Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-01-05
The MOREY LETTER.
True Inwardness of the For
gerry.
FRANK CONFESSION OF "TRUTH.' .
The Proprietors Tender an Apology
to General Garfield.

ESPECIAL BY TgLEeRAPH TO TIE REcoRD-UEIosl
CHICAGO, January 4th.-A Fri5mGs New
York special says The CART fald- Morey
letter comes to light once more in a plain
confession on the part of the paper that pub
lished it to the world that it is 8 forgery.
The Star contains the following particulars,
which will no doubt be the means of settling
the vexed question forever: As previously
published in the Star, it is now a clearly es-
tablished fact that the over-zealous friends of
Garfield, in subiecting Kenward Philip to ar
rest and indictment on TIE charge OF ma
liciously lbeling General Garfield, only
placed themselves further away from the
real culprit. B. F. Jayne, formerly Special
Treasury Agent and expert detective where
presumable forgeries were involved, has de-
voted much time and labor towards unrayel-
ing the Chinese letter mystery, and he has
ascertained not only that the published letter
was forgery, but in what particular Office it
was concocsed, by whom aud the names of
the nen vino fostered and encouraged its dis.
tribution, Some time ago the proprietors of
tine Truth newspaper, becoming convinced
that the letter was forgery, they wrote to
Garfield so declaring, and desiring tlat the
correspondence should be suppressed from the
public until all the facts in the case could be
secured. That mission having been success
fully accomplished the proprietors of the
Truth have written the following
To James A. Garfield, President Eleet-sir After
a searching investigation, in which We have spared
neither time, energy nor expense, we have traced
the Morey letter 70 Its origin and ascertaIued that IL
is q forgery. This acknowledgment is due from the
journal in watch the letter first appeared It is
made voluntarily aud act of simple justice for
while we believed as did until few ks past,
that you were the author of the letter, no bribe
could tempt nor threat intimidate us into making
contrary statement but having ascertaned our er-
ror, now it is qualification to give the same
prom ence to the acknowledgment that we We to
tie forged letter Itself and thereby make all amends
in our power for the wrong Of which the Truth
the unconscious instrument Upon the instant our
Investigations convinced us the letter was spurious,
we privately informed you Of our conclusion.
at tha. time we were advised that the erds Of
justice might be impeded by public avowal,
such as we now make, but. as will appear by the
appended letter from y. +. jayne Esq, that con-
sideration longer exists and We do to-day wh; +
the observance of the principles upon which Truth
was established, and by which it has been conduct
ed, would have impelled US to do Immediately upon
discovering the letter was q forgery, and which
nothing could have prevented but the desire TO
fasten the guilt whe it belongs. Truth published
the letter in good faith, believing you the
thor of it. While believed, neither tempta-
ton, threats nor force could Influence to repu-
date it. Likewise having now satisfied ourselves
OF its superior character false pride selfish
motive OF any kind rastr-in us from announcing
conclusion, thereby allaying doubt that now
exists resp citing its authenticity. Respectfully
yours TRUTH
In addition. the Truth has received the fol-
lowing from B. f. Jayne;
New YORK, December 81 1850
Joseph Hart-Dear Sir In answer to your note
Of yesterday would say that see no good rea-
son for longer Withholding the statement you desire
to make in your paper viz, thai you are now salts
fed from the evidence in your possession, that the
letter published by YOU purportinc to have been
written by General j. A. Garfield 10 Ii. L. Morey of
Lynn, was forgery. Fully understanding the i'm
position practicsd upon you by certain members OF
the National Democratic Committee, on whose as
srance5 you relied, with regard % the genuineness
OF the letter, knowing how earnestly you have
worked to ascertain the authorship Of that fraud,
by following every clue that seemed 10 lead to
its solution aid fully ap reciatiDg your ofrepeaed
declarations that you only wish in the premises to
ascertain and proclaim TIE exact truth, 1 deen in
justice to all coucerned, the tine has come when
you should say the letter forgery for with the
proofs in your possession there can be little doubt
as to the real criminal Very respectfully
B. F. JAYNE.
Zfttth also says, editorially: When the
Morey letter came to US, we believed it
genuine letter Of James A. Garfield. Our
belief became absolute conviction when
Speaker Randall, Senator Barnum, Orastes
Cleveland, Abram S. Hewitt, and other
prominent members of the Democratic Com
mittee, all better able to judge than were
we unhesitatingly pronounced it genuine
Upon their assurance we published it in the
form best calculated to impress the convic.
ton Of its genuineness upon the people, but
when in Court the envelope was cut at the
ends, and the single thickness of paper held
between the eye and the light, it revealed for
the first time the fact that the original ad-
dress upon the envelope had been erased
and that of II. L. Morey substituted when
iSappesred thatthe Linn hotel register, which
contained the signature of H. l.. Morey, had
no such signature upon its pages when it
was given by the hotel pr prietor5 to the
agent of the Democratic Committee,
who brought it here; when it appe red
that the same agent procured the attendance
of Samuel Morey, who falsely swore to the
existence OF Henry l.. Mercy when it sp-
peared that the same agent was active in pro-
curing Lindsay's affidavit in Maryland,
which induced us to send for Lindsay, who
proved TO be conseienceless perjurer and
when the Photographic experiments with
the Morey envelope proved that at least four
addresses had been upon it, each erased in
turn, except the last two, with acid, and the
third with an instrument then the Truth
made every effort to solve the mystery and
ascertain the origin and history of the letter.
Our investigations resulted in the discovery
of positive proof that the letter was an un-
doubted forgery. Having made that discov-
cry we now announce it as prominently as
we published the letter, that there may not
remain trace Of the belief which unques-
tionably sill exists, that it is genuine. We
owe this to James A. Garfield as an act Of
justice TO him.