Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-13
ANONYMOUS LETTERS

A recent police incident in New York, In.
volving somewhat prominently connected
young South American, possessed one feat
ure which served to revive the gossip in
Washington concerning certain famous
batch of anonymous letters written last
year. These letters caused the breaking of
marriage engagement between! certain
diplomat and a wealthy southern widow.
The talk about anonymous letters brought
out couple Of curious stories on that sub
ject from a man who possesses very init
mate knowledge Of inside" matters in
Washington. One Of the stories told Of the
treatment certain cabinet officer who has
served within the past twenty years, &C
corded an exposed anonymous letter writer.
A well-known old Washington family that
counted four daughters, all admirable
women, among it's members was the victim
of the anonymous letter writer. One of the
daughters had rebuffed a rough sort of an
individual whom she had casually met and
who had set to work with the idea of WIN
ming her, out of hand, after that first meet
ing. This man had billet in one OF the
Washington departments.
Not long after he had been informed,
with some abruptness, by the young woman
to whom he sought to address his atten-
tons that his future calls would not be
agreeable the aged mother of the young
woman, who was paralytic began to re-
ceive all manner of unsigned letters In
which her daughters were accused of every
imaginable sort of unbecoming conduct. The
old mother turned these letters over to
lily felt no doubt to the authorship
of the letters, but they were power
less. The three brothers Of the young
woman had died some years before.
Their father was a very old man. They
hesitated to put the letters in the hands of
male relatives living in Washington because
of the nature of the accusations. For the
same reason, and the dread of publicity,
they did not turn the unsigned documents
over to the Washington police, but suffered
under the scourge Of the anonymous lette,
writer for years.
Then the young woman who had rebuffed
the departmental man married young pro-
fessional man in Washington. The marriage
had scarce been consummated before the
husband received an anonymous letter re-
fleeing on his wife. Expressing his feel
ing of shame in showing her such thins
at all, the husband turned the letter over
to his young wife, and then she told him
the whole story of how her family had
been bounded for years by the anonymous
letter writer. She gave him the name of
the man who, the entire family felt con-
WINGED, had written all Of the letters.
The young husband went straight to the
ca binet officer at the head of the depart
ment in which the suspected man was en-
ployed. He carried with him bundle of
the anonymous letters. The cabinet officer,
&,
first-rate expert in handwriting. He lis
tened to the story and examined and COM
pared the letters with great care, taking
them home with him from the department.
He found tell-tale points of resemblance
in many characters which quickly convinced
him that all Of them had been penned by
the same hand
Then the Secretary obtained pile of sam
pies of the clerks handwriting work for
the department and compared this material
with the letters. He could arrive at but
one conclusion. The clerk had written all
of the anonymous letters. The Secretary
sent for the man.
Il want you to take bit of dictation in
longhand for me- he said to the clerk. ':ISit
RICH down here by my desk. You may take
your time at the dctaton. If l go too
fast for you. stop me-"
Then the Secretary pulled out of a desk
drawer the anonymous letter which the
young husband had received but a few
days before.
Now, we'll begin,' said the Secretary
Take this: I want to inform you that the
woman you married IS"
The Secretary had read only that far
when the pen fell from the clerks hand
His jaw was hanging and his eyes We're
starting from his head.
One of the members of that family, he
Whined. did me an injury, and 1 had to
THAT will do interrupted the Secre-
tary, and he touched a button on his desk
to summon his stenographer. He dictated
a brief three lines to the Stenographer, 1d-
dressed to the exposed clerk, dischargine
him from the service of the United States
for vile and disgraceful conduct. Then he
signed the letter, dismissed his stenog-
rapher, and handed the letter to the dis
charged individual.
Now. you scoundrel." said the Secretary
rising from his desk, Il not only want you
to get out of this office before l myself
pound you to a pulp, but l want you to get
| out of Washington. If you are not out OF
Washington within three days from today
| can promise that you'll see some sights!
Out with you" and the Secretary, a power
full man even in his old days, took the fell
low by the collar and literally threw him
through the swinging doors. The man left
Washington that very day, and he hasn'.
been seen in Washington since.
The second story concerns the treatment a
chivalrous old cabinet officer from the
south, who served in one of the Cleveland
cabinets, dished out to writer of anony-
nous letters. A few mnoths before this
cabinet officer accepted his portfolio d
woman had been dismissed from his depart
ment for INSTRUMENTATION. Not long after
this woman's dismissal a woman clerk In
the same division began to receive a shock
ing series of anonymous letters. The letters
were obviously written by a woman but the
| recipient of them had no notion as to what
| woman could be the author of them. She
finally turned Batch Of the letters over
to the chief of her division. an elderly
and kindly man of family The courtly OLD
southerner carried the letters straight to
the Secretary.
The latter picked up one of the letters and
started to read it.
Nov, here is an odd thing" he said, and
he touched the bell for his secretary. Bring
me- he said to his secretary, 1.-The letter
received few days ago from that woman
who was discharged from the blank divi-
sion before l came here and who applied to
me for reinstatement"
The clerk brought the letter his chief
wanted. The Secretary compared 1t with
one of the anonymous letters. Both were
written in an odd back -slanting handwrit-
ing, and there could be no mistake about
their being written by the same hand. The
Secretary sent a special messenger to the
address of the woman who had applied to
him for reinstatement, and she was at his
office an hour later. The Secretary, a
cavalier Of the old south, rose from his desk
and gravely greeted the woman when she
entered his office.
Madam" he said, II do not know
whether the position you formerly held here
required that you should be judge of
different sorts of handwriting. At any
rate, l should like to ask your opinion of
the handwriting of these two letters and
he handed the woman her own letter ap-
plying for reinstatement and the last anony-
nous letter received by her victim. The
woman took the two letters and she saw
that she was in a trap.
"Since you ask me. Mr.. Secretary" she
replied. undaunted, Il reply that these two
letters were unquestionably written by the
h,rN ~ ar,1