Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1891-02-21
That Forged Letter.

ported TO be a letter addressed to
Mr.. J.. Il. Howe, puhlis her of the
Sabine Banner, by Mr.. r.. X.
Lalling, private secretary to Mr..
John A. Morris, appeared IN the.
columns of that Journal. AT the
very outset, Il large number of the
papers of this state gave express
s,on TO their convictions that the
letter was barefaced forgery,
for Mr.. Lalling being agentlcman
of sound mind and excellent
judgement, it was thought impos-
sible that he should stuitify him
self so thoroughly as to give ex-
preston to such assertions regard
ing a cause to which he is attach
ed both by reason of his convic-
ton of ITS justice and his. inti-
mate connection with the gentle
man who is known to be the head
and front of the proposed reve-
nue amendment to the Constitu-
ton of the State.
At the first appearance of the so
called letter, several of the anti
Lottery papers laughed at the
creduiity Of some of their fellows,
exhibited in their expressions Civ
ing crcdence to the belief that the
letter in question was genuine
production Of Mr.. Lall,ng's pen.
The Neec Delta said unhesitangly:
This letter those lottery pa
pcrs declare to be forgery, and
we have no doubt that it is. \
copy of that letter has been in
possession of the -Nc.c Delta for
weeks but we did not publish it,
simply because it WAS not authen-
ticated; and III this fight, us III all
others, the Ner Delta proposes
to use only honorable means.
This extract from the leading
anti-Lottcry paper proves two
things first that the editor be-
lieved the letter Il forgery, and
secondly tha, he considered it Il
dishonest and rcprehcnsible means
Of combating an enemy IN any
cause.
1t is impossible. on account of
want Of space, for us to produce
the full text OF the forged letter,
but ITS intention was to give Mr..
Lalling ms an unexccptional au-
| thority for the admission that the
! Lottery Company had bought up,
for Its own purposes, the entire
or the major part OF the ncwspa-
pcrs Of Louisiana.
At length another person APP
pears upon the scene, and in n
letter published In the Roheline
! -NewS of the 7;h tells what he
d1sors Of the matter, and thereby
diSpels the clouds Of mystery taat
hung about the i.aiiing-Eowe
correspondence, exposing the
fraud through which it was in
tended to injurc an honest and
unsuspccting adversary.
Mir. sam Word says he propos-
ell with Howe to 90 INTO the
newspaper business if they could
raise 5000 10 buy out the editor :
share in the Banner. Howe stat
ed his intention to write to John
4 Morris to lend them the money,
which beng done was promptly
refused by Lalling for Morris
Howe afterwards told Word tina,
he had written again TO Lalling
but ever afterwards denied having
received any reply to the seconc
communication. At another time
Howe told Word: %. am going
to fix up Il letter from Lalling il
answer to my letter TO him,
which will play HI with EN-.
a day or two after ! saw Howe
and he showed me the forged let
ter and said' I've got EN- fix
ed now. ! fixed up the letter an'
I'm going to publish it ;.
! Coxid anything be palmer
But what 4 bitter, bitter rcalit.
and poignant disappointment it +
I to find that even the truly mora
the self Canonized Saints-wil
resort>to what the New Delta IN
fercntially dcnominates dishonor
able means. Whata commentary