Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1881-01-12
The Morey Letter.

The Chinese letter imputed to General
Garfield, in the closing days Of the late pres
idential campaign, was in its issue Of the
4th instant acknowledged TO be forgery by
Truth, the New York paper in which the
letter originally appeared. That journal
publishes the following open letter to Cen
eral Garfield:
To James A. Garfield, President-elect:
SIR-After searching investigation, in which
we have spared neither time, energy nor expense,
we have traced the Morey letter to It's origin and
ascertained that II is forgery. This acknowl-
edgment is due to you from the journal In
which that letter first appeared. 1t Is made vol
unfairly and as an act OF simple justice, for while
we believed, as we did, until few weeks past,
that you were the author Of the letter, no bride
could tempt nor threat intmidate us into max
| ing contrary statement but having ascertaned
our error II Ia qualification to us to give the
same prominence to this acknowledgment that
| we gave TO the forged letter itself, and thereby
make all the amends in our power for the wrong
OF which Truth was the unconscious instrument.
| upon the instant that our Investigations con-
| WINGED us that the letter was spurious, we pri-
| vately informed you OF our conclusion At that
| time we were advised that the ends Of justice
might be impeded by public avowal such az
we now make, but as will appear by the appended
| letter from b. G. Jayne, Esq, that consideration
| no longer exists and we do to-day what an OBJ
servance OF the principles upon which Truth was
| established and by which 1t has been conducted
| would have impelled us to do Immediately upon
| discovering that the letter was forgery, and
| which nothing could then have prevented but
desire to fasten the guilt where Il belongs. Truth
| published the letter in good faith believing that
| you were Its author While we so believed, nei-
Their temptation, threats nor force could influence
| US TO repudiate IL. Likewise, having now salts
| fled ourselves of Its spurious character no false
pride nor selfish motive Of any kind can restrain
| us from announcing our conclusion, and thereby
aaying the doubt that now exists respecting its
authenticity. Respectfully yours, TRUTH"
A letter from b. G. Jayne accompanied
the above, in which the detective advises the
editor of Truth that no good reason now ex.
lists for longer Withholding statement of
the above facts. Mr.. Jayne expresses his
full understanding Of the imposition prac-
ticed upon Truthby certain members of the
national democratic committee, and vouches
for the earnestness and perseverance with
which that journal has labored to obtain
and publish the exact truth concerning the
letter. Truth further says editorially that
cts belief in the genuineness Of the letter
became absolute conviction when Speaker
Randall, Senator Barnum, Orestes Cleve-
land, Abram S. Hewitt, and other promi-
nent members of the national democratic
committee, all better able to judge than we
were, unhesitatingly pronounced the letter
genuine Upon their assurance we pub
lished it in form best calculated to impress
the conviction of its genuineness upon the
people," The facts which broke down the
conviction of Truth that the letter was gen.
uine were the proof in court that the orig
inal address on the envelope in which the
letter was received had been erased and that
of II. L. Morey substituted; that the Lynn
hotel register containing the signature of
Fl. L. Morey had no such name upon its
pages when it was given by the hotel pro-
prietor to the agent of the democratic COM
mittee who carried it to New York, and the
false testimony of Samuel Morey and the
man LINDSAY with many aliases, to the ex-
istence of II. L. Morey.
This tardy acknowledgment of great
wrong, not to say great crime, committed
against an eminent candidate for the presi-
dency of this republic, is of value chiefly as
directly duplicating the democratic leaders
in wicked and most disreputabe conspir-
acy in the execution of which they were |
using an obscure newspaper as a tool, and
incidentally, as showing that "lying and |
sticking to it :" is not quality that inheres |
in all ranks Of human nature, even when |
used as an instrument in exceptionally I'M
scrupulous partisan political warfare. Its
negative value from this point of view is
somewhat affected by reasonable doubt |
whether even the late and utterly barren /
reparation which the Truth has now made |
would have been rendered had the fell pur-
pose which launched the poisoned shaft at |
the shining front of Garfield succeeded. 1t |
is by no means among the least of the bless
ings for which fifty millions of American
people should be devoutly thankful at the
opening of this new year, that the satanic
paternity of the alleged letter, as well as of |
the men and means invoked to give it cred
ibility, were discovered in season to cause a
no more serious disaster than the swinging |
off of one Atlantic and two Pacific states.
Had the lying missive won New York also
to the conspiracy of which the national
democratic committee were confessedly the
head and front, it is painfully probable that
no solution by peaceful means could have
been the issue of a fiercer electoral struggle |
than that which strained our institutions
nearly to swapping tension four years ago.
The confession of Truth is something like
deathbed notwithstanding at an hour
when no one but itself can be benefited by |
penitential tears, since long ago, through
other agencies, every person not smitten
with partisan idiocy was convinced of the
spurious character of the letter. But if |
Truths belated acknowledgment shall as
sst to fasten the public opprobrium upon
the principals in this conspiracy, though
they may escape the legal responsibility of
their deeds, that journal will be fairly en-
titled to the lenient, but rather questionable,
consideration extended to informers of the
state.