The Red Cloud chief., 1884-05-02
How Mr.. TEden Was Cheated"

ana 10 sci lOItN anew the articles Oh
their faith. resolved .'thar The electoral
frauds of 1871. BY which =. j. Tilden
and Thomas A. Hendricks were che ted
out o: the offices o President and Vice
President, 10 which they were fairly
elected, was the most deadly blow ever
aimed AT our system OF representative
Government
1t is encouraging TO see that the Dem
ocrats are keeping the history of ls16
in mind. Ii ought 20 afford them much
food Tor profitable med tation. They
10 not need. however, 10 waste their
pe~nitential regrets over the decision of
the Electoral Commission of their Own
choosing. but should rather devote
their tears to washing out the stain that
Mr.. TIlden or his personal and CONT
dental friends in the party. brought
upon system of representative
Government > by trying 10 br.be sun
dry officials so a TO change the result
OF the election.
Chairman Speer. OF the Pennsylvania
convention. Chairman Mulch cr Of the
Committee on Resolutions. and Con
gresham Randall named by the con
vention as its choice Tor the Presidency,
are ali politicians of eXper ence and are
! supposed to be blessed with toleraEle
memories. They must all have = lively
recollection of certain events which took
place in their councils in the latter part
of 1876 and can. if they will. instruct
their less thoroughly informed brethren
how, about the Sth of November in that
year, as soon "a it became known that
the Presidency depended upOn the
count Of the vote of two or three doubt
ful States, agents Were sent out from
Mr.. TIlien'S residence. No. u Gramercy
Park. TO South Carolina, Florida and
Louisiana. and how others AT the " est
received Geographic ord ,rs to pro eed
immediately to Oregon, to capture Il
or al of those States for -. j. Tilden
and ThoS. A. Hendricks" who. we are
ROW told by these Democratic innoccnts
in PENNSYLVANIA. '.were cheated out OF
the Offices of President and Nice-lresi-
dent to which they We're fairly elected
The swir.-footed messengers plenipo-
ientiary began their work with one re
cord b. proposing schemes OF bribery.
aud they all communicated chiefly with
Mr.. TTldel's nephew. Colonel ". L.
Pel:OH. who dwell; under the uncle's
roof and there received and sent, i'll the
course of a month. several hundred tel
egrams. many of them in cipher. relat-
inn TO the purchase OF votes and the
corruption OF electors. This took place
in the house Of the gentleman who. &C.
cording TO the Pennsylvania Democrats,
was somehow in the process Of being
'.cheated."
Mr.. Man,on Marble, Mr.. {. ". Wood
ley and Mr.. John +. Covle Went to
Florida, and soon afterward a PROPOSE
tran in cipher cam" to Mr.. TildenS
house from Tallahassee for the pur-
, chase of the Florida Returning Board
.: TIE price of 500. 900. Mr.. Tilden
seems even then TO have peer sispic-
ions of some attempt 10 cheat MIN. and
The offer was re iected a eXtravagant.
The figure wa a'terward reduced To
Sj0.oN. al which price Pelton signitied
his willingness 10 close the bargain. Ii
fell through, In consequence of a delay
in the receipt Of the message of accept
ance. and this was the first of the ser rs
of transactions in which Mr.. Tilden was
cheated
The South Carolina aren't was Mr.. S.
NJ. Weed. On the day OF his arrival in
Columbia there came 4 telegram to Pei
ton suggesting the purchase OF the Can
yassing Board in a round lot 1T $50
0Oo. This was q low figure for the
goods. and seems 10 have been salts
factory at the New York terminus of
the cipher telegraph. but Mr.. Tilden
was reported 10 have rolled out a q
bari at St. Louis. and the South Caro-
lima demand seems to have been raised
gradually until after negotiations run-
ming through six DAYS. the trade was
closed at $780, J0. The money was to
Ice delivered in Baltimore. and Weed
! and Pelton met there on the Goth of No
Tember: but again 2 little too much de
lay upset the scheme and Mr.. Tilden
was cheated" 4 second time.
Afterwards there was 3 plot to bny
four members of the South Carolina
Legislature tor go. 900, and having thus
got control of the State Government. to
put the Hayes Electors IN Jail until aft
er the day for casting the Electoral
votes had passed. The four members
We're not to be had. however. and so
Mr.. Tilden was cheated" again.
The secret agent in Oregon was j. ".
II. Patrick. The Democratic Governor
withheld j certificate from one Of the
HayeS Electors on the ground of ineli-
gibility. and instead of allowing the
other Electors TO till the vacancy gave
a certificate to a Tilden Elector named
Cronin. who could not. however, hold
n meeting and east the vote of the State
all alone. An agent telegraphed 10
PeltOn that il Was necessary TO ..pur-
chase a Republican Elector to recognize
and act with" Cronin. and that il
would cost eight thousand dollars TO do
1t. The money was sent to Oregon.
but arrived after the electoral vote Ind
been east. and thus Mr.. Tilden yas
cheated once more.
These transa tons on the part of the
mar whom the Democrats at Allentown
delight TO speak of As having been
cheated ont of the election. are as
well authenti ated As any facts in
American political history. II is pass
ing strange. therefore that his own
friends should insist on bringing that
shameful story of 1.-THE most deadly
blow ever aimed al our system of repre-
sentative government back into PEG
pies recollection. The whole plan
must have originated in the house of the
defeated Presidential candidate. and it