The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-10-07
THAT HUMAN HIDE STORY.
An Unmitigated Falsehood Without the
Faintest Foundation in Fact.

An Unmftfgated Faisehood Wtnous tno
Faintest Foundation in Fact.
1t will be many long year before
the people of Ohio cease to blush over
the spectacle of their Governor dilating,
in campaign speech, over cane sup
posed to have been made from the hides
of convicts who died in the penitentiary,
and basing his whole revolving story on
a convict seeking a pardon-a story
which bears visible falsehood on the
face of every line. Some features of
the narrative command renewed atten-
ton. On Friday, before the delivery of
his speech, Governor Foraker furnished
to the Columbus correspondent OF the
ITmee-Stdr information upon which the
following portion of his dispatch was
based:
s'The disclosures are more sickening
than ever. The story of skinning con-
victs for their hides has generally been
regarded improbable, but yesterday an
examination of cane made of human
flesh was made, and found to be as
represented by the convict who made it.
The varnish was taken off, and when
the skin was uncovered it gave forth a
sickening stencil which could not be but
of human flesh, and this led to another
discovery. The skins were not tanned.
They were only tackled up and dried in
the sun, and when stretched cut into
strings and wrapped around steelrod.
This accounts for the SMELL"
The idea that there is any peculiarly
''sickening stencil" about adecomposed
human skin is original with these train
IS
smell not bit worse, and probably not
| nearly so bad, as calf-skin under the
same conditions. But the point par
| ticularly sought to be impressed is
| that if this terrible cane had been made
| at the time indicated (two years ago),
the skin of which it was composed could
not, by any possibility, have smelled at
all. 1t would long since have dried into
| an indurated mass, as odorless as parch-
ment-which is itself dried skin. If the
Governors story is true this cane has
been very recently manufactured for
campaign purposes, just as the con-
vict's testimony was manufactured, and
probably by the same person. DIR.
Montgomery vigorously denouncess the
whole story as most unm tigated
falsehood, without the faintest founda-
ton in fact. He points out that this
convict Nye is under sentence OF fifteen
years for horse-stealing; that he was
the most notorious liar in the peniten
tiary, and that he has long been seeking
pardon. He has been promised i
now, in return for the ''sickenine
stencil of his fairy tale.
And what do the people of Ohio thinl
of itP Their Governor calls in from th'
penitentiary horse-thief (Nye), and {
murderer richardson, to help him maxi
up campaign speech. Under hope o
full pardon, the poor wretches swea
to any thing he wants, or to any thin.
that his tool, Beaton, suggests; AM
then, without scintilla of other evi
dence, this Governor fourishes his con
vict tale upon the stump, and makes
the basis of torrent of blackguardisn
against all Democrats, whether in pri
vate, in political or in judicial life.
Will any one deny that the man is
, lunaticP He was once suspected of be
ing in some degrees removed from
fool, and perhaps that suspicion ough
yet to be obtained; but it compels tn
other conclusion of political insanity
Gin. Enquirer.