Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1880-11-25
IN. \. Tribune.l
The Truth Of History.

The desperate efforts of the National
Democratic Committee TO escape all rcspon-
sibiliiy for the forged Chinese letter will not
he allowed to succeed. The record Of their
ansactions condemns them utterly. We
propose To arrange in chronological order
the successive steps by which that infamous
forgery was foisted into public notice and
partially forced by ingenious explanations
and fat falsiications into public credence.
The narrative is simple and unanswerable.
The forged letter was first published in
printed form in Truth on Wednesday. DC
tober 20. 1t attracted no notice whatever.
Even The World newspaper reiraincd from
copying il or from making the slightest al
fusion to il ON the following day. Accord
ing TO the official statement of the Demo-
cratic National Committee. the original let
ter was taken to their headquarters on
"Wednesday afternoon and was there ex-
amined by several eminen, Democrats. in
Guiding Mr.. Barnum. Mr. Hewitt aud Mr..
Randall. On "Wednesday evening Mr.. Iew-
lit. in a speech a, Democratic mass meet
ing in Chckering Hall. read the letter and
said
Some people may incline to pronounce II a
forgery. l have seen IL. ] an familiar with
General Garfed's signature. I nave compared
1t with hi, le ter, in my possession. and have
no doubt II i genuine. IL II b. forgery u Is
the work Of a coa>ummstr srtis': bat II
thought. after examination. there the
slightest doubt Of It's autheniicit, | should not
refer 10 it.
None the less emphatic wa. the dispatch
sent out over the signature of Chairman
Baruum, on the same evening. and published
the next morning in all the leading Demo
cratic journals Of the country:
NEW YORK, Oct. -.
The following is published In Truth this
morning. The letter is authentic. IL /. In
G-neral Garhelds handwriting. Denial f.
worse than uses. II should have the wide.,
circulation among all classes. a. n uninasks
the Republi@In hUlownc,s aud hytocri.y on
the labor question through their chief lie
declares himself adverse To the lsborin mans
interest. aud In favor of the Employers Union.
sdvtsin- tn IN to emp oy the oh apcsi labor
available WM- u. B,HNUM
Here followed the original lc,,er.l
The original letter. OF which the foregoing l.
n true copy. j. III T'rlnh's Ie,s-cs.ion II was
mailed 81 Washington. bv the Republican can
ddate Tor President. To Henry l.. Mnrry. =
prominent member Of the Employer tnion.
Lynn, Mas-. At hi, death. which recently
occurred. II wa. found aainus hi- effects. The
envelope inciosing u. the orisia al Of which T..
sl.o In Jrsih's possession. j. mar .cd Per
-onsl" n. carefully q. the letter Itself b. marked
Personal and conhdcutial -
IL was these simultaneous announcements
b, Mc>srs. Hewitt and Bauum which lifted
the letter into public notice. Both gentle
men spoke after they had seen the letter
and the envelope. fhe closing portion of
Baruum's dispatch show. that the envelope
had been under examination On the same
morning that these announcements were
published. October 2i. General Garficld's
denial. dcnouncing the letter a. stupid
/ forgert." vas published IN every ncwspapcr
IN the land. Not single spapcf Of any
standing in New York CITY even on that
morning disnifcd the forgery with a single
word Of editorial mention. On FRIDAY il
vas shown by dispatches from LYNN that no
such man ~ II. l.. Morcy had ever lived
there. and that no such organization a. the
[ EMPLOYERS MON had ever existed there.
/ Tht World vas still silent on the subject.
and the other journal. Of the city treated it
wi'h contempt On SATURDAY. October y.
a fac-simile OF the forged letter was pub
li,hed IN Truth. Then the hand Of Bar
/ mum appeared on the ear Of the Editor Of
The Worid. That newspaper broke it.
silence, FASTENED 10 approve the forgery
/ editorially. and in It's news columns publ h-
ell printed copy of the letter for the frs,
/ time. taking care to prop 1t up with 4 repro
/ duotion Of Mr.. Hcwiu's Chickering Hall
| Enforcement. The World also wen, into the
! business Of manufacturing evidence TO sus-
tam the torgcr,. for on the same morning
/ II published a dispatch from Utica contain
/ ing the bogus news of the discover, OF a
man there who SAID he had once known II
l. Morey.
/ On TIN. same day saturday, October q.
there appeared IN all the manufacturing re-
gions Of New Jersey and other States a
National Democratic Committee containing
( printed versions Of the forged letter with
the bad spelling corrected. On no one Of
these documents was there the sligh,es,
reference 10 the fac, tina, the letter vas
. published in Truth. The Committee gave
1t their unqualified official approval A, the
same time there also appeared in the rum
shop windows of this city, and in all part.
/ OF the country, fac-simile Of the letter
enlarged to the size Of poster nearly two
feet square. Where did that come from ?
he Committee saw in their address OF de-
fence, issued November II: The Commit
tee decided TO purchase 4 reasonable num-
her OF the elec;rotype plates Of the fac
smile which had already been prepared by
Truth But this poster vas As large as a
whole page Of Truth. and the plate was a,
least four times a. large as the one tina,
paper used. Like the plates which the Com.
mjttee sent 10 the democratic exspspers
there was on these no allusion to Truth a.
the author and responsible publisher Of the
SANDER.
On Sunday morning October "a. General
Garheid's letter TO Chairman Jewell. written
a. soon as the fac-simile could reach him
for examination, was published
MENTOR, Ohio, Oct. %, ls,O.
To The hon. MARSHALL JEWELL.
Your telegram Of this afternoon is received
Publi.h my despatch Of last evening IL vol
think best. Within the last hour the mai
brought me the Photographic copy OF the forged
letter. IL is the work Of some clumsy villain
who cannot -pell or write English, or initiate
my handwriting. Every honest and manly
Democrat in America who i familiar with my
handwriting viii denouHee the forgery at sight
Put the case 10 the hand, Of sblest detective;
al once, and hunt the rascal down.
j. A. GARFIELD.
Mr. Hewitt was the next man heard from
In speech al Rochester, on Monday eyea.
ing October IS, he said:
thought knew General Garfield's view,
on the Chinese question, but in the examns.
ton Of that original letter l found my know |.
edge confirmed. / have compared It's sigma.
ture with Garfeld's signature 10 three other
letters in my possession. and 1 believe 1, to
have been written by the same hand thai
penned the others. First Of all. Garfield saw.
its the work Of a clumsy villain. Here is an
exact Photographic copy Of tina; letter. The
body u that letter ] never thought was his
It's the signature. II the detectives are on The
track Of the villain, Is Garaeld advised them
10 do. think they had better 70 straight to
Mentor. He isn't manly enough, you see, Il
come out aud deny the genuineness Of the sig
nature, but only Of the letter iiself He saw
that every honest Democrat will denounce
this forgery. But how did he behave wher
Ss.ed 10 denounce 3 wrong act Of bis own!
He didn't do it.
/. This vas promptly reproduced in III.
World on Wednesday. October 81, and wa.
accompanied by an interview with Mr.
Hewitt, in which he said the Rochester re.
port Of his remarks was correct, and added
when he was asked about General Garfield,
explicit denial:
What difference does that make! When ,
man opposes his testimony to circumstance. OF
which belief Is founded, his character mus
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