The Helena independent., 1889-02-22
Testimony Of the Man Who Alleges
He Obtained the Times-Par-
nell Letters in Paris.
History OF the Negotiations and the
Price Said TO Have Been Paid
for Irish Papers.
Though Pigot swore Never to Reveal Ger
tain Things lie Tells All op
tho stand.


Fenian organ, The lrishman. In 1865. He
belonged 10 the supreme council Y. B. All
the members OF the amnesty association In
1870 were Fenians. Pafnell belonged and
about 1871. Biggar, Barry, Harris, Neary,
Mullet and Mnrry belonged 10 the supreme
council OF the |. X. B. The witness be-
longed TO the |. X. Il. until Aug, 1881.
lie detailed the negotiations IN
1879 by which The lrishman and
The Flag OF ireland were sold
10 company In which Parnell and Eean
were shareholders. He did not doubt the
league provided the money. Later Egan
said he proposed To render the life Of
English officials In England not worth an
hours purchase, and replying 20 a ques-
tiun said OF course Parnell was aware Of
this proposal Directly after Egan's flight
20 Paris witness received letter In which
Egan asked for the address of Davis, who
was writer on The lrlshman and who
had gone 10 Paris to prepare for the priest
hood.
Pigott said he had interviews with
Eugene Davis at Lausanne In January,
lSSs, and pretended he (Pigott) wanted tO
write pamphlet on the league and desired
10 embody certain documents In II. Davis
declined TO furnish the documents, saying
t0t FtnluU uFbbltIUobu WINS Ouuuu W Ihf-
nell not 20 interfere with his plans I'LL AT
ter certain time. Finally Davis, for q
thousand pounds, furnished witness the
principal facts with the understanding
that they would be written, but not pub
lished TIL certain time. Witness at once
wrote out this Information and gave II 10
Houston. This was the statement read
yesterday. subsequently In Paris man
named Morris Murphy, for 95O0, furnished
witness the documents which he had tried
10 get from Davis. They were In n bng
and consisted Of five or six OF Egan's let
tiers, some OF Parnelrs and some old ac.
counts. Witness read the letters and
made memorandums, but did not copy
them. Plgoit here identified six letters Of
Egan's, five of Parnells, including the
letter which appeared In the Times, and
scraps OF accounts produced In court as the
contents OF the bag.
Pigott said he not know Parnell's writ.
ing. lie knew his signature. lie believed
the signatures attached 10 the letters were
those of Parnell. lie had no idea as TO
who wrote the body OF the letters. Wit
ness returned 10 France April 10, and told
Murphy he would accept his offer. After
n long discussion Murphy told witness II
would be utterly impossible TO obtain the
letters unless witness went Ia New York.
Witness consulted with Houston and went
TO New York. There he saw Breslin, TO
Bresin handed witness sealed letter
which he said witness was TO deliver 20
Murphy In Paris. Witness continued: 'l
returned 20 London and told Houston
what had occurred. lie believed the let
ter contained authority 10 deliyer the
bag. went 10 Paris July 20 and
saw Murphy at the hotel ST. Petersburg.
handed him the letter and he said II was
all right, but he could not give me the let
ters ultil he had seen other people. Two
evenings later Murphy Invited me TO cafe
| In the Rue ST. Honore He conducted me
10 q private room where five men were
| seated around table. These men, he
| said, represented the Clan a-Gael. lie
made me swear on Catholic prayer book
that under no circumstances would | re-
veal the source from which obtained the
| documents. | also swore | would not
mention names, and II any proceedings fol
lowed the publication OF the letters | would
not testify.
Pigott did not get the documents that
night. Witness detailed the purchase OF
the letters and Murphy's offer 10 purchase
them. Witness knew Egan's writing and
/ signature and was convinced that Egan
wrote the letters ascribed t0 him. Murphy
was displeased with the refusal 10 return
the letters. Pigott, resuming, said he first
heard OF the existence Of the other letters
at the beginning OF 1888 His informant
was Thos. Brown, a member OF the Clan.
Na-GAel. Hayes introduced Brown and
| witness In cafe In the Rue 81. Uonore,
Paris. Brown produced the letters and
witness sent 10 Houston copies 6. two OF
Parnelrs and one OF EgaD's. Pigott had
not the slightest doubt the signatures were
genuine. In July. 1883. he heard Of other
letters. A person In Paris, who declined
~ reveal his name, offered 10 surrender
| them for $500. He was paid 600, of
| which witness received ESQ back. Plg0tt
continued A man named OBrlen visited
me In Dublin under the alias Of Sinclair.
He said Parnell had sent him 10 try 10
| get me 10 assist Egan. Labouchere,
he said, was acting for Egan and would
pay me o very high price II | had any
/ letters OF Parnelps TO sell. Sinclair Eug-
| gested 4 should see Labouchere In London
and gave me five pounds with which 20 pay
my passage. | went ~ the place men
toned, but Labouehere was not there.
declined 10 hold any conversation with
Sinclair. 1 afterwards wrote 10 LabOn-
chere without Sinclair's knowledge. La
| bOuchere replied and | had an Interview
with Parnell and Labouchere nj the lat
ter's house.
Continuing, Plgott said at the meeting
referred ~ Parnell told him be held prima
facie evidence that witness had forged the
letters and Labouchere proposed ~ witness
10 admit the forgery. Lewis entered dur
ing the Interview and said II witness fol
lowed hts directions he would be his best
friend, but IL he failed 10 obey Instructions
Lewis would prosecute him mercilessly
for perjury and forgery. Afterwards wit
ness saw LabOuchrre alone, outside OF the
room. Labouchere said he was prepared 10
pay $1,000, but that money matters
must not be mentioned 10 Parnell. Wit
ness Induced LAb0uchere 10 think he
would Accede 10 his proposal, but on re-
turning TO the room he said nothing would
induce him 10 swear the letters were for
| geries. Lewis then asked witness to write
TO the Times that he (witness) believed the
letters 10 be f0rgeries, when the Times
would withdraw the letters. The follow.
ing day witness asked whether
Labouchere's offer would hold good II wit
ness Induced the Times 10 withdraw the
letters; Lewis said "yes." On the day
after witness accidentally met Parnell and
: Lewis. The latter denied that he had ever
given witness any assurance. Parnelft
: manner was threatening. He reiterated
that witness had forged the letters. and
also accused him Of having committed
mercantile forgeries. Witness denied the
Attorney General Webster then read q
long correspondence between Pigott an0
Lewis. In his letters Lewis averred hs
and his associates were aware PigOtt was
forger before they saw him, and he sug
! gested Pigott meet Parnsll again
: Pigott replied that he was prepared
10 meet any proceedings and declined Il
meet Parnell again. Witness continuing
said Labouchere repeatedly wrote him Il
Dublin, pressing him ~ testify. and offer
: ing 10 pay his passage. Al the end OF Jan
d uary he received letter containing ter
n pounds. He was anxious TO avoid testify :
= Ing. lie was aware II was dangerous 10 Of
9 fend the Clan Na-Gael, and he might b.
q murdered
Is Sir Charles Russell cross examine,
PigOtt. He caused him 10 write the aver
age words which occurred In the letter
Pigott said be had cOrresp0nded witt
Q Forster from 1881 10 1884 He wrote 81
, @. o. Treyelyan asking for money on Ac