Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 August 1884 — VILE SLANDERS REFUTED. [ARTICLE]

VILE SLANDERS REFUTED.

-Searching Investigations of the Buffalo Scandals Prove Them False. "The Mouthings of Obscene Slanderers Met by a Plain Statement of Facts. [Buffalo special.] The Independent Bepublicans of this city have made an official report to the National CommitJfcee, after an investigation of the charges against ■Gov. Cleveland. The report, which is as follows, has been adopted by the National Independent Committee: To the Independent Republicans of the Nation: As Republicans and Independents residing in Buffalo, and having peculiar means of *knowl--edge, we have been called upon by private letters and otherwise for information in regard to 4he scandals which have been put in circulation arespeeting Gov. Cleveland’s private life. We have .felt it to be a duty, imposed on us by circumstances, to examine these stories in detail and to make a formal statement of the rersults. No such examination would have been .necessary to satisfy ourselves, but It was due to those who have read the charges against Gov. Cleveland without knowing personally his general character and reputation in this community, and without knowing either the position or the means of information of those who Jhave made the charges, that we should not put :forth a mere general statement without previous investigation. We have, therefore, through a ■committee appointed from our number for that purpose, carefully and deliberately made such .an investigation, and we have taken every available means to ascertain the precise facts in each -case. The general charges of drunkenness and .■Cross immorality which are made against Gov. ■Cleveland are absolutely false. His reputation .for morality has always been good. There is no foundation for any statement to the contrary. He was sought out and nominated for the Mayoralty against his will, and was supported for «that position by the larger portion of the intelligent and moral citizens of Bnffalo, without re - ■gard to politics, on purely personal grounds. After he had gone through this contest, he was Again pnt forward by one of the most distinguished citizens of Buffalo as a candidate for the Governorship, and again received the support of the same class of his fellow-citizens in this community, where he had lived for twenty-nine greats, and where his life was known and his character understood. This support would not have been given to Aim had he been either a drunkard or a libertine. "We are able to speak from personal knowledge as his acquaintances of long standing, and to tsay that his general privave life has been that of a quiet, orderly, self-respecting, and always highly respected citizen. Since he assumed his present office his visits -to Buffalo have been few and of short duration. It is susceptible of absolute proof and has been proven to us that upon no one of these visits has ■there been any ground to justify the statements ■that have been made by his detractors. The •charge that he has recently, taken part in a -drunken and licentious debauch in Buffalo on the occasion of suoh a visit is entirely false. We have been particularly careful and thorough in our investigations of the alleged betrayal, abduction, and inhuman treatment of a woman of this city as detailed in a local newspaper. The circumstances out of which this story -was fabricated occurred eight years ago. The woman in question was at that time a widow be--tween 30 and 40 years of age, with two children, the younger of whom was 10 years old. The ifacts of the case show that she was not wronged, .and that the allegations respecting her abduction and ill-treatment are wholly false. We •deem these the only features of the charge in •connection with this matter which constitute a public question requiring any declaration on our part. Our examination of the other charges which .Jiave been made against Gov. Cleveland’s private -character shows that they are wholly untrue. In •every instance in which the reports and insinuations have been tangible enough to furnish a •clew to guide us in our investigations thev have been positive"y proved to be false.

The attack on Gov. Cleveland’s character is " thoroughly discredited, when we consider the -sources from which it comes. It was first publicly made in Buffalo by a newspaper of no ■standing whatever. We have twice called upon the editor of this papier and asked him to pro--duce his proofs, the names, the dates, and other particulars which he stated he was at liberty to •show. He declines to do so or to facilitate investigation into the truth of either his own charges or those contained in the anonymous which he published. He admitted that he had no evidence to support any accusation Against Gov. Cleveland, except in the one instance to which we have particularly referred. He rested his case on that story, and as to that story he is contradicted by the witness having personal knowledge. The two clegymen whose profession has been invoked to give weight to these charges have no [personal knowledge of the facts, and under the •circumstances could not possibly have such knowledge. They have ventured to state as ifacts known to themselves, stories which rest ■upon the merest hearsay, and which when traced to the alleged sources are in every case denied •by the persons to whom they are ascribed. We bave designed to make a candid and judicial statement of the results of our investigation of this matter without partisan coloring. We have not thought it necessary or proper to repeat the charges against Gov. Cleveland in detail, nor to present in lull the evidence by which they have been disproved. -John H. Cowing, Anklet Wilcox, William F. Kip, Thomas Carey, George P. Sawyer, Ralph Stone, ■John E. Ransom, Henry W. Sprague, •Josiah G. Munroe, Lawrence D. Rumsey, G. Barrett Rich, Chas. P. Norton, John B. Olmsted, J. Tallman Davis, Henry Altman, J. N. Larned. -Gov. Cleveland’s Own Version of tlie Scandal. [Brooklyn special.] Gen. Horatio King, whose report of what he learned in Buffalo led Mr. Beecher to return to ■Governor Cleveland’s support, said to a reporter to-day: ‘‘After leaving Buffalo I went to Albany • and saw Governor Cleveland. He frankly told me that my version of the stories was substantially correct, adding: T acted throughout as any honorable man should.’ ” The version thus indorsed is, in King’s words, as follows: “Many years ago, when the Governor was ‘sowing his wild oats,’ he meft this woman and became intimate with her. She was a widow, and not a ■good woman by any means. Mr. Cleveland, learning this, made Inquiries, and found that two of his friends had also been Intimate with her. When a child was bom, Cleveland, to • shield his two friends, who were married men, assumed the responsibility of it and took care of the child and mother until the woman became a -confirmed victim to drink, and her conduct made it impossible to have anything to do with her. He never separated mother and child, nor -did aught to injure her. He was a victim of circumstances, accepted responsibilities that not •one in a thousand bas shouldered and acted .honorably. The other stories against him could not be substantiated, and no one willing to father them could be found.” -Gov. Cleveland’s Conduct Singularly Honorable. The Independent newspaper, of New York, the great organ of the Congregationalists, prints a lengthy report of a personal Investigation of the scandal, made by the Rev. Dr. Kingsley Twining at Buffalo. Mr. Twining says in part: It is not the purpose here to repeat the particulars of the reported scandal in its grosser or its corrected version. If necessary lam ready --with the full facts, but it is not necessary here. ‘The kernel of truth in the various charges •Against Cleveland is this: That when he was younger than he is now he was guilty of an lillc.t connection, but the charge as brought Against him lacks the elements of truth In these ■■substantial points: There was no Sednction. no adultery, no breach of promise, no obligation of marriage; but there was at that time A culpable irregularity of life, living as he was as a bachelor, for which it was [proper and is proper that he should suffer. .After the primary offense, which is not ■to be palliated in the circle for which I write, his conduct was singularly honorable, showing no Attempt to evade responsibility and doing all he could to meet the duties involved, of which marriage certainly was not one. Everything here was eminently to his credit under circumstances whioh would have seemed to many men •of the world to justify him in other conduct than thht which he accepted as his duty. There was no abduction, only proper legal action un--der circumstances which demanded it. There remain the worse and damning charges •of gsHaral libertinism and drunkenness. I sav, •distinctly, after abundant inquiry, that they are false. They are, I believe, the product of the imagination of the slums. Every attempt to >trace them led back into the merest gossip of -saloons and brothels. On the other hand, my inquiry of the noblest Christian men in the •city—especially in the legal profession—men above all reproach, men who will vote for him. And men who will vote and speak against him for political reasons, men who know Cleveland -most intimately, who have been his partners in

business or his nearest neighbors, men who know him by day and by night, "brings the unanimous reply that it is utterly impossible that such reports can be true. He is a man of a true and kind heart, frank and open, so intensely devoted to his business duties that it is impossible that he should be a debauchee. He has the heartiest respect of the best families in the city, who only regret that he keeps himself so much out of the society to which he would be welcome. There are some severe prejudices against Mr. Cleveland in Bnffalo. They have their chief seat in the saloon element, against whose tyranny his election to the mayorality was the protest of good citizens of both parties. They have not forgiven him for their defeat. From the best sources of information I received testimony of the strongest character that Cleveland is a bom ruler of men, of the greatest independence and honesty of character; a man who believes in reform to the bottom of his soul, and has the independence to carry it out. and a man on whom the responsibilities of office have rested with a serious and solemn weight. This investigation I made absolutely thorough. I depended on no reports of the newspapers, nor of local clergymen or others, but only on my own personal investigation of the case. I am satisfied that I know the case from fuller information than do any of those who have given it private or public currency. William Purcell Retracts. [Rochester (N. Y.) dispatch.] William Purcell, who has temporarily withdrawn from the editorship of the Union and Advertiser, publishes in that paper the following letter, under the head of “A Changed State of Facts": ‘Two days after the appearance of the Buffalo Evening Telegraph of the article headed ‘A Terrible Tale,’ in conversation with a representative of the New York Sun, I remarked that, upon the then existing state of facts. Gov. Cleveland must be considered a ‘moral leper.’ The conclusion without the premise was printed, and has since been extensively copied. I now desire to say that information has come to me, from a source in which I place explicit confidence, materially changing the state of facts upon which the remark was made. Hence, in justice to Gov. Cleveland, myself, and to all others whom it may concern, I withdraw the characterization, and request that hereafter it be not attributed to me.” Henry Ward Beecher’s Indignation. [Peekskill (N. Y.) telegram. Gen. Horatio C. King, a member of Plymouth Church, spent the entire morning with Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. Mr. King has just returned from Buffalo, where he had gone at Mr. Beecher’s request to investigate the libelous stories circulated about Gov. Cleveland. The result of the investigation was altogether honorable to the Governor, and Mr. Beecher, after expressing his pleasure at what he heard, declared his intention of continuing to give his fullest support to Cleveland. In conversation subsequently Mr. Beecher said he had been in doubt, but now the cloud has broken away and he was beginning to understand that these stories about Gov. Cleveland are untrne and a vile slander. “You can say,” he said warmly, “that I expect to brand the men who have promulgated these stories as blackmailers and liars, for I now see that the Governor acted the part of a man in the whole affair. I shall take the stump for him and tell the people of the country that they must eleot him President. I shall enter this campaign with an enthusiam second only to that with which I entered the war.” History of Another of Cleveland’s Defamers. [Washington dispatch.] Among those whom the Chicago Tribune is parading as authority for the truth of the statements made by the scandal-mongers against the private character of Gov. Cleveland is a “Mr. Moore, a business man, of Buffalo.” This Moore is special agent of the Pension Office and has been stationed at Buffalo. He was one of Keifer’s witnesses in the late Congressional investigation, with the notorious Elder and Work, hnt was not examined because it became known that the defense had a transcript of his indictment for conspiracy to defame a reputable citizen, and also evidence to show that he had engaged in another conspiracy to fix a false charge of murder upon another citizen of excellent standing and to kidnap and imprison him on this charge in Texas, In order to prevent him from being used as a witness against some of Moore’s employers. This Moore has been twice presented by Grand Juries in this District for criminal offenses. His employment by Commissioner Dudley is a mystery, unless it be to use him for political dirty work.