The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-04
Jchn w. Kern ReneWs His At- tack on Spurious CieVe-
 land Letter
REPLY SENT ID THE TIMES
 REITERATES CHARGES
Candidate Declares That the New York Paper Has Committed a Great Wrong By Giving credence
 to the Story.

Macon Ga, october s-John W. Kern, the democratic vice presidential candi- date. upon arriving here tonight, tele- graphed his reply to request rom the New York Times for proof of the spur ious'' nature of the letter attributed to | the authorship of the late Grover Cleve- land, as charged by MT. Kern in a speech at Birmingham yesterday. The letter in question purported to show that MT. Cleveland favored the candidacy of the republican presidential nominee, and MT. Kern branded it's as a campaign doc ument by MT. Tafts campaign managers as an attempt to place stigma upon the memory of the ex-Presdent.
 He further declared that although proven to be a fabrication, the newspapers responsible for it's circulation either have failed to right the alleged wrong or have so placed the retraction as to attract no attention. The Times declared, in long telegram that reached MT. Kern at Bir- mngham last night, that the evidence against the genuineness of the letter was fiimsy and called upon the vice presiden- tial candidate to produce any proof he might have to bear out the charge made in his speech.
 kern's Reply.
 Mir. Kern's reply foIlows
 When the executor of Grover Cleve- lands will, after due examination, de- clared the letter in question to be spurious. it was hlt coniirmatory of the opinion held and expressed by the surviving mem bers of President Cleveland s oabinet his
  stand, by Mrs. Cleveland.
 Every intelligent and fair-minded man familiar with Mir. Cleveland's character, his language and manner of expression. must have been satisfied, on casual reading of the letter in question, of it's spurious nature. Tine manner in which the letter was hacked about the New York newspaper offices before it came to you ought to have aroused suspicious as to the Cleveland letter.
 'The direct evidence of Hastings forti- fled by the opinion everywhere of those best qualified to testify, and the circum- stantia evidence surrounding the case al ready alluded to, seems to have convinced everybody but the editors of the Times that the letter was never written by Grover Cleveland The Times owes to the American public the duty of fighting this great wrong.
 Times Telegram.
 Following is the telegram from the Times to MT. Kern:
 You are reported by the Associated Press as saying in a speech at Birming- ham, Ala, today:
 '' Proofs that this alleged letter of MT. Cleveland was a base and criminal fab rication are overwhelming that it Is conceded on all hands that the dsting- ushed ex-President wrote no such let ter and District Attorney Jerome of New York has already taken steps to de- termine the guilty author and to bring him to justice.'
 If you have in your possession sucn proofs as you mention will you oblge the New York Times by putting them in It's hands that they may be im- mediately conspcuously published in it's columns; if you have not the proofs yourself. but know where they can be found, will you kindly put this newspa- per in the way of obtaining them?
 If you have taken the pains to in- form yourself the subject you should be aware that the only evidence against the genuineness of the Cleveland article is the statement of r. H. Hastings, the executor of the Cleveland estate, that he has evidence, a statement made af- ter his repeated certificatlons to the gen. uineness of the article and his sale of it to the agent who in turn sold it I aware that MT. Hastings has persistenty refused our demands for the production of this evidence and because of this re- fusal 1t was the New York Times itself which laid the matter before the district attorney. You are quoted further as say ing in your speech that the newspapers which originally printed the fabrication under great headlines have either refused to print the exposure of the crime or have so placed such exposure In their journals as to attract no attention
 1.-The New York Times. which originally published the Cleveland article also printed cnnspicuously in the two first columns of it's first page MT. Hastings denial of its authenticity, together with his previous certifications of it's genuine ness and is now printing daily large number of quotations from other news papers calling for the production of MT. Hastings evidence This evidence or any other 1t has been and it is eager to print with equal conspicuousness. To the end that all doubt in the matter may be cleared up 1t invites your cooperation or that of any other person who may possess evidence bearing on the subject.
 Great Welcome.
 Mr. Kern was accorded a rousing well come when he reached Macon. The sta ton was packed with wildly enthusi- astic crowd and when he reached the auditorium where tonights meeting was held, the big hall was likewise filled to its fullest capacity.
 Mr. Kern talked on the tariff issues and spoke at length about the "dominat- Ang power in Congress, which he said 'hangs like the sword of Damoceles over the heads of the people" When he paid a tribute to MT. Bryan, who, he said, was recognized the world over as the "champion of humanity" and the audi ence applauded for several minutes. They tell you he Is not safe man to put ct the head of this government" the speaker said