Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1880-11-04
Tracing the Forgery.

/
ing the authorship of Garield's alleged Chi
nese letter. That letter has been proven to
be forgery. The committee has fastened
the work on Kennard Philip, one of the ed
itors of the New York Truth The story Of
the discovery is an interesting one. From
the first it has been known that the letter
was bogus, but the best efforts of Gen. Ar
thur and those under his directions to pin
the artist have been without avail. They
suspected a number Of innocent people. and
ii is rumored here that a detective was sent
TO Cincinnati to shadow an individual Who
might have been guilty had he known how
Detectives were also sent into the Demo
cratic national committee rooms. and mass
of manuscript was secured and the writing
carefully compared with the photograph OF
the letters but, while certain resemhlances
we're detected. there was not an expert will
ing 10 say that he had caught the man
While all this was going on. Colonel Thomas
| +. Lonergan. formerly of ~. Louis. and
who now runs a secret service bureau here
was busy at work on the trail. Assuming
shat if the letters were geninue the holder
/ could hare had more moHey Nv offering it TO
the Republican party for sale at a high price
he arrived at the conclusion that il Was a
| fraud. and from that point he traced it RICH,
] into the Office OF the Truth. The paper is
run by c. A. Bpne and Josh Hart in equal
shares Almost since the establishment Of
the paper Philip. formerly employed by
| Byrne on the Dramatic Nelrs. has been is
| guiding spirit. Philip i a man of wonder
| full inventive genius. and a practical Joker
of almost national reputation, and one who
! believes firmly in the justification Of the
H. -. Il
view Of the Office BY Lonergan satisfied him
| that if the forger were there IT was Philip.
and, securing some Of Philips manuscript.
! compared It with the photograph Of the let
ter and found tina, he had the man. In
some way. not Vet discovered. Mr.. Loncrgan
became possessed Of the copy Of ar editorial
written by Philip. On one Of the pages vas
the name Of Garfield, IN which the dot vas
over the "e" instead Of the ~ a. in the
| forged letter. In several instances 1t was
found that the dots were behind the 81. in
stead Of over or before 1t. There was a re-
markable similarity between the writing Of
| Philip and the manuscript Of the Garfield
letter. and, having satisfied himself that he
had found the author Of the letter. loner-
gan laid his discoveries before the state cen
iral committee
In the meantime Albcr, Daggett Of Brook
| lyn had in some way conceived suspicion
| Of Philip. Hunting around be found an
order that Philip had written. and compar-
lson Of manuscripts satisfied him that he
had unravelled the knot This order VA
sent TO the committee. and all the specimen.
| o; Philips writing. together with the forged
letter. were put into the hands Of Paync.ihc
celebrated expert, and several other. Of h.
| profession. This afternoon the, completed
/ their report and unanimously declare Philip
| 10 be the author of the Chinese letter"
| They find hole words IN Philips handwrit-
| ing almost identical in manuscript with the
same words IN the Garfield letter. while 80.
lated letters IN both the editorial copy and
the forged letter are manIfcstly by the same
| hand. These experts were separated like
| the translAiors of the Bible and each had
| before HIM a photograph Of the forged let
ter and a mass Of manuscript. part Of which
was Philips. Their reports wcr. made >ep-
arately and we're all 10 the eject that the
man who wrote Philips manuscript mus,
I have been the iorger The exposure 30 o;-
portune vail. 1t i claimed here. utterly par
| alyze" the original effect Of the letter. and
the swift detection OF the forgcr ~ill carry
| confusion TO the Democratic ranks.
! 1t is not belle, ed tina; Philip had any ac-
! complete. lie is a secrciiye man and gen.
orally pcrpetrates his Jokes for his own
amusement He is an Englishman. and no,
a bad hearted man where his friendships are
affected, but he has the ingenuity of Satan,
backed b, considerable force Of character.
and is thoroughly independent He i
known as perfect master Of the pen. His
limitations Of handwriting are marvellous.
and less than week ago be produced from
memory fac-simile Of the signatures of
the sIgners of the Declaration Of lndepen-
dence so cleyerly done tina; they might have
been a photograph. He has a mania for
initiating the manuscript Of Others and so
proficient has he become that any signature
Is easy 10 his facile pen, and be can even
write page Of foolscap IN close imitation
Of any copy shown him. Apart from this
he Is a politician Of no little ability. and he
has gone into this campaign with the inten-
ton Of PLAYING a big and prominent part.
Practically, he controls Truth, and in it,
sanctum his word Is law.
Boston Trayeilerl
Kennard Philip has had a career with
which the crime now charged upon him
very well harmonizes. A gentleman in this
| city who Is well acquainted with his ante
cedents, and was for many wears personally
| familiar with his doings, furnishes the Trqr-
| oiter with interesting account Of him
| Philip Ia a man Of about thirt, five wears of
age, was born in London, England received
his education at Oxford, and came TO this
country shortly after the close Of the war
in 1865. His father was a man Of large at
taInments, an intimate friend of Thackerays
and one Of the editorial writers Of the great
Conseryat alive paper. the London Standard.
hennard Philip was about twenty years Of
/ age when he arrived in New York, a spare
built man below the medium height. with a
| fresh rudy complexion: and be brought
with him a racy pen, fluent tongue and
| personal manner that won him many friends
His first journalistic work was done on the
staff Of the New York Herald and Evening
| Telegram. He vas attached TO those papers
| Tor about two Years. and then was engaged
by the Brooklyn Eagle, of which paper be
was for some time dramatic editor, and for
another period he edited It's Sunday edition.
then published the Brooklyn Sunday
| SH- He early acquired and has ever since
retained notorety "a practical joker, utter
| ly INSCRIPTIONS Of results. One Of the
earliest remarks which he is quoted as
making af:er his arrival on this side is: Il
came too late to write Joe Howard's bogus
| proclamation, or | should have been ahead
of him." The reference was TO the bogus
peace proclamation protesting to be issued
by Abraham Lincoln, for putting forth
which spurious document Joe Howard was
inearoerated in Fort Lafayette. At another
time. when on the Telegram staff, he was
sent to report an execution in New Jersey
| The execution was fixed for ii o'clock and
| it was rather difficult matter for the even
| ing paper reporters to connect with their
offices IN time to save the edition. Philip,
with characteristic audacity, went to the
sheriff and coolly inquired, Cant you hang
this man at 10 o'clock and give US chance
to get it into the evening papers,"
Many similar stories are told of him in
New York, all showing him to be man of
brilliant talents. and wholly devoid of con-
science or sensibility. He has contributed
at different times to Harper's Magazine and
other leading periodicals, and has besides
been a prolific contributor to Norman L.
Monro's sensational paper. Almost from
the first establishment of Truth, paper of
the most INSCRIPTIONS stamp, PHILIP has