Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1880-12-01


have been in Washington, and that
such person wrote or caused to be
written thereon the address, III. l..
Morey, Lynn, Mass" for the purpose
of deceiving the publisher of the news
paper to whom it might be delivered
into the belief that the letter it should
enclose was genuine letter of j. A.
Garfield. Doubtless it was not sup
posed that the envelope would be the
subject of much scrutiny. The letter
itself was the great subject of his
thoughts, and the envelope, he proba-
bly, presumed, having served its pur-
pose, would fall unheeded into the pub
lisher's waste-basket.
All the facts above enumerated,
which discloses so clearly the charac-
ter of this envelope. bear with no less
force upon the question, is the letter a
forgery? 1t is next to impossible that
they can be true and the letter be gen.
uine, but they are reinforced by other
facts, which remove from my mind the
least shadow of doubt There was
no such person as John W. Goodall
of Lynn, Mass" by whom the letter
which accompanied the Morey letter to
Mr.. Hart, purports to have been writ
ten. 1t is proved most clearly that no
such person as Il. l.. Morey as being
the person to whom the letter purports
TO be addressed, ever existed. The ex-
perts on both sides all agree that the
Morey letter, both in body and sigma
ture, was written by the same hand,
some of them declaring there can be
no doubt of it, An examination of the
letter itself shows this fact to every
person who is free from obliquity OF
vision or perversion of judgment.
"Mr. Hewitt's connection with this
letter and the transactions that have
grown out of it are, to say the least. ol
a most extraordinary character. Ac-
cording to the testimony of Mr.. Hart,
when he received the letter in the very
singular manner in which it reached
him, his suspicious were aroused. He
saw its Importance, if genuine, as a
weapon of deadly power in the hands
of General Garfeld's political foes. He
was not satisfied to publish it upon the
examination which he and his editorial
staff could make, and he, therefore,
took the letter and envelope to the
Democratic National Committee for in
spection. He there saw Messrs. Hew-
lit, Barnum, Randall, and several 9TH
ers. Mr.. Hart showed them the pa
pers, and said in substance that he did
not want to publish the letter if it was
forgery, but if not he did, and wanted
no other paper to get ahead of him In
its publication. He says it was ex-
amined by all persons named, but Mr.
Hewitt made the closest and most
careful examination, and spent fully
half an hour in it's examination and
then pronounced the letter, both body
and signature, to be in the handwrit-
ing of General Garfield Photographs
were taken for the use OF the National
Committee, and Mr.. Hart returned
with the letter to his Office. But his
mind was not fully satisfied, and, so
late in the evening he sought and
found Mr. Hewitt again, and was again
assured Hewitt had examined large
number of General Garfield's letters,
and that the Morey letter was genuine,
and this was clinched by impressing
Mr.. Hart's mind with the idea that he
would have made it out forgery if he
could. 1t is not very surprising that
Mr.. Hart, with the usual anxiety of
publishers, to be ahead of
their neighbors, should have published
the letters without further inquiry, but
it is astounding that man of known
Of great experience in busi-
ness and in public affairs, and who is
supposed to have decent respect for
trnth and justice and who speaks as an
expert in writing, with all the suspic-
ious circumstances that attended the
reception of the letter with the envel-
ope and it's erasures before him, with
city, postoffice and station stamp on its
back, with the letter marked personal
and confidential" and addressed to
some person whom he certainly did
not know, with the letter before him,
the contents of which, if trde, would
be greatly injurious, and if false would
do wrong to his intimate friends, as
false and wicked as an assasslns stab,
should have thought it just to press
and cause it's publication without first
removing all doubt as to its character
However much equitable division may
leave for others, upon Mr.. Hewitt must
rest the larger share of responsibility
for the first publication of this base
and Shameful forgery and his subse-
quent relation to the forgery, do not
lift single shadow from his conduct.
He was q member of the National
Committee and he doubtless knew the
extent and purposes for which it was
taken and used by that committee, and
that it went forth to the country with
the sanction of his endorsement. He
knew beyond question that it would be
met with speedy denial from General
Garfield, who denounced the letter as
a base and stupid forgery and its SEN
timents as brutal.
Under our statutes the utterer of a
forged instrument, with the knowledge
of it's falsity, is placed in the same
rank of criminality as the forger. Had
the subject of forgery in this case been
instruments purporting to the obliga-
tions of General Garfield, and he had
publicly declared them to be forgerie.
who could thereafter send them forth
and circulate them throughout the COM
monwealtt, with mis- representation OF
genuineness, without mourning che
penalties of the law The difference is
purely statutory and in moral forum
wholly vanishes.
The Judge also says: My mind has
reached clear conviction that the So
called Morey letter, signature and all
its parts, is not in the handwriting ol
General Garfield. but is altogether a