Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-08-06
Tllden.s Into Nep.AM.

nephew. Pelton's being made the
scapegoat for Tilden's sins is what hur-
ried him, broken-hearled and humili
ated, to his grave. A prominent New
York politician said TO the correspon.
dent:
al undertake to say, to cut It short,
that poor Pelton staggered silently un.
der the load of his old uncle's sins aud
crimes until they crushed him, broken.
hearted, into his grave. He made nc
sign, even when old Sam wrote that
celebrated letter in which he accused
his luckless nephew of futile dalliance.
Poor Pelton bowed his head little low
er, WINGED somewhat and took il ALL 1t
was rare case of iilial devotion on one
side and cruel selishness on the other.
Old Tilden had position, power, money.
Pelton had nothing except what Tilden
made him. The old reprObate constant
ly impressed him with the idea that he
must shoulder the ignominy of the
ciphers in order to protect his (Tilden's)
nomination.
"Pelton felt that he was making sac
rilice Of himself TO save his uncle S cause.
and he hoped that by and by success
would come and wipe it all out. But
when the Tilden gang were beaten
at Cincinnati the hope on which Pei
ton had been living vanished, and
the poor, broken-spirlted boy lay down
and died as he had lived, making no
sign and taking his secrets with him.
into the eternal privacy of his coffin.
PeltOn was really likable fellow, a trine
pulled up when he was in the zenith of
his Importance, before the afterclap
came down upon him, but all right at
the bottom, however He was humble
enough before he died. The weight he
was carrying took the stiffening out of
his backbone amazingly along toward
the last. never saw greater change
in a man than the difference between
the PeltOn of 1876 and the Pelton of
1880"
"But to business: 1 gather from
what you have told me that the whole
corporation of ciphers from Oregon to
Florida was really tho work of Tilden:
that he knew all about their going on,
sanctioned the schemes that were in
volved, and"
"Every bit of it, every bit of it. He
knew what was going on as you know
Saturday night what the Capital will
say Sunday morning. From poor Pei
ton, to whom he dictated ciphers, mp to
Sam Randall, whom he authorized to
promise a vacancy on the United States
Supreme bench TO Chief Justice Moses,
of South Carolina, in consideration of
that celebrated mandamus-from bot
tom to top, | say, old Tilden ran his
own machine and Unanswered his forces
in person, but at safe distance in
the rear. By the way, to illustrate:
You know Sam Randall went to Gin
cinnati convinced that he was to be
| Iilden legatee. When he got there he
found he had been superseded by
| Payne, through the Establishments of
young Whitney and promises of bar'l
| of Standard oil. When Sam was awful
mad, you know, he was not disposed to
| lie down and take it like young Pelton.
On the contrary, being kicker and a
| squealer, Sam began to kick and squeal,
aud he kicked so Justify and squealed
so loudly that he made old Tildcn drop
Payne like hot potato and deliver
goods that he had promised to deliver"
"a sweet-scented gang, aren' ttheyP"
" | should remark. The word thieves
doesn't cover their case, because thieves
are said to have a sort of honor among
themselves. But this Tilden gang are
simply cut-throats, watching their
chance to assassinate each other, and
keeping faith only with the one that
has the longest and the sharpest knife.
In this instance Sam Randall happened
to have that knife, and hence he was
able to exact the fultillment of the
promises that had been made to him,"
But you are depressing from Pelton.
Did you see him latterlyPh
"NO, not for some months, at least;
not since April, | believe. AZ that
time he was hrmly convinced that his
uncle would be renominated. He spoke
of it as man might speak of thread
on which his life hung. He was quite
feeble then, and had an air of weari-
ness and detection really pitiable to one
who had known him in his days of
pride and consequence
"Tell me, did old Tilden, i'm addi-
tion to the disgrace which he put upon
Pelton publicly, in order to shield him
self, carry out the affectation by cruelty
or neglect in priyateP
"NO, don't think so. On the con-
trary, l think the understanding be-
tween them was kept up to the last
Privately the old reprobate was,
think, as kind TO his victim as he knew
how to be; that is, he aided him finan-
cialy, That's the only kindness Til
den has any idea of. In his estima-
ton money cures everything. He
imagined that any amount of dis
grace and modification, such as he
forced poor Pelton to bear, can
be salved and soothed by checks
drawn with regularity and tolerable
frequency. The springs of human kind
ness in his nature, If there ever were
any there, have been so thoroughly
dried up by years of intrigue in politics
and croOkedness in business that the
notion OF sentimental wound is in
comprehensive to him."
$50 you think he did not appreciate
the sacrifice his less hardened and more
sensitive nephew was making for himP'
"N0t at all. Talk about being har-
dened Egad Old Tilden is worse
than hardened. He is tanned through
and through with iniquity, like bulls
hide that has lain for seven years in a
vat of oak-bark liquor don't suppose
he felt the slightest twinge of conscience
when they told him that his victim was
dead-that his luckless scapegoat had
ceased TO breathe, On the contrary,
venture to say that he felt sense OF
relief ut the thought that dead men tell
no tales.n
D8- The party opposed TO the Re-
publican has changed neither in pur.
pose nor membership. No, the same
spirit has animated that organization,
whatever claims It may have advanced.
In 1876 the party adopted the role OF