Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-10-25
FROM WASHINGTON.
Some Facts About CorkhiII, who Endorsed
Houk--WhaU Colonel Browniow
Has to say About 1t.


OFFICE or UNITED STATES ATTORNEY,
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,
WASHINGTON, D. c., October 10, 1882
Hon. J. NJ. Cordell, Knoxville, Tenn.
Dear sir: have caused d careful exam
iuation to be made of the records of the
Police Court and police stations IN this dis
trict and have received the statements of
the officers in charge of stations, and as the
result of my investigation | have to inform
you that the Honorable l.. 9. Houk was
never arrested, was never before the Police
Court, and was never placed III jail IN this
district. No such occurrence as that which
you inquire ever happened. The certificate
of the clerk of the Police Court, showing
that the records of that court disclose the
fact that no person by the name of l.. c.
Houk has ever been before it charged with
any offence whatever" is herewith en-
closed.
Judge HOAX is well known to our citizens,
and l suppose the whole story was manu-
featured Tor political purposes. 1t is so
base SANDER that it hardly deserves and
certainly does not need any refutation.
Very truly yours,
GEORGE b. CoRKHILL,
o. S. Attorney, District of Columbia.
The substance of this letter, excepting
the last paragraph, was told to me by Cork
hill himself on last Friday night, the 18th
instant, under the following circumstances:
/ was IN a newspaper Office IN this city
when Corkhill entered IN his normal condl-
ton that is to say he was drunk. He at
once, Ill al Il-natured manner, asked Inc
why l was fighting Houk?" [ replied that
Mr.. Houk had forced upon me the coutrO-
yersy | had had with him because did not
favor his nomination to Congress he asked
why was not for it Among various rea-
sons which ! assigned for not favoring
Houk = nomination | said he had been drunk
most of the time aud absent from his seat
III Congress about six seventies of the time
for two years aud had finally landed III the
cala0oose. Corkhiil said ''he did not know
the people Of Tennessee were so particular
about fellows drinking | told him that
they were not VERY PARTICULAR on that
subject; not at all fanaticai not prohibit
tionists, but they were a people of some
pride, aud THEY DREW THE LINE AT THE
CALABoOsE- He then replied that ''HOuk
was entitled TO the vote of every RepublI-
can in the district against Il ID rebel or
Democrat if he had been IN the calabOose
one half the time" He manifested sur
prise when [ told him that Houk' =
had been a Union soldier, and that SO far
from being Democrat, he was the editor
of Republican newspaper. In this inter
view Corkhill admitted he had been in cor
respondence with Houk, and [ infer that
Houk wrote him that Rule was a rebel and
Democrat. He said, however, that he was
for Houk any how, because they were in
innate personal friends. | replied to Mr..
COrkhill that be was stronger partisan
than / was; that | would not vote for dis
reputable Republican who laid IN the Gala
bOose as against au honest and decent Demo
crat.
have reproduced the foregoing Iuperti
nent contribution by Corkhill to the cam
I paign literature of the second Congressional
district of Tennessee, In order that Mr..
/ Houks constituents may have the full bene
ut of It. 1t viii be seen that Mr.. Corkhill'
letter is at once a suggestion of falsehoOc
( and suppression Of the truth aud
/ charge that hs intentions are alike wiifUl il
/ both.
The object of Mr.. Corkhills endorsement
/ is to cuhghten the benighted people of the
| second district ia their ignorance Of thu
I sober, moral and exemplary life Houk. has
/ lived in this city, all charges of drunken
uess, debauchery, arrest and Imprisonment
. to the contrary notwithstanding. No on
acquainted with both HOuk and orkliH vii
be surprised at this testimonial of his char
, acter. No doubt, on occasion Houk Woul,
take grateful pride in doing ar much 70
! Corkhiu Par MOBILE FBATRUM Corkhil
/ endorses Houk 10 the people who have al
ways known him. now, who will endors
Corkhill to people who have never befor
heard of him
The reader will bear IN mind have neve
charged that the RECORDS of the police offic
showed that L. G. HOuk was arrested an,
confined IA the station house; nor that b
was imprisoned in the district JAIL or wa
'arraigned in the police court" But / dit
charge, and | now relterate and emphasis
the allegation that as matter of fact L. 9
Houk, on the 18th day of Jane last, o.
Sunday morning, was arrested in this cit
for drunkenness and disorderly conduct am
profanity and confined in cell No. ), Of th
police station, and signed his name y
Campbell" on the receipt book of the Office
the office at the eighth police station, an
not at the district jail" to which CorkhII
refers. The district jail is the finest
largest, and least filthy prison IN Washing
ton, and Is the prison III which Gulteau wa
confined. In my letter of August 18th, i
which 1 made the charge of Houk's arres
and imprisonment, | explicitly said tbs
Houk was put ID d tilthler prison than Cru
teau's. Now this liar Corkhiil seeks to e.
onerate his bosom-friend HOuk by sayiu
that the charge of Houk being IN the dis
trict jail is base SANDER" when nobod
has ever charged that he was IN the distriC
jail The charge | made that he was in tn
prison of the eighth precinct There al
eight different police stations, or calaboose
besides the Jail i'll Washington City, [ r.
peat without the slightest modification
retractior. It is grossly hbeious, if II,
true, and renders me amenable to the Grim
nal law of this district. If have defame
MIR. HOuk his friend, the District Attorne,
might perform a more becoming and legi
mate service TO the public by criminal
prosecuting me for libel than by attemptiL
TO impose d sophisticaI and misleadiI
defense of his worthy boon companion upc
the creduhty and common sense of Ea
Tennesseeans. Nay more: The charge h,
been published far and wide in a large mi
jority of the leading and weaIthiesf new
papers throughout the United States, ho
aggregate wealth Is more than double Il
State debt Of tennessee and which al
abundsDtiy able to respond in heavy dan
ages for any injustice done Dir. Houk, b,
. not a single civil action for defamation b
been instituted, nor will thele be.
repeat, therefore, without the fear
contradiction or prosecution, that ON Il
18th day of last June L. c. Houk (as r
peateoly he had been before was gross
drunk and disorderly IN this city; was a
rested by w. f. Henery, one of The speci
. policemen of Washington, and Was take
to the 5th precinct station on Capitol Hi
where he was imprisoned by Lieutenant