Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-07-26
WHsl E-c0Llse..,ea MURPHY SAYS.

-. ftl' IHkoCGH-CONKLlNG WILL. ofhN
THs Nh" YORK BALL NEXT WEEk-HOW
MURPHY GAVE CoNKLING AN IDEA-THE oh1-
GIN OF THE LIBERAL REPUBLICANS.
Ex-Collector OF the Port of NewYork, Thomas
Murphy, is at the Arlington Hotel. Murphy, it
will be remembered, Is an intimate friend o
Gen. Grant. He Is of celtish extraction, built
square but rather low In stature; has florid COM
plexion, violet eye, sandy hair, and square
cut mouth, Indicative OF that firmness for which
he Is noted. Mr.. Murphy's trip here is solely
for pleasure. He will return to New York to
night During drive to the Cabin John bridge
yesterday with Mr.. Murphy and others, the re-
preventative Of THE STAR had pleasant chat
some very 1ntresting "reminiscences of the past,
and made prophecies founded on his convic
uons for the future; that is in political sense
we are going to elect Garfield? 1t win be hard
work. but we are going to elect him. think
that Grant would have been the strongest nom-
inee In New York, and we could have swept the
state for him. Next to Grant John Sherman
would have been the strongest. The business
people OF New York like Sherman. and am
satisfied he would have carried New York. Next
Sdr:-"Will Senator Conkling engage ac-
lively In the campaign"
A.:-"Of course he will. He is now about 800
miles north OF Quebec with Gen. Arthur on a
fishing excursion. He will, however, be bick
In New York next week. and the music will
then begin"
Bowling along the road, the ex-collector for
some minutes sat as If in deep meditation. All
OF sudden he broke out
and if asked what state he halls from.
He comes from Appomatox.
am, And i!s famous fan Q apple M tree" ..
Conkling got the idea OF paraphrasing Miles
O'Reillys speech for use In presenting Grants
name to the Chicago convention from me? l
can tell you how 1t was. met him one day on
Broadway talking with two gentlemen.
stopped for few minutes, and as was leaving
repeated the aforesaid lines. The next day
met him again. He said: Tom, don't quote
those lines any more than you can help. l
think of utilizing them for certain occasion.
WON'T says l., but Senator added. let me
gotten them. son no. sal said ConkIiag, @ ii i have ave
not. remember them quite WE'LL"
The conversation then drifted TO the time Mr..
Sas MURPHY M was VI @ collector Of the port OF New York
ident Grant first offered it to me refused
point blank to take it. He insisted and held
the matter under advtsement- l looked over
the field and thought IL l took it / could break
down the Tweed ring, and it was solely for this
reason that accepted The place"
SdT:-"Well. did you succeed?'
M.:-"YeS, did. 1t was a hard fight though
The trouble was this: Hank Smith and Myneer
were the police commissioners Of New York.
They were republicans sO-called, but / soon
Tammany. Smith and Myneer were also men,
bers Of the New York county republican COM
mittee. 1t was no use trying to make head way
the % Psy as Of aney
| these men would have appointed inspectors
who would covertly side with the Tam
ne eecoS Of ns oher ns7g hs
| result was that they controlled the roost 1t
was because OF this that John A. GriSwold was
counted out Of the governorship and Hoffman
counted In. GrtswOld was fairly elected by
IS, 600 majority"
''And now" continued Mr.. Murphy, 81 am
going to tell some history, as to how the liberal
know but few of the leaders knew OF its origin?
1t came about In this way. After had made
my mind up that Smith and Myneer were re,
them. As said before, both were members Ita Of
the county republican committee At special
meeting Of the committee which was called, j
publican accepting Of1ice under Tammany
| should be so considered, nor have vote in the
county committee. This was opposed by Smith
ADOPTED BY majority Of twelve votes imme. me.
| diately these men sought 70 undo what had
been a1,o-de9os done They enlisted at once the
day sent for one Of my weighers, smart
| young fellow named Johnny OBrien. Said he,
| Johnny, II you will, yourself, vote and use the
| influence you have with Others in the republi-
can county committee to vote as Smith and
| Myneer vote, will see that your future is
taken care Of "As soon as O'Brien left Tweed,
Mpay naa to me and told
II
| /, Johnny you 60 back. Do you know of any
man you can take with your 4 do said be-
| 'and man before whom think Tweed will
talk "Wen," added, ''take the man
with you and have the offer repeated. Now, 20
| make long story short, by the time OF the
| next meeting OF the committee Tammany, with
| money, With patronage. and with promises
| secured enough votes to reconsider the
resolution which had previously been
| adopted. AS soon as this action was had i'm
| nedtately offered resolution to the effect
| that the secretary of the committee decline
| to recognize as republicans men holding en-
pioyment under Tammany. Strange to say,
this was adopted by eight majority. Next
made motion to then and there organize the
county committee under the resolution Just
| adopted. This also prevailed and the organiza-
| ton was effected. Those who resisted the orig
| inal resolution and motion then marched to the
| other end OF the room, and then and there Or
| ganiZed, calling themselves Liberal republt-
| cans" This was the nucleus upon which the
liberal republican party was founded. Having
made so much headWay, concluded that New
| York could be carried for Grant against Gree
| ley. went to work with a will TO secure this.
had 2,10O deputy marShalS IN the city
| the militia, and the cooperation OF the
land and naval forces OF the United States, We
| had fair election. The backbone Of TWeedisn
| was broken, and was content. l at once re-
| to accomplish what did 1t cost me fffty-seVen
thousand dollars OF my salary as collector OF
| the port OF New York, and three hundred thou.
| sand dollars out OF my own pocket besides"
Political Notes.
An exchange says the Illinois democrats talk