Year: 1878




husband was supposed to have had,
but he declared that be did not
know what letter it was supposed
to be. He swore that his wife came
to Washington in January last on
private business; that lie did not
know the nature of it; that she
never told him, and that he never
asked her; that he paid her fare and
expenses On that occasion, but
knew nothing of the nature Of her
business other than that 1t was pri-
vate. He was compelled to answer
the question as to what sort of pri-
vate business, and after vain ef-
fort on the part OF three of the Re-
publican members of the commit
tee to prevent it, the truth was ex-
tracted in executive session; and
10! it appeared that she came on at
the request of Kellogg and Packard
to assist the latter in his fight for
the Custom House. 1t was subse-
quently disclosed when Mrs. jerks
testified that the Sherman letter
and the other documents and let
ters in Anderson's possession were
used to compel Stanley Matthews
to vote for the admission OF Kel-
logg and against Spofford.


AS to the woman jerks, Secre-
tary of the Treasury of the United
States is reduced to pitiful plight
when he is obliged to introduce
such person before a committee
of the United States Congress to
tell a cock-and-bull story. We
learn that there was expectancy
pictured in every mans face as the
short, thick-set woman entered the
committee room. Her face was
not pretty, but it was at first glance
striking. She wore a queer head
gear, cross between a turban and
a bonnet, with a wreath of aItifi-
cial leaves and net streamer on
her head. Her clothes were not
tidy and her appearance was neg
ligee in the extreme. 1t was man.
ifest, however, that she was not an
ordinary woman Intellectually.
Her forehead was broad, the eyes
wide apart, the nose long, straight
and large. She was graceful in her
movements, and although the close
observer near at hand could detect
the presence of stage fright, still
she was wonderfully seif-possessed
in her general demeanor. Her en-
trance was modest. She looked de-
mure as she stood up to take the
oath, but as she settled. back in the
chair thera was an air of abandon
in her manner, half-concealed
look of triumph on her face. She
turned and faced Gen. Butler, as
though expecting the attack from
that quarter. 1t came in an unex-
pected way. Manifestly it discon-
certed her plan. She had fixed up
her story, but Butler has way of
making witnesses tell their story
as ne wants it told. He plunged
in nlsdias res. The second question
he asked threw the woman, proud
OF her smartness, On the defensive.
She began to equivoeate, to evade,
to lie at the very beginning. Be-
fore she had testified ten minutes
she was hopelessly involved, and
there was no way out but by steady
and not very artistic lying. She
first caught herself by saying that
she had the Sherman letter on the
street about two minutes and a
half; that she picked it up. Then
it really seemed that the story she
was Immediately driven by But
ler's adroit examination to tell,
about getting the letter in Parlor
P, had to be invented then and
there to wriggle out of the lie she
had already been caught in. That
she meant to tell story about
conceiving and fabricating the
Sherman letter, there can be no
doubt, but it was different story
from the one she did tell. John
Shermaa's attorneys would not
have encouraged her to tell one SO
manifestly absurd and improbable
as she did tell. 1t is not only i'm.
probable, but impossible. She
knew nothing of Weber and
Anderson writing letter to
Sherman until she met Weber at
the corner of the st. Charles Hotel.
Shs knew that they were dissatis.
fed and wanted guarantees and
had received verbal assurances; but
she did not know that they in
tended to demand written guaran-
tees of the visiting statesmen until
Weber told her SO when she met
him and he gave her the letter to
hand to John Sherman. She ex-
pressly swears that the idea Of an
swering it herself struck her in the
ladies' reception room, while wait.
ing TO be shown to Parlor P. Now,
Parlor p. is on the same floor, but q
few doors from the ladies' reception
room. She did not wait long until
she was shown to Parlor p, where
she inquired for Sherman. She
was told that he was up stairs, and