The Mineral argus., 1884-08-28
DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL NOTES,
DEFENDING GOV. CLEVELAND.

The Charges Against the Moral Charactar
ofths New York Executive Denied Most
vigorously in an Address Adopted bv
the National Independent Republican
Committee.
BUFFALO, N. Y, Special Telegram, Aug. II.
The following address will be published to-
morrow morning in the Buffalo Courier. II
has been adopted by the national Independent
committee:
To the Independent Republicans of the
Nation: As Republicans and independents re-
siding in Buffalo, and having peculiar means
of knowledge, we have been called upon bv
private letters and otherwise, for information
in regard to the scandals which have been
put in circulation respecting Governor
Cleveland's private life. We have felt
it to be q duty imposed upon us bv
circumstances to examine these stories
in detail and make a formal statement of the
results. No such examination would have
been necessary to satisfy ourselves, but it was
due to those who have read the charges against
Gov. Cleveland without knowing personally
his general character and reputation in this
community, and without knowing either the
position or the means Of information of those
who made the charges, that we should not put
forth a mere general statement without a pre-
vious investigation. We have, therefore.
through a committee appointed from our
number for that purpose, carefully and delib-
erately made such an investigation, and we
have taken every available means to ascertain
the precise facts in each case. The general
charges Of drunkenness and gross immortality
which are made against Gov. Cleveland are
ABSOLUTELY FALSE.
His reputation for morality has always been
good There is no foundation for any state
ment to the contrary. He was sought out and
nominated for the mayoralty against his will,
and was supported for that position by the
larger portion of the educated, Intelligent and
moral citizens of Buffalo, without regard to
politics, OF purely personal grounds. After
he had gone through this contest, he was again
put forward by one Of the most distinguished
citizens Of Buffalo as a cadidate for governor
and again received the support of the sam
class of the fellow citizens in the community
where he had lived for twenty-nine years, and
where his life was known and his character
understood This support would not have
been given to him had he been either a drunk
ard or a libertine. We are able to speak
from personal knowledge, as his acquaintance
of long standing and to say that his general
private life has been that of a quiet, orderly,
self-respecting, and always highly respected
citizen. Since he assumed his present Office
his visits to Buffalo have been few and of short
duration. 1t is susceptible of absolute proof,
and has been proven 20 us that upon no one of
these visits has there been any ground to justi-
fy the statements that have been made by his
detractors. The charge that he has recently
taken part in a drunken and licentious debauch
in Buffalo on the occasion of such a visit, is
entirely false. We have been particularly
careful and thorough in our investigation Of
the alleged betrayal, abduction and inhuman
in a local newspaper. The circumstance out
of which this story was fabricated occurred
EIGHT YEARS G
The woman in question, at that time a widow,
was between thirty and forty years old, with
two children, the youngest Of whom was ten
years old. The facts of the case show that she
was not wronged, and that the allegations re-
speeding her abduction and III treatment are
wholly false. We deem these the onlyfeatures
of the charge in connection with this matter
which constitute a public question requiring
any declaration on our part In every instance
In which the reports and insinuations have been
tangible enough to furnish a clue to guide us
in our own Investigations, they have been posi-
lively proven to be false. We have twice called
upon The editor of the paper whence came
these stones and asked him to produce his
proofs, the names, the dates and other partic-
ulars which 10 stated he was at liberty to
show. He declines to do so or to facili-
tate in investigating into the truth of either
of his own charges or of those contained IN tho
anonymous letter which he published He
admitted that he had no evidence to support
any accusations against Gov. Cleveland, ex-
cept in the one instance to which we
have particularly referred. He rested his
case on that story, and as to that story he Is
contradicted by having personal knowledge.
The two ~clergymen, whose profession has been
invoked to give weight to these charges, have
no personal knowledge of the facts. They
have ventdredt to state on facts known to them
selves, stories which rest on the merest hear
say, and which, when traced to their alleged
sources, are in every case denied by the per-
sons to whom they are ascribed. We have de-
signed to make a candid and judicial statement
of the results of our investigation of this mat
ter without p~artizan coloring. We have not
thought it necessary or proper to repeat char
ges against Gov. Cleveland in detail, nor to
present in full the evidence by which they have
been disproved
FC;Unad1