Year: 1877




send


New YORK, July 6.


The following correspondence ID made
public:


New YORK, June 30.


My Dear Sir-In view of the statement
made by the attorney general in his COM
munication of June 30, and which from his
high official position might naturally induce
the public to believe that have been act
ing in bad faith, and with no intention of
fairly carrying out my intentions as ex-
pressed in my letter to Mr.. O'Conor of the
9th of December, 1876, 1 would ask if it
will be possible or proper to have all the
facts which are in dispute between Mr..
Fairchild and yourself, submitted to some
gentleman or gentlemen who are free from
political bias, to render written opinion,
whether or not in all the facts have been
faithful to my promise, and whether what
1 have done does not Justify my release
from custody? To Mr.. O'Conor, as gen.
tleman of recognized honor and ability l
made my first appeal; to him would will
ingly submit the whole matter, and feel
satisfied with any decision he might arrive
at. Trusting that this suggestion, which /
take the liberty of publishing, will not in
terfere with any other action you may
have determined upon, remain


Yours very truly,


WILLIAM Nj. TWEED.


This is followed by letter from Town.
send to Attorney General Fairchild, in
which Townsend, after criticising portions
of the report to the governor, says: In my
open letter to you June Goth, set forth,
as far as 1 could fairly do, what Tweed's
proposition contained and all that he offer
ed to do, and it was apparent from that
that there were but three courses honorably
open to you to pursue First to return the
statement Immediately if you felt disn-
clined to enter upon such negotiations !;
Second, to return the statement immediate
ly if you thought that proof of all ii con-
tained would not warrant his release;
Third. if you concluded that its contents
would warrant his release to investigate
thoroughly whether he could do what the
statement set forth. You make no attempt
in your report to deny that you stated
to Kelly that you would release Tweed
if he carried out his intentions as
expressed in his letter to Mr.. O'Conor.
You do not deny that on the 22d of April
you told me you were surprised at finding
how much evidence Mr. Peckham had that
corroborated what Tweed could testify to
and that you then intimated to me that
Tweed would he released in few days.
You fail to deny that you gave assurance
to the same effect to Tweed yon fail to
explain how 1t was that without my knowl-
edge you called upon Tweed with Bryant,
and how it is that Bryant could have been
80 conversant with your movements and
your wishes, and so ignorant of them un-
less he was acting in concert with you you
give no reason why you requested me not
to communicate with Peckham on the sub
ject of the proposition you show no rea-
sons, as trusted you would, why you have
been so considerate to the many ring thieves
who still live in comfort and elegance; you
have not denied that it was by your sugges-
tion that Tweed declined to testify before
the senate committee on the Woodin mat
ter.


Mr.. Townsend recalls the testimony of
the attorney general before tie senate
committee to show that it was at variance
with Fairchilds report, and says: You
could not have forgotten you had taken a
statement in writing from Tweed bearing
directly upon MIR. Woodin. You furnish
the evidence against you in your report !;
you had it in your possession when you
were examined by the committee and you
have not yet returned it. AS it will be of
no further use in future proceedings and
probably will have no further use as a
paper against Woodin, may l suggest
again that you return itP All the matter
have mentioned above l have referred
and more set forth to you in my letter of
the 20th, and upon them l intimated the
belief that you had acted dishonesty.
Your report ignores them all and you rely
upon your assertions, which from your
high official position you perhaps rightly
believe will carry more weight than my
opinion. That Tweed has not done
what he minated his willingness to
do l believe the public will soon
have an opportunity of deciding. Mr..
Tweed submitted to you among an i'm.
mense amount of testimony, number OF
duplicate checks endorsed by persons to
whom they were delivered. Besides these
Mr.. Tweed offered to turn over to you q
large amount of his checks payable to his
own order, or to the order of his secretary
and he asked immunity for his secretary
who could aid him in tracing the distrlbu
ton of these checks as well as corroboratt
him in other matters. You paid no heed
whatever, and others whose names were
given as persons who would corroborats
Tweed's statement were not communicated
with. did not complain in my letter oi
Its exhibition to Peckham, although
might fairly have done so. Townsend
brands as falsehood the statement that h,
| (Townsend) offered to collect Tweed
checks for ten per cent, and that he re