Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1886-02-05
4 UTHENTIC STA TBNEST FROM WASHING.
TON THAT 4 PARDON WILL NOT
BIZ Ora NTED.

4 "
TON THAT 4 PARDON WILL NOT
BE GRANTED.
Brattleboro bad day OF great excitement
last Saturday, and one that will not soon be
forgotten Since the day that the wreck OF
the First National bank and S. NJ waite's
flight was announced the sensation has not
had its equal. The facts involved we're all
given in an extra sent out from The Phoenix
office on Monday. They are here re stated
and additional matter Of interest presented
for the information Of subscribers living at
distance and as matter Of permanent record
The excitement originated in story which
gained vide circulation, and was generally
believed, that Mr. Waite had been pardoned,
and had come to Bratteboro by the morning
train and gone to bis house. Some persons
claimed to know that he had been let of the
train at the West River bridge aud others
that be had been let of In the rear Of Wal.
nut street. and that from there he had elm bed
up the bank and gone to his house. This in.
formation seemed to be positive and it was
not suspected to be false until toward night,
when an answer to a despatch from Rutland
said that be had been pardoned, but had not
yet left the Jail When the evening papers
arrived at 1920 it was found that Waite
was not pardoned and was not likely to be.
The Sunday papers confirmed this and gave
additional facts.
The Attorney General Of the United States
was responsible for the story that a pardon
had bten granted. As soon as The Pbeai1,
in its issue Of Jan 10, disclosed the scheme
to secure a pardon for Mr. Waite, promi-
nent citizen Of Brattleboro wrote an earnest
protest against a pardon and sent it to Con-
gresham Grout, and Gen. Grout immediate
ly placed the letter on file with Attorney
General Garland in the Department of JUS
tice. Last Friday the letter was returned to
Mr.. Grout with this endorsement
DEPARTMENT or JUSTICE,
WAsH1NGroN, Jan. 20, 1885.
Ma. GRoUI: The President several days ago par
doned Mr.. Waite, think about the time Of this let
tsisned) A. II. GARLAND.
THE PhGnI nov has the original letter, with Mr..
| Garlauds endorsement In it's possession.l
This information came from headquarters,
there was no reason to doubt its reliability,
and Gen. Grout accordingly told webb, "
the Boston Journal correspondent, that Waite
had be pardoned. Webb teegrsphed the
news to his paper and so the story gained
circulation. From Boston il went to Rut.
land, Waite was walked up and told Of it in
the middle Of Friday night, and all day Sat
urday be supposed that be bad been pardon.
ed, and that it was only question Of a day
or two before the documents would arrive
which would make him free man.
The fact that the official record made nc
mention Of the pardon attracted webb's at
tenton, and Saturday be made careful in.
vestigation, which convinced him that the
Attorney General was wrong and on a con
sutation being held between the Attorney
General and the pardon clerk. Mr.. Garland
discovered and said that be had got waite'l
case mixed up with another This fact webt
at once communicated to Gen. Grout in the
following note, which Gen. Grout promptly
sent us by mail;
The pardon has not been granted to Waite
l went to verify it this morning. There wa,
no record of it at the White House or Depart
ment OF Justice. Garland, however, said il
was fact The pardon clerk said no, and
Garland finds that he confused tto0 cases, anC
that the letter to you was Incorrect
E. b. WIGHT.
Saturday, II A. N.
At the same time the correspondent sen
this despatch to the Boston journal, and i
was printed in the evening edition OF tina
paper, which, arriving here at 1890, brough
the first intination that the pardon had no
been granted
There appears to be something the matte
at the Department Of Justice. The mind o.
the Attorney General appears to be preoccu
pied. The clerks at the White House th
morning again carefully searched the registe
of pardons as they did last night at midnight
as stated in these dispatches, and could 6nC
no trace Of any record OF the pardon OF Slla
NJ. Waite The pardon clerk at the Depart
ment of Justice, too, searched his record an,
found nothing to indicate that pardon haC
been granted. The Attorney General wa
found and asked directly as to the CORRECTNESS
of the statement made in the letter from him
self 20 Congr, s1mAn Grout Of Vermont las
night, aud the Attorney. General said that tn
letter was correct and that the pardon ha,
been granted. His attention was then calet
to the fact that the officers in charge OF par
dons at the White House and in his own de
partment had no record that such a pardon
had been granted and that unless the docu
! ment had been mislRid there must be a mis-
take about it, The pardon clerk was the
summoned to a conference, when it appeare
that the pardon clerk was right and the Attor
ney General was wrong. The pardon hA
not been granted. The Attorney General wa
at loss to know how the mistake could hav
occurred. 1t appears that he confused tn
Waite case with another case. The report
/ therefore, that Waite has been psrdoned
3 incorrect"
The feeling of indignation in Brattleborc
when it was believed that the great c1minl
was free, was intense and universal. Sue
action on the part of the President and thos
1 who helped to bring it about, was felt to
l an outrage to the moral sense of the COMMIT
nifty, and all day long the volume OF conden
4 nation poured forth.
.. State Attorney Bodies was summoned frol
g Bellows Falls and arrangements were mad
during Saturday afternoon and evening fC
D Waite's prompt re- arrest on indictments in h
: state courts. 1t is understood that the mai
ground on which the case against him woul
be based ID the forgery of the F. A. Mas
4 note.