The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1880-12-08

printed copy of the forged lettel
with the bad spellingcoTected. Or
no one of these documents was ther,
the slightest reference to the fac
that the letter was published il
IrUth. The Committee gave ttheil
unqualified official approval. A.
the same time there also appeared
in the rum-shop windows Of thi:
city, and in all parts of the country
q fac-simile Of the letter enlarged tC
the size Of a poster nearly two feet
square. Where did that come from.
The Committee say in their address
Of defence issued November II
The Committee decided to purchase
/ y reasonable number of the electro
type plates of the fac-simile which
had already been prepared by
Truth But this poster was as large
as whole page Of Truth, and the
plate was 1T least four times as large
as the one that paper used. Like
the plates which the Committee
sent 10 the Democratic newspapers
there was on these no allusion to
Truth rs the author and responsible
publisher of the SANDER.
On Sunday morning, October 2I
General Garfield's letter to Chair
man Jewell, written rs soon as the
fac-simile could reach him foreXam-
ination, was published
MENTOR. Oct. D, 1880.
u The Hon. MARSHALL jewell.
Your telegram Of this afternoon
Is received. Publish my dispatch
Of last evening, if YOU think best.
Within the last hour the mail
brought me the hthographic copy OF
the forged letter. 1t is the work OF
some clumsy villain who cannot
spell or write English, or initiate
my handwriting. Every honest and
manly Democrat in America who is
familiar with my handwriting viii
denounce the forgery at sight Put
the case in the hands of ablcst de
tectiyes at once, and hunt the rascal
down. !. A.GARFIELD.
Mr. Hewitt was the next man
heard from. In a speech Mt Boches-
ter, ON Monday evening, October -,
hc said
] thought ] knew General Car
fields view. ou the Chinese question.
but in the examination OF that orig
inal letter / found my knowl-
edge confirmed. | have compared
is signature with Garfeld's sigma
ture of three other letters in my
possession, and | believe it to have
been written by the same hand that
penncd the Others. First Of all. Gar
field says its the work of clumsy
villains. Here is an exact photo
graphic copy Of that letter. The
body of that letter | never thought
was his its the signature. If the
detectives are on the track of the
villain, rs Garfield advised them to
do, l think they had better 90
to Mentor. He isn't manly
enough, YOU see, TO come out and
deny the genuineness of the sigma
ture. but only Of the letter itself.
He SAYS thatevery honest Democrat
viii denonnce thefOrgcry. But how
did he behave when asked to de-
nounce a wrong act Of hisowH? He
won't do it.
This was promptly reproduced in
the World on Wednesday, October
p, and was accompanied by an in
terview with Mr.. Hewitt, in which
he said the Rochester report of his
speech was correct, and added, when
he was asked about General Gar
fields explicit denial
What difference does that make ?
When a man opposes his testimony
to circumstances on which a belief is
founded, his character must overbal-
ance the force of the circumstances,
if he is to be believed. Here | have
three indisputably genuine sigma
lures of General Garfeld's their
evidence says that the fourth sigma
ture was made by the same hand, to
say nothing of the corroboration to
be found in General Garfield's re-
cord as to the sentiments Of the let
ter. Now to oppose my belief IS the
mere word of General Garfield
man in wton I knol0 here IS no truth.
I ka9,c Il by more than the public has
In mind General Garfeld's word
as against that signature viii have
to he reinforced by the arrest Of
somebody and his conviction as a
forter before | shall be convinced
that | am wrong in my belief
These statements of Mr.. Hewitt
were the only props that kept the
forgery from sinking for nearly q
week. There were a few feeble at
tcmpts on the part of the Horld TO
collect evidence of experts" and
others, but they were all too silly to
be taken into account. 1t should
be noticed that no attention what
ever was paid by Democratic jour
nails TO the efforts made by Truth to
sustain the forgery. The Committee
had taken the letter for their own
and were circulating and defending
it as their own. On the very day
that Mr.. Hewitt declared that moth
ing but the arrest and conviction OF
the forger would convince him that
he was wrong, Phelp was arrested
The arrest was announced on Thurs
day morning, October 2S. On the
evening of that day. Mr.. Hewitt
came to the rescue again, and in
speech in Tammany Hall said:
If | had not said what / did say
would have been untrue to my
Now General Garfield
has succeeded, after a week, in max
ing a denial. He said the letter was
brutal, and so [ think. How is he
hunting the forger lie has had
a man whom do not
know. and for what ? For libel IN
saving that Mr.. Garfield is a liar.
Now, if every man who calls him a
liar was to be arrested there would
be but few Of Us left He now APP
peals TO every manly Democrat to
denounee the forgery, while that 1t
is a forgery rests upon his unsup-
ported denial. Myperional relations