New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-03-15
FORGERY PILED ON FORGERY
A VILLANOUS PRACTICAL JOKE
ADJUrAyr GENERAL PORTER AND OFFICERS oI

ADJUTANTGENERAL PORTER AND OFFICERS OF
THE sIxTY-NIyTH REGIMENT FOOLED.
Adjutant General josiah Porter recently received
through the mail, a formidable looking document.
which was o,tentiby a complaint coupled with charges,
against First Lieutenant William Mclaughlin. Of Come
pany H. 69th Regiment. Of the allegations vera
Of an exceedingly serious character. and charged
Lieutenant McToughlin with being "divekeeper7 in
this city This document signed BY John Garvn.
who described himself a private in Company II.
From the appearance OF the document, General Porter
thought that was from committee I'm the company.
who had taken thi, of bringing the state Of
affairs in the company to his attention. large num-
her Of witnesses mentioned in the paper who
could testify the writer said TO the truth Of the
charges made
General Porter turned the paper over to Inspector.
General Thomas H. Barber. and the latter in turn
handed Major Aucu-te p. Nontant. the inspector
OF the First Brigade. General BARBER ordered Major
Muntant 10 make thorough investigation Of the
charge, end report upon the matter. Major Montant,
pm 10 this order Subpoenacd the witnesses named
in tn paper 20 appear at the a"mOry on last Friday
evening. to give their testimony in relation TO
! the charges. He also ordered Garvin. the private
whose name was signed to the charges 10 be on hand
- assist in the investigation and give what Information
he had.
The witnesses whom Major Montant subpoenaed
were Captain Patrick !. Morgan, Of Company II Sec
ond Lieutenant Denis j. Feery, Of the samo company
sergeant, O'Neil and Kelly. and Private Mcbride
All these men expressed themselves as greatly sur
pri-cd when the charges read to them on Friday
evening and Garvn declared that he was thoroughly
a>toundcd. He pronounced the whole thing a for
gerry a, far a he concerned, and declared that
ne had never made any such charges.
Another curious thing came 10 light. Garvin pro-
duced postal card signed by Charles Kelly, the com
pany clerk. Garvn advised by the writer OF
| 40 IfattaD ant
McLou-hlin great .avor he must remain away from
m. aruory on Friday night When Garvn disavOved
any responsibility for tine charges and produced the
postal card suspicion was thrown upon Kelly imme
diately and he was called in.
70 everyboIvS establishment he pronounced the writ
ns ON the postal card a forgery. and declared thas
hc knew nothing about il. The writing on the cara
wa, compared with several specimens OF Kelly VIII
Ing in the company books. and was clearly seen thas
E.llv had moi written the message on the postal
card The mystery became still deeper when every
vltno>, present testified upon h> solemn oath trie
Lieutenant NcLou=hn a respectable citizen ana
good officer and that the charges against him were
iai-o.
Major Nontant /, reported to lave used some eI-
cccdlngly ygorol, language when the tine iart' WeN
brol-rt 10 light and this is where the joke comes
m Al the expense Of the authorize, at Albany rs
+, we'll lnrvn the officer, II the Fr-t Brigade HEAD
uu,r.rr- have lccOue mere t-nr"headN, ana tley
A., not Consulted about the smallest details 'uSes
in. ,l,. brigade General Porter dSre%ri'd entirely
,br ir,,,critv 81 private sending charges agalnS'
a commissioned o1cor directly T. the personal rgp'D,
sentative Of the COMMANDMENT chief Instead ~
ending IN" documents through th' U,fi 'nai.c' -
the prop'r officers. be showed great ha't" 10 a..
upon ;hc oare'> directly. ara i' ~ 'S ,rbo I"' 4,
him,GM J .,n ,n. ltocy '''" ~ every '
i'' Ei, MI, Mn IL. made to ascertain who tho guilt,
ra,tir, are and NO doubt Il ,l'v are d,'coV'%Eo
They viii H. treated according e" me WE,'h %, ~.
Adjutant General II j. en- pv.''T ,o III inn