The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-10-23
CLEvELAND's PRIVATE LIFE.
He Denies that He Knows Any Bad Women
His Personal Habits.

His Personal Habits.
NEW YORK, Oct. % Rev, Henry Ward
Beecher, in the course of a political speech. to-
night in the rink at Brooklyn, said:
''The air is murky with stories of Mr.. Cleve-
lands private life; lies cruel, so base, afro
in motion. AS the cockatrice's eggs,
brooded and Matched by rash
and creduious cleTgymen, they could not go to
Mr. Cleveland with honest inquiry but opened
their ears to the harlot and the drunkard
lsensationl, and promulgated a SANDER to
poison the faith of holy men and limo
cent women. Do timd ministers ever
reflect that the guilt of the vice
charges it falselyF Cheers.
Mr.. Beecher then paused, and stepping to the
desk read, in trembling tones, thus;
My honOred and beloved wife, quite unknown
to me, made cuttings from newspapers. all of
which referred to the life OF
Governor Cleveland in Albany. She
sent them to him with letter that will not be
published, but which would be a gem in English
literature If it were published. AS Quick as the
mail could return she received letter
from Governor Cleveland which have had be-
tween two and three weeks, and which he meant
to be and marked private bat such com
plexion has this canvass taken that
! telegraphed him, two nights ago,
to ask if I might use my discretion with regard
to it. His reply was Certainly, if it is your
Judgment Now l will read Governor Ceve
lands letter.
My Dear Mrs Beecher: Your letter, as yon
may well suppose, has affected me deeply What
shall say to one who writes so like my mother!
| say so like my mother, but l don't altogether
mean that, for she died in the belief that her
son was true and noble, as she
knew he was duuful and kind.
! am shocked and dumbfounded by
the clipping that you send me- because it pur-
ports to give what man actually knows, and
not mere report as the other four or five lies do
lorr. hoas ,1,R,f ifa A lifs4axr
have never seen any living woman whom have
any reason to suspect was in any way bad L
do not know where any such woman lives in
Albany. | have not been in any house except
the executive mansion, the executive chamber,
the First Orange Club house, twice at reception
given, and on, / think. two other occasions, and
the residences of perhaps fifteen or twenty OF
the best citizens to dine OF course I've
been to church. There never was man who
has worked harder or more hours in the day.
Almost all my time has been spent IN
the executive chamber, and hardly
think there have been twenty nights in the
twenty-one months l have lived in Albany,
unless | was out of town. that l have left my
work earlier than midnight to find my bed at
the mansion | am at a loss to know how it IS
that such terribly wicked and utterly baseless
lies can be invented. The contemptuous crea-
lures who coin and pass these things appear
to think that the affair which l
have not denied makes me defense
less against any and all ISLANDERS.
AS to my outward lie IN BuIIaio, Jhe mallIeSba-
ton of confidence and attachment which was
there rendered me must be proof that have
not led dsgraceful life in that city and, as to
my life in Albany, all statements tina: tend to
show it has been otherwise than laborious and
correct are utterly and in every shadow un-
true
The Governor refers to his esteem for Mr..
Beechers good viii. and asks that he may see
him while i'll Brooklyn at the late demonstra
ton. then in prospective Then Mr. Beecher
added:
when in the gloomy night of my own sor-
rows. gone by. I sounded every depth of sorrow.
vowed if God would bring the day-star Of hope
to me- would never suffer brother friend
or neighbor to go unfriended should a
serpent seek to crush him That oath l will re,
gard now because 1 know the bitterness Of
yenum in politics l will stand against the in
famous lies that seek to sting to death man
and magistrate worthy of a better fate; y
The speaker then said his bold speech on this
subject was in spite of friends, who advised
silence lest he stir his own sorrow. He con
cluded thus:
r.If l refuse to expose to shame the swarm of
liars that sling arrows at Mr.. Cleveland from
ambush, may my tongue cleave to the roof of my
mouth and my right hand forget its cunning"