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Show Light on a Famous Forgeryl Story Showa Stephen French Was Innocent In Bogus Proxy Incident Which Had Much to Do With Cleveland's Elevation. It was in 1882 that the name of Grover Cleveland first became a household one throughout the country. In that year he was elected governor of New York over Charles J. Folger by a plurality of nearly two hundred thousand. Two years later he was president-elect, his seconl phenomenal phenome-nal elective victory resulting directly from his first, which was due in no small measure to the famous forged telegram of 1882. That telegram cropped up when the Republican state convention was gathering to select Its gubernatorial candidate. A desperate struggle was under way to secure control of the convention through its organization by the state committee. The friends of President Arthur were backing his secretary of the treasury, Mr. Folger, Fol-ger, for the nomination. At the' height of the battle Stephen V. French, a personal friend of the president, appeared ap-peared before the state committee holding a telegraphic proxy which entitled en-titled him to serve in place of William Wil-liam H. Robertson, collector of the port of New York. This proxy determined de-termined the control of the convention conven-tion and assured the nomination of Folger. But Folger had not been nominated many hours before Collector Robertson Robert-son was out with a statement denouncing de-nouncing as a forgery the proxy presented pre-sented by Mr. French. Instantly the telegram became a powerful Issue In the campaign, helping materially to defeat Folger. And ' as for French, though he denied forging it, he became be-came known far and wide derisively as "Proxy" French, he became an outcast, out-cast, almost, and at last died practically practical-ly unknown. Now, nearly twenty-eight years after aft-er the forged telegram, which helped to shake great events, was sprung, I am able to offer some hitherto un published evidence in support of Mr. French's declaration that he did not forge the telegram, that he was made to suffer Innocently. My authority in Gen. Howard S. Carroll, who was Republican Re-publican candidate for congressman-at-large in 1SS2, and is today the head of one of the big shipping interests of New York harbor. "Mr. French and I had connecting rooms in the hotel at which we were stopping for the convention," said Gen. Carroll, "We were warm personal friends, and we sat up quite late the evening before the convention met, chatting with politicians, and I think it was about 2 o'clock in the morning when we went to bed. The situation was then all in the air. Nobody could tell how the convention would be organized. or-ganized. "At ten o'clock the next morning, there came a series of very loud knocks upon Mr. French's door. They awakened me, for the door between our rooms was wide open; and as I looked at my watch to find out the time I lieard Mr. French growling sleepily because he had been disturbed. dis-turbed. But the hall boy shouted over the transom: It's a telegram for you, Mr. French.' So he arose, opened the door and took the telegram. tele-gram. "I heard him tear open the envelope, and, an instant later, heard him utter a very excited exclamation of surprise, sur-prise, which sounded suspiciously like: 'Well, I'll be damned!' Then he came hurrying Into my room. 'Here, How ard, he said exlt-dly. 'I wish you would look at this.' He handed me the telegram and I read that he had been authorized by Collector Robertson to act as his ! proxy In the state committee meeting. The telegram was signed 'William H. Robertson.' "As we stood there discussing the telegram, the only thing that occurred oc-curred to us was that Jud-je Robertson was getting rea'dy to resume friendly relations with the Arthur administration, administra-tion, and that this was his way of showing it We never doubted the good faith of the telegram, which French showed after breakfast to various vari-ous Republican leaders, and afterwards after-wards presented to the state committee commit-tee as his authority to act for Mr, Robertson. There wasn't a person who saw it who doubted its authenticity. authen-ticity. "When the word did come that the telegram had been forged poor French was thunderstruck. 'It will ruin me politically; no one will believe that I did not put up the Job myself," he said to me, adding, prophetically, 'It will make a martyr of me.' It did poor French, with ..is broken heart dying a few years later 'unhonored and unsung.' "Personally, I consider that my proof of his Innocence of the forgery Is complete; I know that Stephen V. French never sent himself that forged telegram. Bu. who did send it will probably remain forever an unsolved un-solved mystery of American politics." (Copyright. 1910, by E. J. Edwards.) |