The Washington herald., 1920-10-31
PAPER DEFENDS
HARDING'STREE
Cincinnati Times-Star Nails
Lie" Connecting Name
With Negro Blood.
CITES LINCOLN AFFAIR
Campaign Methods Scored
In Editorial by Charles P.
And Herbert Taft.
CITES LINCOLN AFFAIR

Cincinnati. Oct. 30.-The Cincin-
natl Times-Star today published the
following editorial over the sigma
lures Of Charles P. Taft, publisher,
and Hubert Taft, editor:
Fifty years ago personal scandal
and whispered lies against the can
didates played a conside :able part
in American politics. Until this
year il seemed that we had been
getting away from that sort OF
thing. The PresidFntial campaigns
Of the present ce,ntury have been
fought out chierI in the open, with
arguments abo-t principles and the
characters anu Intentions OF candi-
dates holdiuE the center OF the
stage.
This year the Democrats have
tried 70 turn the clock back fifty
years. They have attempted TO re-
Vive that spirit Of underhanded par
tisanship which was quite usual in
America in the days when black
guards attacked the ancestry OF the
mother Of Abraham Lincoln and said
that Lincoln himself was iIlegiti-
mate.
sIie About Harding"
Most Of the energy Of the under
ground section OF the Democratic
campaign has been devoted to the
circulation OF a lie about Harding s
ancestry. No responsible Democrat
has dared repeat il in the open, but
many Democrats have passed II
around. hand to hand. There are
few voters in Hamilton County who
have not run up against this sneak
ing propaganda in one form or an
other and who have not had some
body whisper in their ears in strict
confidence that There is really
something in that story about
Harding
The story is to the effect that
Warren G. Harding's grandfather
was Amos Harding and that he mar
ried Mary Ann Dixon, 4 negress.
The story is false in every respect
1t even had the wrong names for
Harding's grandparents. The Sena-
tors grandfather was not Amos, but
Charles Alexander Harding. Charles
Alexander Hardings wife and the
grandmother of Warren G. Harding
on the paternal side was Mary Ann
Crawford. She was the daughter Of
Joshua Crawford, Of Baltimore. and
Sophia Stevens, whose family lived
in Albemarle county, Va. The
Crawtords were Of Scotch-Irish de-
scent, the family originating in
Lanarkshire. Scotland The first OF
the family came to America in the
seventeenth century. The CrawfOrds
appear all through the genealogies
OF Virginia and are related to most
Of the prominent families Of colo
NAL days in that State.
No Mary Ann Dixon.
There was an Amos Harding
among Warren G. Harding's ances-
tors. He was not the Senator 5
grandfather, however. but his great
Ereat-grandfather The name of his
wife was not Mary Ann Dixon, but
Phoebe Trip, Who belonged TO d
weI-knOwn colonial family of Penn
sylvania and was cousin OF Fran
Ces SlocUm, The Lost Sister of
Wyoming. Amos Harding lived in
the Wyoming valley. Pennsylvania,
from l7T7 to 1900. He cana to
s'zChland county. Ohio. early in the
nineteenth century. and died there.
As a rule Americans object to
lies and particularly TO that type
Of lie which aourishes only in the
dark. Unless the character of our
people has changed, they will show
OF election day exactly what they
Inink Of the sUoterranean campaign
the Democrats have waged during
the past three weeks. A political
campaign that cannot be run in the
open, free press Of America is not
to the credit Of any party or can
didate-
We give below Hardings family
tree 1t is an ancestry of which any
American might be proud. We shall
be glad to answer questions about
any Of the men or women whose
names are given and are prepared
70 prove that there was not a drop
OF negro blood in any Of them.
(SiEned)
CHARLES P. TAFT,
Publisher.