The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-12-12
SOCIETY TAKING SIDES.
DR.. DEPEW'S EMPH ATTIC DENIAL
ASTONISHES THE AGO."

c,ubdon1 Gravely Discusses Mrs. Whit
rev's Statement "Our Chauncey''
Explains His Position in the Matter-
Mr.. Whitney Doesn't Care to Talk
of 1t.
From, the Neio York World.
Society and clubdom are aghast at DIR.
C,hauucey NJ. Depew's very vigorous denial
If statement accredited to Mrs. William
G Whitney, wife of the Secretary of the
Navy. Neither Mr.. Depew nor Mr.. Whit
nov is excited over the matter however
and nothing save a nine-days' social wonder
is likely to come of it.
Is Chauncey NJ. Depew, that prominent
and popular citizen of the metropolis, to be
sacrificed socially as Sackville- West was
politically! Or has Mrs. Whitney, the
popular wife of the Secretary of the Navy,
committed an indiscretion which may, from
a social standpoint, be termed as serious a
blunder as was Lord Sackvillesg
These were the questions which agitated
the drawing-roonls, parlOrs and club houses
of the city all through the dreary hours of
Yesterday afternoon and evening" started
by the comments of society woman in
Yesterdays World on Mrs. Whitney's now
famous refutatlon of the stories regarding
President and Mrs. Cleveland's private life
her charges against Mr.. Depew of uttering
these, and that gentloman's vigorous re-
joinder.
The questions produced wide difference
of opinion which, as was perhaps natural,
was colored in most cases by the political
feeling or bias of those who discussed them
1t was also evident that Mr.. Depew's pop
ularity in New York made even the warm
est of Mrs Whitney's defenders chary in
their blame of the after-dinner orator. Mrs.
Whitney made what was construed as di-
rect charge of ungentlemanly conduct
against Mr.. Depew in accu sing him of hav-
ing. at an after-dinner talk between gentle
men, repeated some OF the most offensive
of the stories about the Presidents treat
ment of his wife, and of giving Henry
Watterson as his informant; and Mr..
Depew, when told of this charge, stated to
a Tribune reporter that Mrs. Whitney, in
plain English, had repeated a falsehood.
MR.. DEPEw TALKS.
Chauncey NJ. Depew sat in his private
study at his home, No. % East Forty-fifth
street, yesterday afternoon, with troubled
look on his usually merry face. A frugal
lunch was on little table in front of him,
and remained almost untasted. A crutch
was beside his chair, and occasionally Mr..
Depew would seize his crutch-for his in
iured leg still compels him to use help in
getting about-and hobble about the room
in search of documents in an impatient
way totally unknown to him heretofore.
Concerning the controversy in which he
and Mrs. Whitney are the principals, he
said:
II don't care to discuss the matter.
have been very much annoyed about it. u
But after time he continued: "Of course
l don't blame Mrs. Whitney. She heard
that l had been talking about Mr.. Cleve-
land and his wife, and woman-like, she
went off with bang, without waiting for
investigation. She altogether missed the
air which surrounded the stories when they
were told.
"It occurred at dinner party. The
ladies had left the gentlemen to the wine
and the cigars, and some one mentioned the
President, and wondered what he would do
when he left the white house. The CONVEX
sation broadened, as it will under such cir
cumstances, and drifted into the personal
relations of the President to his wife. Now,
when | was out speaking during the last
campaign, wherever | went heard these
stories about Mr.. Cleveland's treatment of
his wife. Every one who came from Wash
ington was loaded down with them. They
originated and were spread by democrats
who hated the President, and not by
republicans; and so, while the matter was
under discussion, mentioned these widely
circulated stories, marveled at the thor
oughness with which they had been spread
over the country, and said that | did not
believe there was any foundation for them.
/ had no idea that my random words would
ever pass beyond the door, and | certainly
took no malicious delight in spreading
scandalous stories, for the stories were
already on every tongue. They were as
widely circulated as 1t is possible for any
thing of that kind to be, and l simply COM
mented on something that was almost uni
versally known.
THE COMPLETE FACTS.
1.-THE Watterson story heard in Chicago,
in st. Louis, in New York, and in fact, all
over the country l did not sanction it,
and when it was being discussed said that
did not believe it. One of the gentlemen
who was present-and, by the way, there
were only six there besides myself, and they
are all gentlemen of the highest social
position-has since heard through a friend
from Mr.. Watterson on the subject. Mr..
Watterson writes that the story is all lie
that he heard of it months ago, and did not
deny it publicly because it was one of those
peculiar kind of stories which it is difficult
to deny without making the public believe
there is something in it. He thought it
would die out and be forgotten; but instead
1t kept growing.
THE simple facts as Mr.. Watterson
writes, are that he and Mrs. Cleveland and
Mr.. and Mrs. Speaker Carlisle went to the
theater together. While there they were
introduced to an actress eminent in her
profession. When they returned to the
White House, the President was told OF
IL, and he appeared very much gratified
thanking Mr.. Watterson for his courtesy.
Out Of this grew the story of the Presi
dents brutality"
What are your own relations with the
Presidentp Mr.. Depew was asked.
HERE'S THE STING.
THAT'S the injustice in this matter" said
he, while look of whimsical annoyance
came into his face. ~ have always de-
Tended Cleveland's private character in
public and in private. In my speeches In
1884 | refused to pay any attention to the
scandals then being circulated, and was
criticised in my own party for my out
spoken admiration of his honesty of pur-
pose and his many fine qualities. l never
made personal attack on the President
during the last campaign, and said more
kindly things about him than any other
republican speaker. Why, look here, and
Mr.. Depew took his crutch and hobbled
across the room to where Col Shepard's
Mail and Express lay on the table and
handed the reporter a marked copy OF his
speech at the Union League Club Thursday
evening, Nov. 8, in which he said:
We, the members of the Union League Club
while radically differing from Mr.. Cleveland
upon almost every point OF his policy at home