St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-02-14
From the n. Y Tribune of Feb. 10.
The Case of Mr.. Tilden.

A scene of intense dramatic interest
was witnessed at the Fifth Avenue HO-
tel on Saturday. In low, dark room
excessively hot and densely packed, the
whole world sat ut the reporters tables
or crowded close with note book in
hand, to catch the faint whispers that
fell from Il worn and hlggard old man.
With the look of corpse except in mo-
ments of excitement, with slow. far
away voice, and slow, painful move
ments, dropping left eye-iid. parch-
mentlike cheeks, and quivering hand
Mr.. Tilden repeated his statement, evil
IDENTIFY prepared with great care, in Il
voice much of the time hardly audible
four feet away. His manner showed
intense and increasing nervous excite
ment, by great effort restrained; the
body rose and fell in the seat incessant-
ly, as if he were trying in vain to rise,
and the seemingly half useless left arm
shook like il leaf. Then the excitement
burst restraint, the face flushed almost
purple, the lip quivered, the right arm
repeatedly smote the table with great
force and passion, and the voice rang
through the room with painful intensi
ty, like the shrek of drowning man.
After every such effort, the sentence
died away, as if the voice were stopped
by closing waters. The effect was al
most that of a death-bed declaration.
Had the matter thereof equalled in
force the solemnity of manner, this de-
claratiOn would have had Il great effect
Not, indeed, that the people would have
been more ready to lift to the Presi-
dency Il man so broken, and so mani
testify living only in bitter and toftur-
ing memories. But the matter was by
no means equal to the manner in i'm
pressiveness, nor could any unprejudic-
ed nearer avoid contrasting the declara-
tons of Mr.. Tilden with his own admit
ted conduct toward men whose deeds
| fill dark page in the history of the
country.
Mr.. Tilden's testimony was doubtless
us strong as, after four months of pre-
paratiOn and consultation, it was posi-
BILE to make it. That it was not ex-
ceedingly strong was due to the inhe-
rent and insuperable difficulties of his
position. 1t was not possible for him
to state that, in respect to Weed, Mar
BILE, Woolley, Coyle or Pelton, either
in watching their doings, knowing their
character as he did, or in reprobating
their acts when they became known to
him, his conduct was consistent with
the spOtless virtue and uDwavering pur-
pose which he protested. 1t was not
possible for him wholly to conceal that
low moral tone which half excused Pei
ton for trying to buy votes, because he
was swift to believe without evidence
that others had done or attempted the
same thing. His only intense feeling
was not wrath because OF crimes com
mitted, but wrath because of loss sus-
tanned. PeltOn was tolerated and KEEP
when he was known to have don,
wrong. Years afterward he was dis.
owned with Indignation only when the
public had found him out.
!, Mr.. Iilden's declaration of his ignO
} rance of corrupt negotiations seems a.
broad, full and emphatic as it could be
If there were mental reservations, as i
now appears there were in his publish
ed card of October last, of such charac
: ter that an exact statement of truth hat
! the public effect of statement tina
! was false, they do not yet appear. H.
l claims to have had no knowledge tina
Pelton was communicating in ciphe
'i'h INV DIT Ill
: South; no knowledge that Weed ha,
3 gone to South Carolina, until he return
ed; no knowledge that Wooley hat
l gone to Florida, or Patrick to Oregon
no knowledge of any corrupt propose
S as to South Carolina, until it was ar
rested by Mayor Cooper's refusal t.
provide money for it, and no knowl
: edge even then or afterward of the tru
n nature of the negotiations in that Stat
t or the others. These assertions, if full
e believed, acquit Mr.. Tilden of on
d charge only to convict him of anothe
quite as fatal to his position as a Presi
u dental candidate. For they are to b
d compared with certain facts now full
s established
L. Mr.. Tilden knew w. T. Pelto
d thoroughly. Democratic newspaper
IS by way OF preparing the scapegoat fo
d the wilderness, are accommodating proc
/ that Pelton's conduct, especially in re
y gard to money matters, had been sue
r, that no confidence could be placed
a his integrity, and these doings wei
3 best known to Governor Tilden, VIII
II had suffered by them. Yet at a mos
e critical and delicate time, when 18th