Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1886-10-07

a dollar to Mr. Graves or to his commits
tee. In addition to aiding the State
committee in this work of organization
in 1884. was doing all 1 could toward
the management of Col Taylor's cam.
paign, which was a busy and heated
one. The work of experimenting his
correspondence devolved upon me. as he
was absent during the campaign, speak
ing always once, and generally twice
a day. AS the campaign advanced this
correspondence became SO voluminous
as to require the aid of several assist
ants. including Mrs Taylor. While Col
Taylor was absent. the published letter
of Mr. Smiley Buchanan was received,
and was hastily read by me, together
with large number of other letters
that came by the same mail. In the
press of work l had no time to either
write in person, or dictate answers to
these letters, and hence, l simply gave
directions togehiDg such answers. Not
being personally acquainted with Mr.
Buchanan, and inasmuch as he was a
prominent school teacher of Belmont
county, and bore the name of a family
that is but another name for social
standing and personal integrity in Bel
mont county, and having referred to
legitimate expenses, and knowing that
Mr. Graves had been furnished with
money by the State committee to meet
such expenses, 1 simply directed Mrs
Taylor to write Mr. Buchanan in my
name, that his letter had been referred
to Mr. Graves, and to enclose his letter
to W H Anderson for the consideration
of Mr. Graves and his committee and to
suggest that as Mr. Buchanan spoke on
ly of occurring support for Taylor and
not for the ticket generally, it was not
desired that they draw upon their funds
to meet the expenses of getting out these
voters, unless in their judgment the re-
suits, as to the ticket in general, would
| justify it. Thereupon Mrs Taylor, as in
most all cases, formulated her own an
swers, and without the formality of
submitting them to me, mailed them to
Buchanan and W II Anderson And
now that these letters, written under
these circumstances and in great haste
on the eve of the election, happen to
contain forms of expression that,
independent of the facts, are tortured
into meaning they were never intends
ed to convey, ard which no honest man,
be he Democrat or Republican, will
claim for them, in the light of the facts,
they are paraded before the public to
establish a case of political dishonesty.
The test of how honest Republicans
reject the false and slanderous interpre-
tation now sought to be put upon these
letters, is found in the fact that few
days prior to the late congressional pri-
maries these letters came into the hands
of certain of Col. Poorm ans ardent sup
po-ters at Barnesville, who, not UNDER
standing the facts, were disposed to em-
| plOJ GuOLh oSdlAob OOls 10y az uiC pr
maries to defeat the election of his dele
gates and secure the election of Poor
mans, but at joint meeting of Poor
mans and Taylor's friends, appointed
for the purpose of hearing an explana-
tion of the matter from me, such as l
have here given, and composed as it was
of men of high character who would ac
cept no explanation that did not leave
Colonel Taylor entirely blameless, and
who were such ardent friends of Colonel
POorman's as to be anxious to get any
proper advantage in the interest of their
candidate, yet, when the matter was thus
explained they were satisfied that moth
ing improper was intended and that the
letters referred to legitimate expenses
only, and then and there decided that it
would be unfair and unjust to all con-
cerned to use them against him. Had
there been any intention to buy votes or
to use money for any improper purpose
the money would certainly have been
sent directly to Mr.. Buchanan, rather
than to refer the matter to committee
of honorable gentlemen who could not be
used to distribute a corruption fund or
lend countenance in any form to corrupt
political methods, but this letter, as all
other letters relating to local matters,
was sent direct to the committee for in
vestigation and such action, as upon in-
quiry, they deemed proper in the honor>
able and honest management of their 10
cal politics.
But it now remains for the Democratic
press to make up this lie, thus repudisted
and discarded more than two months
ago, and to seek by these false and SLAM
derOus interpretations of a correspondence,
of which Colonel Taylor had no more
knowledge, and with which he had no
more to do, than had the present Demo-
cratic candidate for congress, for the puT-
pose of injuring Colonel Taylor. Con-
scious of my own integrity in this mat.
ter and with full faith in the integrity
of all concerned, and fortified with the
letter books that contain press copies
of all correspondence of that campaign.
and which are open to the inspect
ion of any honorable man, defy any
person in the 18th district, to point to
any act or letter of mine throughout
the campaign of 1884, that any honora+
BILE gentleman might not do or write,
and furthermore, my relation TO Colonel
TaylOrs campaign was such that can
with all candor and truth say that not
dollar of money was employed by him,
or by anyone authorized to represent
him. for any purpose other than to meet
the legitimate expenses of that CAM
paign. T. II. ANDERSON.