Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1881-09-20
-sTAUNTON SPECTATOR AND GENERAL ADvER
Here Is Richness Letters.
TREACHERY AND INFAMY.

Here Is Rlchness-Blair's Letters.
TREACHERY AND INFAMY.
We had intended to publish the fol-
lowing rich letters in our issue of last
week, but did not doit, as, before going |
to press. we learned from the Dispatch
that Blair had informed reporter Of
that paper that they were forgeries. and
rs we did not wish to do him injustice,
we did not publish them in that issue.
It seems now, however, as the Dispatch
has since published them, that the letters
are genuine, and the denial is false
Blair thus doubling his offence and H.
Illustrating his idea of honor and homes
ty-so we now publish them.
wYTHEv1LLE. october .. 1850.
". Leigh Wilson. Salem, "a: ,-,-
Yours of the lst to hand. IN reply VIII onlX
say that everything seems to be working Well
for us. We must beat the Funders this faul.
All depends upon this election. II We are de-
feated it is forerunner OF dedeat nT1t is nr.
simply preaching the doctrine q nonor ano
honesty. and win say here that hc,or never
bought breaVqa. We must peat ne, De e11Gi
never win be; but that must be kept DARK;
Ali is right up here. Work hard, and We viii
t. snS ans e Ss hit
am your friend. FRANK 8. BLAIR.
wyTHEvILLE. october II, 1880.
W: Leigh Wilson. E.g.: .,,,r :, .ha
all right, but they are up for the highest bid
dera. You can't trust them IN polnIcxtsn any
alter YOU are out Of sight. It would be better
for Virginia il we could get rid Of such class,
but as long Is We can use vne n the ciauss ii
the Constitution which let them in as citizens.
but since things have turned out as they now
sne b bS liz .t tSem that the
ton at Washington wishes them to vote Win
easy about the Republican ticket They Will
have votes enough without Virginia. Let the
dam Democracy 60 to nsI ana cary our ticpet
Work night and day. Watch the negro. for he
t TUar za Mst me FRA XXI BLAIR
These letters are printed az written.
The words incorrectly spelled are as they
were written. It is remarkable that q
candidate for Attorney General should
make such mistakes in photography
almost as remarkable rs that he should
express such sentiments and then deny
their authorship.
P.S. After the above was prepared,
the Richmond Wing was received
which contained the most solemn and
positive observation of Blair in denial OF
their genuineness, as well as the certifi-
Gates of some of Blair's political friends
that they do not believe the letters to be
genuine.
On the other hand, other persons OF
the highest responsibility, among them
Gen. Walker and Gen. Terry, who are
familiar with Blair's handwriting, ex-
press the belief that they are genuine.
AS soon as Wilson, to whom the let
tiers were addressed, and who gave
them to Hon. Geo. D. Wise. heard that
Blair had made public denial of their
genuinenss, he fastened to Wytheville,
the home of Blair. where Blair was at
the time, and what there occurred as
stated by Wilson, is given in the fol-
lowing, which was published In the
Richmond Dispatch of last Thursday
| WILSON'S STATEMENT.
WYTHEvILLE, VA, September a.
On Monday evening last learned fOI
the first time that Captain F. s. Blair
had publicly stated that the letters
written by him to me, and dated res.
pectiyely the Sd and 18th of October,
il 1880. and the same which have hereto.
fore appeared in the Lynchburg Vir-
qiaian and other papers in the State,
were forgeries. / also see 1t stated that
| I have been paid money to produce the
letters. AS soon as heard of this de-
Il NAL 1 took the first train for Wytheville
and arrived here on Tuesday evening at
$3.50 o'clock. Immediately
WROTE TO CAPTAIN BLAIR
the following communication;
WYTHEvILLE, September Is, 1881.
Captain F. s. Blair.-I am here to
i prove that you are the author of the let
ters read by Captain George d. Wise
yesterday, and will be pleased to meet
you in the morning and give you the
benefit of public denial in the face OF
the people OF your own town. l hear
you propose to leave Wytheville to-
night, and write to ask yon not to leave
before you see me.
| Very respectfully.
w. LEIGH WILSON.
To this letter
/ CAPTAIN BLAIR MADE NO REPLY. .
| have remained in Wytheville all
day Wednesday, and have stated on the
streets to every one met that was
ready to prove the genuineness of the LETT
tiers SO far as I was concerned, but
neither Captain Blair nor any of his
friends have given me an opportunity
to do 80.
I believe those letters are genuine,
and here assert that they are genuine.
| 1 say this because I have received .
large number of letters from Captain
Blair-perhaps fifty-and they were
never denied or questioned, and the two
now for the first time denied were parts
of q running correspondence, and fitted
in too well to be spurious.
THE HANDWRITING
of all the communications received by
me from Captain Blair is the same a.
far as have been able to judge. 1 was
at Salem when I heard of Captain
BIair's denial, and came from there di-
rectly to Wytheville. My trunk con-
tanning nearly all my letters was at the
Yellow Sulphur Springs, 80 that I was
not able to sget at them without losing
day, but / found at Salem two other
letters from Captain Blair which o
friend of his, Mr.. Joseph F. Hurt, car.
ried TO. day to Capt. Blair and he pro-
nounced them to be genuine.
The following are the letters admitted
to be genuine:
| WYTHEvILLE, VA, April %, 1880,
| ". Leigh WILSON, Esq, Salem:
| My Dear Sir,-Upon my return from Marion.
| where have been two weeks at Circuit Court,
| find your letter of 28th awaiting me, which /
hasten now to answer, as am at home and
not engaged tonight. I vii! send you check
| by next mail as requested. IT'S just dark here
now. 1 am glad to hear SO favorably. Letters
| from Montgomery county confirm your hopes
| of full delegation in my favor from there. Did
| you only arrange delegates from Allegheny
| district? Hesless, Surfare. Currln, Childress,
| M. v. Smith, and others assure me will get
the delegation, but it needs some one to attend
| to 1t, see Charley Carper at New Castle, and
tell him to answer my last letter. Stop at Car
per's Hotel. He is a splendid gentleman. I
| fell in love with him at my last visit. Captain
j. A, ]. Lee writes he is for me. Get him to
| consent to go as q delegate. want his speak
| ing qualities in the Convention. Colonel Perk
will GO from Giles for me. Captain Lee knows
Perk well. Tell SpeSSard he must be Quiet, as