New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-06-03
PAINTER FOR THE DEFENCE.

The American People, with a degree OF
calmness that may almost be described as
stolidity, entered yesterday into the possession
of one of those great central facts which give
character to an epoch, and furnish pivotal
point for the history of civilization and human
progress. From so far off as Philadelphia, Mr.
u. II. Painter, or some person NhO writes
under that strange nom de plume, tossed INTO
the current rec ,rd of the time the pregnant
statement that he had known Roscoe COnk-
ling for twenty years and never heard him
Use profane word. This announcement,
hurled with the grace and precision and steady
nerve of a professional pitcher into the very
heart, so to speak, of a susceptible commune
~. though communicating with n suddenness
that borders on the abrupt the information
that Painter knows COnklng and has known
him for twenty years. leaves us in bewil-
dering uncertainty regarding the question
whether Conklng knows Painter. Why,
we ask, has the sudden and unex-
pected Painter struck the stomach OF
gasping Public with this "tO-bc-cOntinued-in in
our-next" incompleteness7 Why are we struck
in this way with n great half-fact and left
doubled up with curiosity about the other
half Painter knows, of course that he knows
Conklng and it is "A very great thing for this
generation to have been placed in possession
of the fact by Painter himself. Bnt he ought
10 know as well, or, if not know positively,
to bee able to give an approximate gleSs-inst
to relieve the oyerstrlincd public curiosity
whether OF not Conkling knows him.
Nor il it mere curiosity. When Painter says,
under the s0lemnty Of his own unique sigma
ture that he has known Conkling for twenty
years. and i'm all that time has never heard
him use a profanc word. he puts us under OBJ
legations to him for contribution to current
history. a large and important contribution,
to be sure but not, strictly speaking, phcnom-
email If now it shall appear that C0nklng has
known Painter for twenty years, and has never
used a proianc word in all the time, the
circumstance rises far above the line OF
mere history and takes rank among the phe-
nomrna Why, We repeat, has Painter left us
t. the torture of this unsaiisiicd longing For
Painter seems to be- naturally of chlvalrous
AMI humane disposition. This very ccmmnni-
cation indicates it. For seeing that MIR. Conk-
linz. whose misfortune it is that he does not
command the avenues to public attention
through the press had been charged by
Cleveland newspaper. ob"ionsly controlled II
not edited 10y Blaine, with having distinctly
and rmpntcally damned a brass band.
board fence and an ass"ciation of business
Men in Cleveland he pungrs into New
York newspaper with the statement 10 which
We have referred. Therein he says that on the
occl-i III alluded to in the libel he accompanied
Mr.. Couh,.ng To the stage, in connection with
a member of Congress and other distinguished
prr>nns. and that Ar. Conhlug 80 far from
,,mniug the bras, band which was AT that
moment engaged IN pumping c"nror'iant noises
into the atmosphere, said 10 the member of
Cnu.rr>,. ~ he was taking oil his ovcrcoat
che thnA,ht they had better let the band
finish their prce before going on thu stage
With the touch of a true artist Painter
does not dwell upon thc beauty and pathoS of
rhi, rNqN,itc srrnr, but lets it tell for itself
the story of the great senators maSnanimous
and nn,rl:i,h attitude toward the brass band
With rapid generalization which may be
briefly >umml1zrd in the words, FdlHS /" brass
LIa,io fri,rs in boGri .tcaSo ct E'~ncSS N'"ib"S
Painter di>mi~,rs tie other charges And II
must bc admitted that he has nobly vlndlraicd
the grossly mili.urd statesman. The charge
preferred by Secretary Blaine through the col
umn, of "A, substituted obscure Cleveland news
paper that Mr. Conking damned scvera'y
brass band. q board fence and IN asNomtion
of business Men in one evening. falls 10 the
ground MIR. Coukliu, did no damning in
Clrvrlnnd-cvcrpt with faint praise. Painter
SAY, ,o and Painter has known him for twenty
wears. And still the >og-lorturng conundrum
remains unanswered" Does Conkling know
Painter T.