The evening times., 1896-10-28


We're taken from Mrs. Sigourney' pub
liShcl valnmcs, and little explanatory para
graphs went around in the newspapers
giving tha further information tnat the
"rvplieF, - rgnU name was 'siiloway'
or ''Suloway.'
Later" said the observer or the sud
den appearances nf the man, when the
newspaper uISDutes arose over the ;u-
,hurship of tie verses entitled 'B"autifui
Snow one of the most eager contestants
for that honor was Major SiSourney.
There was a strong family likeness be-
tween the 'Maio:' and Mrs sigourney's
nephew
UNDER ANOTHER NAME.
Not long after the appearance of william
A Sigourney, William Huntley Sigourley
and Mai Sigourney or, 10 be exact, III the
year 1867 there was a controversy over
the authorship of Rock Me To sleep" which
was written by Mrs. Elizabeth Akers (who
formerly wrote under the nom de plume or
Florence Percy, ''incautlously. as she
said some time prior TO April, 1853, and
published in May, 1860. A. NJ. W. Ball
said that he wrote the poem in 1856.
MAY of the year OF the discussion 1867
Mrs Aksrs received a letter posted at
Albany, y. Y, and signed NAL. william
Iiuullcy," offering to prove for her that
she was the author Of the poem, and That
the writer had seen it i'll manuscript iii lS49
ten years DtIDTt IL W dS NllAA'h. ii' e'ai'
that lie had watched her work since then,
and told her that he remembered supping
withher and her father at A b. r Hildreth's
house on u February evening of that year
She wondered who h e could be, as his name
was strange to her. without waiting Tor
an answer, the major published the gist of
the letter in the Albany Evening Journal,
under date of May "a. 1867. He said he
had copies of the Gazette and other papers
of 1S49 and 1850. IN which the poem was
printed and gave the names of well known
men who, lie said, also had copies.
Mrs. Akers had an inquiry made at the
address given by the major and found that
it was j grocery store, and that nobody
uam ed Huntley was known there. Prior t"
that, however, she wrote to Huntley, who
received the letter and answered il. He
answered. rciterating his story, but said that
! as she evidently did not desire to have the
truth known, he would not vcntiate 1T any
further.
THE MCKINLEY LETTER.
He did not send on any Of the papers,
wherein his CunuUCJ III CCh resembles that OF
the later Sillowaye, as described by Robert
T Lincoln in the sun of Thursday. In the
latter case, Silluwaye, after having written
t. Mr.. Lincoln that he could SHOW a letter
from President Lincoln expressing graft
tude to him for having saved his nfe, was
obliged to admit that his daughter had
tltl ~ N.th Quiet pdptlS Oui VI iI'i BtSStS-
sIun''
Mrs Akers wrote to the men named in
Ma ior Huntley'S" letter, and all of them
denied having such newspapers and also all
knowledge of Huntley. She wrote to Mr..
HildTcth, who had removed To Charles City.
Iowa, andhe replied that he kne W neither of
the poems coming to him, nor of Huntley:
hut he did know ne said, that the poem was
not published in his Gazette, and that no
Huntiey took supper at his house on the
February night in question
1t did not at that time occur to Mrs. kers
that Ma ior Huntley was very likely Ma jor
Siguurney, OF William II untley Sigourney, or
William a. SiGourney. or William A. Sillo-
way. The little printer devil had passed
from her mind. What she did think, she
has said, W as thai the Huntley episode was
a "ruse OF the Ball clique to try 10 trap me
into antedating their claim.' She Thought
that Huntley was either a tool employed by
them, or that after having written her that
he could prove her prior claim. he would
have, If she had taken up his offer, gone to
the other side and sold out to them. Which
suggested again an analogy between the
Ma lor Huntley, of Albany, in SGT and the
w. A Sillowaye, of 1886, in that it is far
from improbable that w. A. Silloway, after
selling the spurious letter to the PopoCrats.
went then, knowing IL to be false, to the
Republican managers and tried to sell III EN-
that the other side had it. The Evening
Suns account of how the Republicans got
possession of the letter said:
"A COPY of the letter was sent TO the Re
publican national committee recently by
man whose name has not been made public
He wrote that the alleged Mckinley letter
was one Of many tn at were in the possession
Of a certain person. The letter h ad been sold
for ST 900 by the person to the PopoCratic
national committee and been sent to print
ing office, where photographic plates were
made, and W ere to be sentto the PopoCratic
papers throughout the country for pubiiCa-
tioE mex Xtweek. The writer. having got pos
session of the letter, deemed II advisable
20 warn the committee. He suggested that
they could purchase it from its owner, and
thus prevent the Popocrats using 1t.
CLEVER FAKE.
THE national committee, seeing at once
that the letter was clever fake, decidedto
expose the trick at once, and SO gaveit out"
But, to so back to Albany in S67: Major
Huntley," having performed his work,
passed out of existence. Soon after the
letter incident notice of his death appeared
in the same paper to which he had sent the
letter-the Albany Evening Journal.
Not long after this said the observer
whose fate it had been to See SO IN any refer
enceS to the m an who has found W. A S. so
convenient as initials, IAN item went the
rounds of the press TO the effect that w. A.
Sigourney,' one of the authors Of Beautiful
Snow, is in jail in the Tombs in New York
appropriatingmoneyc yc collected fora news
paper
"Notuing more was heard, SO far as