Omaha daily bee., 1895-05-26
HE MADE HER 80 PROMISE
Prof 0orbett Explains His Relations with
the Late Mrs. Notson.
DID NOT SOLICIT HER ASSISTANCE
She Volunteered Her Aid and Understood
that She Had No Certainty OF Any
Reward In Case He Was
Elected to once.

Elected to once.
Shortly after the disappearance Of Mrs.
Ida Remington Notson the charge was made
by a local paper that the lady had been
driven to despair through alleged duplicity
upon the part of Hon. H. II. Corbett during
his campaign for the office of state superin-
tendent of public instruction. The assertion
was made that Mr.. Corbett had promised
Mrs. Notson a position in his Office in the
event of his election, and that disappoint-
| ment resulting from failure to make good
| the promise drove Mrs. Notson to despera-
tion. 1t was then predicted that Mrs. Notson
and her two little children mad met an un-
timely DEATH and the local paper charged
MIR. Corbett with the responsibility therefor.
More than two months ago MIR. Corbett
called at The Bee office and left a statement
in reply to these repeated imputatons, re-
questing publication of it should the aTack
upon him be renewed Mr.. Corbetts dis
camer reads as follows
| "In the heat of public interest in Mrs. Not
| sons sensational disappearance only one
side Of this case could be heard. | believe
| the time has come when truth can have a
| fair hearing, and certain misstatements
| which have so far been allowed to go un-
| noticed can be corrected
"In the first place, it has been asserted,
and seems to be believed by many, that Mrs.
| NotsOn was induced by me to leave her work
| and spend time and money in my interest
last fall. Now the facts are that long be-
| fore the republican convention she gave up
| her school, secured leave of absence for the
fall and began travelling in the interest Of
| a publishing company. Before she had ever
heard of me she declared to several persons
| whose names be given IL neCe ssary, her
intention to be the next deputy state super
int liant atp hn oh mr. cd
| letters from my friends and teegrahped to
me repeatedly using their names. One of
| these kilograms caused me unintended
trip to Omaha at a busy time, and it was
on this occasion, during the last week in
| September that | met her for the first time
in my life She then declared her purpose
to go out and work for and asked my
| help to secure railroad transportation. She
urged her book business as a reason for
| travelling and insisted upon campaigning for
me as she went. She declared she would
do so for professional reasons, because edu-
catonal interests demanded my election. Her
persstency such that / could not refuse
her without positive discourtesy
81 can give the names Of a dozen persons
| who heard me speak with sOlicitude of her
| work during the campaign, fearing that she
was doing more harm than good Reports
that have come In since the election fully
confirm this opinion. Still | treated her
during the entire time with uniform courtesy
| and kindness, in doing which | seem now to
have made mistake.
HAD GIVEN NO PROMISE.
"Of course she was a candidate for the
deputyship; but she distinctly understood that
no decision was to be made till after the
election. l remember using these words:
| Providence and the pOpulists may save me
the necessity of selecting a deputy, anJ l
shall cross that bridge when | come to r.
| Still she insisted that her candidacy shou. d
be fairly considered at the proper time. 7
asked her whether her interests would be
| "A cd hNyh hnrh hoip nIi idotn and
assured that she would canvass for books
anyhow during the fall and that her posi-
ton as a teacher at Omaha was waiting
for her at any time. There was never any
thing that could possibly be considered by
any fair Interpretation of language or con-
duct as promise of appointment
"She often spoke of her candidacy, but
seemed more solcitOus about her transpOrta-
tion, and supposed that to be her principal
object until about the time of election, when
| learned in a letter from her and from
declarations that she made to others that
she seemed to be counting upon the deputy
ship with far greater certainty than / had
supposed. 1t was then that | wrote her the
letter which has been made public. Had
that letter been curt and brief 1t would have
been better, but did not even at that time
suppose it to be a mistake to treat Mrs.
Notson with kindness and consideration.
THE statement that she travelled under my
direction is absolutely false, nor did l ever
tell her that her borrowed money could be
paid after we got in,' as has been asserted.
Equally false the many other foolish
statements that have found their way into
the columns of the press.
Chairman Morrill, of the republican state
central committee said that Mrs. Notson had
told him two weeks before the election that
Mr.. Corbett had not made her any promises,
| L warned her. said Mr.. Morrill,, that 1t
, would not do for her to spend any time and
money working on uncertainty. She said
, she wanted to travel over the state any
I way selling some books, and that she would
keep right on. l was emphathic in my warn
ing and remember it particularly because
! she wanted to secure $100 from the COM
+ mittee, which, of course, could not give
She talked to me hour, at least, and did
not claim at any time that Mr.. Corbett had
encouraged her in any way. She simply said
that she needed the place very badly and
: "did not see how he could refuse" to give II
: to her. She evidently knew very little about
politics and gauged her chances for success
/, by her desire, and not by anything that
was said to her by Mr. Corbett or any mem.
. bers of the state committee
= HER LAST STATEMENT
e at is very noticeable that Mrs. Notson's
3 last letter to her friends does not mention
any promise from me, but simply states that
> she had risked too much on uncertainties
She did say however. that she had beer
+ driven to distraction by her creditors
LET me emphasize these two points
y First, That l had nothing to do with Mrs
o Notsons abandoning her regular work, mol
d did direct the routes of her travel or the
J. use of her time and money. Second, Tha
Il these reflections upon me have come either
Z; from her intimate friends or from disap
i pointed and angry creditors who had hoped
Q to profit by her appointment"
4 Estimable Lady suddenly Killed.
= CRAB ORCHARD, Neb., May 25.-(Specla
e Telegram.) while the family of l. S. Plat
|