The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-02-16
MASKS ON CELTIC PENS.
IRISH AGITATORs SAID TO HAVE
DISGUISED THEIR WRITING.

Produced in Evidence Before the
Commission - Three Handwritings
Said to Be Characteristic of Some
Correspondence
LONDON, Feb 15-Mr Parnell was pres
ent at to-day's session of the Parnel COM
mission Mr. Soames. solicitor for the
Times, was further cross-examined. He
offered in evidence schedule of all the sig
natures Of Mr. Parnell that he possessed.
He said Mr.. Parnell's writing varied con-
siderably, and he produced letter in
which Mr. Parnell's name was written in
six different ways
Presiding Justice Harmon ordered that
that the letter be photographed.
HADN'T HEARD OF A GRUDGE.
The witness denied that he had heard that
Mr.. Piggott and the league clerk he utter
viewed in Ireland, had grievance against
Mr.. Parnell. Mr.. Piggott, he said, had
made a statutory declaration that Solicitor
Lewis had offered him 9l5, 900 if he would
swear that he had forged the letters said to
have been written by Mr.. Parnell. The
Times paid Mr.. Piggott only $40 or $50.
The witness had Mr.. Piggott watched, and
traced him into the company of Mr.. La
bouchere. He paid Mr.. Houston, secretary
of the Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union, al
together $4,000.
NO BARGAIN MADE.
Upon the redirect examination Mr..
Soames stated that no bargain was made
when the letters were first brought to the
Tines. Their genuiueness was to be tested
before any payment was made. Mr.. Soames
said Mr.. Piggott told him of an interview
he had had with the solicitors and with Mr..
Labouchere. The latter sent Mr.. Piggott
several SO notes. One of these notes was
e., rIo1 No -
to England. The witness produced COPY
of the letter which accompanied it.
NOT INQUIsTTIvE.
It had neuer occurred to the witness to
ask Mr.. Piggott how he had acquired the
letters. Neither had he asked Mr. Houston.
Mr.. Piggott showed the witness a letter
from Solicitor Lewis accusing him tMr.
Piggot0 of having admitted that he forged
the letters and his reply, whereupon the
witness required that the statutory direct
examination be made, in which Mr.. Piggott
detailed all communications between
himself aud Solicitor Lewis, includ-
ing the offer of 81 900 of Mr..
Lewis on behalf Of Mr.. Labouchere if
he would swear that he had forged the
letters. This statement caused a sensation
in the court room. Mr. Soames said that
Mr.. Piggott did not tell HIM of the cor
respondence he had had with Archbishop
Walsh of Dublin regarding the ietters He
had never heard of this correspondsnce
until he heard it mentioned in court last
evening.
PIGGoTT's STEEP PRICE.
Besides Expert Ingles, Mr. Soames
said that the Times engaged Messrs
Birch and Ellis as experts. He had
never promised Mr.. Piggott sixpence,
but knew that Mr.. Piggott had asked Mr..
Houston for $4,000 on the ground that it
would be impossible for him TO live in Dub
lin after giving evidence for the Times.
and that he wanted to make some provision
for himself. Expert Ingles told him that
he could not listen to such sug-
might rest satisfied that the Times
would never see him ruined through his
honesty i'll testifying to all he knew. Mr..
S0ames said that a man calling himself
Wilson wrote to him, offering to give him
information. He recognized the writing as
that of man named O'Brien, who was an
emissary from Mr.. Egan to Mr.. Labouchere
SIMPLY PLANT.
The offer to furnish information was sim
ply plant" After that he had O'Brlen
watched. At Mr.. Labouchere's instance
O'Brien was sent to Dublin to see Mr..
Piggott In Dublin O'Brea assumed the
name of Sinclair The men following
O'Brien traced him to Mr.. Labouchere's
and Mr.. Piggott's houses, and then traced
/ T..
nell to Mr.. Laboucler residence. The
witness knew O'Brien as man
who was known in America as
Robertson. 1t was Robertson" who de-
luded Detective Moser with letters which
had since been admitted to be forgeries.
Kirby was paid e250 to go to America and
procure from Sheridan the original Parnell
letter, a fac-simile OF which was published
in the Times. Mr.. Hurlburt saw this let
ter
NO BARGAIN TO PURCHASE.
Mr.. Soames was re-examined by Attorney
General Webster. He said there was no
bargain whatever with the Times to pur-
chase the letters. II the Parnell letters
were forgeries, then the writing of the
others signed with the names Of Messrs.
Egan, Campbell, Davtt and O'Kelly Of
Tyrone must have been forged The bode,
of six disputed Parnell letters were in the
writingssof Mr.. Campbell.
Mr.. Willacott, an employe of the Central
NelCS depo,ed that in an interview with Mr.
Parnell on the appearance of a fac simile
letter in 1887 Mr.. Parnell called the letter
an impudent forgery.
Mr.. Macdonald, manager of the Times,
deposed that in October 1886, he got five
Parnell and six Egan letters. He stipulated
that their authenticity must be tested before
the payment of the price which Mr.. Hous-
ton said he gave for them
THE o'KELLY AND DAvITT LETTERS.
When the other letters, those of Messrs
| O'Kelly and Davitt. were tested he paid
| Mr.. Houston 81 ,7S0 the exact sum expended
in securing possession Of the letters. Mr.
| Houston declined personal remuneration.
| Upon cross-examlnation the witness said he
never asked how Mr.. Houston got
the letters He had asked about the differ
ence in the writing in the body of the letter
and in the signature, and Mr.. Houston re-
piled that it was the practice of the leaders
OF the movement. that one wrote letter
another signed it, and third person ad-
dressed the envelope. The witness otter
ward ascertained from other sources that
this was an actual practice, and that some
OF the letters we're purposely left un-
dated. Mr.. Egan wrote the whole letters
| himself
PARNELL's DISGUISED HAND.
The bodies of the Parnell letters were all
more or less written in a disguised hand
except in one letter dated Kilmainham.
| The writing in the body Of the fac sirnile
letter is disguised, but the signature OF Mr.
! Parnell is not. The witness had mover
heard that the lettors were offered to other
papers, but had heard that the documents
had been offered to Lord Harrington before
they had been offered TO the Times. Mr..
Houston produced no voucher for the sums