts. All
those described qualities canie out in hi4 .a.bau,
lite. t1u was ntways "nusstnE tn a'fairs,'' na!l
the lobuy. lie gavu deal ot tne NIL utten
lion to pcrfeet,ng the eIrvatut rliirual schemes
All the old ulstrust and cooiness tllat had
grown NJ between himself mud his uncIa sce,ur.
~ bu destroyed hy the titerpos!tion OF his Wife
tor whotn-ns every Albanian knowa-,ls Nuy
rsuor entertained tl.u affection Vt father fur
,laughtcr. Everybody rreosuized. Il not in pcl
ton, ~ least In his daughter by his rst wife, u
IN llis second VILE, thu probable s::atees Ut uo2
Ti!dtn's wealth. This seemed to giyo A!s 1l,u
ucuyse4 additional inwIrtauce. liz Was per
t,c,ualIy compromising ia'o Aoycrnor BY nis Gun
vrrsatlons and lnnurnioas. nnu a. enEstanti,