Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-02-10
Florida Returning Board. He did reject


Florida Returning Board. He did reject
Marbles first offer, at the price Of Se00, 900,
because it was too high. He did accept the
subsequent offers transmitted through Marble
and Woolley at the figure of $4,000. 1t
was true that his acceptance was received too
late.
The narrative of the South Carolina bar
gain, as told by The Tribune and Smith
Weed, was also true. We do not remember
that Mr.. Pelton found anything to criticise in
the Tribune pamphlet except the substitu-
ton of the word ''be" for "by' in a wholly
unimportant cipher-the right word, however,
being given in the translation just below It,
We have no doubt that number of similar
and even more important errors, will be dis
covered as The Tribune's copies are compared
with the originals; but after the admissions
made by Weed and the all-embracing ad-
missions of Pelton, we presume that the sub
stantial accuracy of the cipher publications
and translations will be no longer called in
question.
Mr.. Pelton declared-and this he always
said with alacrity-that he kept the knowledge
of all these bargains from his uncle, because
he knew his uncle would notapprove of them.
He acted on his own responsibility, and yet
he had an expectation, or hope, or shad-
owy belief of some kind, that the democratic
national committee, or members of it, would
furnish the money. He had no official con
nection with the committee, but he was recog-
nized in that body as the confidential repre-
sentative of Mr.. Tilden, and it was in that
capacity that he sent Weed to South Carolina
and Marble to Florida, and took general
charge of the management of the count. The
particular members of the national committee
in whom the confidential agent and nephew
4 l.. ttNnr.a In
propose to his uncle were Mr. w. l.. Scott,
of Erie and Mr. Edward Cooper, of New
York. And here Colonel Pelton fatty contra
dicted the evidence of Mayor Cooper. That
gentleman swore on Wednesday evening that
he did not know beforehand the particulars
of Pelton's purpose in going to Baltimore,
and was very much astonished when he re-
ceived a telegram calling for $50, 900. Colo
mel Pelton, on the other hand, swcars that he
told Mr. Cooper what the bargain was before
he started, and what the price was to be, and
went away with the impression that the money
would be forthcoming. He added that he
cautioned Mr. Cooper to say nothing about
it to Mr.. Tilden. The issue of veracity thus
presented is clear and bold. We presume
that few will be in doubt how to decide it.
When the South Carolina scheme was ex-
posed Mr. Tilden censnred his nephew with
extreme severity. MT. tOoDcI dlsO
the trade on moral grounds. In ten days the
hopeful nephew was at work again in the
same business. this time trying to buy the
Florida Board through the nstrumentality of
Marble and Woolley. Where did he expect
to get the money for this purchase,
after Mr.. Cooper had repulsed the
previous scheme Oh, from Mr.. Cooper and
Mr.. Scott. About the same time $1,000 had
been borrowed and secretly sent to Oregon
for illegal expenses" which Mr.. Tilden was
not to know about because he would consider
them wicked: who was to refund this money !?
Oh, Mr. Cooper or Mr.. Scott. As soon as
the Florida affair was ripe for action Mr..
Pelton meant to propose it to Mr.. Cooper and
the other members of the committee whom
it would not shock" Marbles proposition
was accepted December 4 the Board had to
declare the result at latest the next day, and
the electoral colleges were to vote for Presi-
dent on the 9th yet Mr.. Pelton after ratify-
ing the contract took no steps to bring it to
the attention of the committee; which sug-
gests the inquiry, about what time would the
Colonel consider such scheme to be ripe.
Probably the most remarkable part of the
Colonel's testimony referred to the origin of
the famous transpositon cipher. He could
not remember at first where he got 1t, but by
degrees, broadening down from ''may be" to
''pretty sure" he reached the conclusion that
he composed it out of his own head, perhaps
with the assistance of Mr.. Weed, in the Ev
erett House, just before Weed started for the
South. 1t was brief interview, yet in this
short space of time the Colonel, who could
not say whether he had ever made cipher
before, invented and put together an elabor-
ate double code, with vocabulary Of substi-
tuition words and transposition system of no
fewer than ten keys of from ten to thirty num-
bers each, half these keys being the mathe
NAUTICAL correlatives Of the other half 1t is
hardly necessary to say to any one who has
studied the ciphers that this is fragrant i'm
possibility. Yet Mr.. Pelton went on to 'be-
lieve" that he had made an Independent in
vention of Mr.. Marbles cipher. and another
independent invention of Mr.. Coyle's, forget
ting that all three gentlemen used the same
code.
Partly in Colonel Pelton's testimony and
partly in that of Mr. Weed, it was brought out
that the kilograms in which Weed and Marble
transmitted their criminal proposals were sent
to the National democratic headquarters,
where at least two or three of the clerks were
in the habit of reading them. How many
other persons used the cipher or had the key
no one seems ito remember. 1t is only Ger
tain that, with singular unanimity, the whole
party have destroyed their sequence and vo-
cabularies, and carefully wiped every cipher
word out of their memories; and that during
the days when ciphering was in fashion the
care with which wicked kilograms were kept
from Gov. Tilden was only equalled by the
freedom by which they were confded to ev-