The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-10-23
GRANT AND ANDY JOHNSON.
General Sherman Declines to Talk, but
Intimates that the Story Is True,
Friends of the Dead President, Including A.
M. Kelley, De Not Hesitate to Denounce
the Statements of Depew as False.

NEW YORK, Oct 22-The Sun says of the
GrantJohnson matter: ''One of the controll-
ing facts in the history of Andrew Johnson
is that he was an opium eater To this cause
his most extraordinary eccentricties should
doubtless be attributed. and among them the
scheme he proposed to General Grant was, per-
haps, the most irrational. His career had sew
eral startling outbreaks that were inconsistent
with state of perfect sanity. At the same time
they were presented with great deal of intel
lectHal shrewdness, and this is one of the char
acteristcs of an opium-eater"
The Herald has interviews with several persons
on the subject. General Sherman. at St Louis.
fatty refused to open his mouth further than to
say that he was perfectly familiar with the con
dtion of the affair at the time refereed to, but
he thought the events had best remain unSrit-
ten, that they might sooner be buried in obliv
ion. To all direct questions the General re-
turned fat refusal to reply. His of
refusing made it very evident that he thought
Depew wrote the truth but only part of it.
''Why," said the General, II have papers and
letters, great mass of documentary evidence,
proving just what transpired in relation to the
matter, but l will never allow any one but my
self to read them, and the information possess
will never impart to a living soul"
Colonel Fred Grant said it had been asked by
the Herald why this action of General Grant had
not been brought up at the impeachment trial.
He said he knew of no reason definitely, but he
did know that the General was very much OPP
posed to the impeachment proceedings, and that
lie foil bad oil hat ba
Guilty that occupied the minds of thoughtful
men at that time was to who was to take
Johnson's place if he were impeached. He
further said that he knew of no documents in
existence that We're absolutely corroborative of
the facts OF the conversation that Mr.. DepeW
had with his father. but he had no doubt that
there were some public men living who were
contemporaneous with the period referred to,
and who were made acquainted, privately, with
the action of President johnson. ''There is no
one who could speak" said the Colonel, with
greater confidence and more reliability than
Gen. Horace Porter"
General Porter generally corroborated De-
pews story, and said: Secretary Seward ami
General Sherman praised General Grant for not
accepting the mission to Mexico. A curious
complication lay in the fact that General Sher
man had already been ordered to Washing ton to
take General Grants place, it being taken for
granted that General Grant would go upon this
mission, and Sherman was already on his way
to Washington. General Grant communicated
with him and asked to see him he
rived in Washington General Sherman arrived
in the morning and went to General Grants
house, where the General told HIM of his alarm
in regard to the state of things ct Washington,
mentioning what had transpred with the Pres
ident and the stand he had taken in the
matter General Sherman's patriotism
was at once aroused. and with
the promptness and frankness characteristic OF
the man. he said, You did right, Grant; you
did exactly right The question with the exec
utlve then was what excuse he could make for
having ordered Sherman to Washington. AS
he had arrived there, he was ordered on mis-
sion to Mexico, accompanied, if 1 remember
rightly by Lew Campbell. of Ohio That is
about the secret history of the matter There
character and determination and the strength
he had on account of the confidence of the peo-
pie in him, prevented occurrences at that time
which might have been very disastrous"
General Sickles said he had read Mr. Depews
letter with great interest st is not a surprise
to me" said he. for President Johnson's atti-
tude toward the South and Congress was looked
on with great uneasiness by General Grant and
Secretary Stanton"
The Herald also publishes interviews with A.
NJ Kelley and W. W. Pasko, which, perhaps,
may be best told by its comments, as follows:
''It will be observed that President Johnson's
friends--for example, Mr. Pasko and Mr.. Kelley
do not hesitate to impugn General Grants We
racity; that is the substance of their letters.
however it may be yelled by profusion of
words. 1t is a sad issue that has been raised
but being raised, II is which the country will
insist shall not be avoided, but settled now and
forever. On the one hand it involves the loyal
ty and honor of President OF the United
States, who has lain ten years in his grave on
the other hand, it involves the honor ond verac-
ity of the greatest soldier of our continent, who
also held the same great Office, and was borne to
burial less than three months ago. We deem it
the filial duty of Colonel Grant forthwith to give
to the public the documents, letters and person
al recollections by which, as he assured Mr.. De-
pew, in a letter that we printed yesterday, he
has verified General Grants narrative of Presi-
dent Johnson's revolutionary designs and pro-
posals. The interview with Colonel Grant,
which we print this morning, is not altogether
satisfactory
An ex-oonfederate officer from Tennessee re-
marked that the analysis of Andy Johnson's
character, set forth by Mr. Depew in reclting
his conversation with General Grant was cor
rect. He had always been regarded as
plebeian, but plebeian of brains by the aristo-
cratic element of the State. and he smarted
under the social restrictions imposed upon him.
He was brainy, fearless and ambitious and
would do anything to win political distinction
said he knew that j. Wilkes Booth did terri
BILE wrong to the South when he killed Lincoln
and left US AT the mercy of johnson. We had
learned to respect Lincoln as an honest man,
but we had only contempt for the ambitious
johnson. The disgrace of our State was in
sending him back to the United States Senate"
Grants Testimony in 1867.
LOUISVILLE, Oct 22.--In view of the publica-
ton of Mr. Depew's letter, relative to General
Grants conversation about ex-President John