Show NEW NEWS OF yell aa A Z y I 1 or ela A ase light on a famous forgery story shows stephen french wa was innocent in bogus proxy incident which had much to do with cleveland a llevat on it was in 1882 that the name of grover cleveland first became a household one throughout the country tn in that year he was elect elected ed governor ot of new york over charles J folger by a plurality of 0 nearly two hundred thousand two years later he was president elect his nal elective victory resulting directly from rom his first which was due in no email 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 fol ger for the nomination at the height of the battle stephen V french a personal friend of the president appeared before the state committee holding a telegraphic proxy which en titled him to serve in place of wil liam 11 robertson bertson Ko collector of the port of new york this proxy de ter mined the control of the conven tion and assured the nomination of folger but folger had not been nominated many hours before collector robert son was out with a statement de bouncing noun cing as a forgery the proxy pre dented 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 be came known tar far and wide derisively as proxy french he became an out cast almost and at last died practical ly unknown now nearly twenty eight years aft er the forged telegram which helped to shake great events was sprung I 1 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 er innocently my authority in gen howard S carroll who was re publican candidate for congressman at large in 1882 and is today the head of one of the big shipping interests of new york harbor mr french and I 1 had connecting rooms in the hotel at which we were stopping for the convention said gen carroll we were warm personal first white women in china greeted with astonishment and curl osley they were finally ordered back to their ship as most undesirable foreign devils seta low who Is known in na bonal education circles as a former president of columbia university in nat national fonal philanthropic circles as a maker of numerous munificent gifts and in politics as a former mayor of new york city and also of brooklyn when the latter was an independent city was one of a company of gentle men who had met to discuss the awen century industrial and commer cial awakening of china mr low lows s father the late A A low gained his great fortune and established a world wide reputation aa as a merchant through the great commerce blishel by his house with china he was owner of some of the clipper ships which made america famous on the seas sixty odd years ago of the men who met with mr low there were several who had recently been in china and thye told from per bonal of the great changes taking place in the empire and par ticul arly of the new and friendly atti tude towards foreigners on the part of the ruling classes the change towards foreigners has indeed been most marked said mr low the anecdote of the first worn wom en of american birth and training and also I 1 think the first white worn wom en of any nation to put foot upon chinese soil proves that one of these ladies was an aunt of mine a al sister of my father and the other was mas a near relative of hers and younger their adventure in china I 1 believe Is not generally known these ladles ladies took passage for chi na upon one of my father fathers s clippers on reaching port they went ashore and were at once the objects of the utmost astonishment and curiosity almost as speedily too there came mutterings agal agai the two women not so much from the merchants as from the ruling clashes who insisted to the ship ships s officers that the foreign devils as the authorities described the amiable ladies should be instant ly deported at once assurances were given the authorities that the two ladies had no intention of interfering ID in any way wal with chinese customs that they had imply come to china on a ship of theia relatives as travelers anxious to see t an anar lands friends and we sat up quite late the evening before the convention met chatting with politicians and I 1 think it was about 2 0 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 or at ten 0 clock the next mornin morning there came a series of very loud knocks upon mr french e door they awakened me tor for the door between our rooms was wide open and as I 1 looked at my watch to find out the time I 1 heard mr french growling sleepily because he had been dis die but the hall boy shouted over the transom it a a telegram for you mr french so he arose opened the door and took the telegram I 1 heard him tear open the envelope and an instant later heard him a very excited exclamation of sur prise which sounded suspiciously like well ill be damned I 1 then he came hurrying into my room here how ard he said ex it adly I 1 wish you would look at this he e handed me the telegram and I 1 read that he had been authorized by collector robertson bertson Ho to act as his proxy in the state committee meeting the telegram was signed william 11 robertson As we stood there discussing the telegram the only thing that oc oe burred to us was that budwe robertson was getting ready to resume friendly relations with the arthur adminis tra tion and that this was his way of showing it we never doubted the good faith ot of th thy telegram which french showed after breakfast to varl vart ous republican leaders and after wards presented to the state committee as his authority to act for mr robertson there wasat gasn wasn t a person who saw it who doubted its acthen 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 1 did not put up the job myself he said to me adding prophetically it will make a martyr ot of me it did poor french with Js Is broken heart dying a few years later and unsung personally I 1 consider that my proof of his innocence of the f forgery Is complete I 1 know that stephen V french never bent sent himself that forged telegram bu who did send it will probably remain tore fore er an un solved mystery of american politics copyright 1910 by E J edwards IC if saved mark twains L life ife famous humorist having lost his HI taste for good tobacco sought and found the worst cigars in all his life in new york one morning in the late eighties I 1 met mark twain in the office of a mu friend I 1 am come to see you on an errand of mercy he said as he shook hands you can save my life you must have observed my distraction because I 1 have appeared upon the streets these mornings wearing my somewhat rusty silk hat and a sack coat I 1 have been told that this Is a highly improper thing to do in new york and while I 1 am a temporary sojourner oumer here herer I 1 am anT anxious Ious to observe the proprieties I 1 saw that behind this jesting mark twain had a real purpose I 1 in mind and in a moment or two he revealed it my friends for some years now have remarked that I 1 am an inveterate consumer of tobacco he said that Is true but my habits with regard to tobacco have changed I 1 have no doubt that you will say when I 1 have the explanation did not make the slightest difference in fact the ruling classes insisted more strongly than before that the ladles ladies should be de porte at last the authorities pro bounced sentence so to speak they sent word to all the native merchants fl that unless the two american women were at once placed on board ship an ani I 1 kept there and from off chinese soil until the vessel sailed an edict would be issued which would permanently prohibit any further commercial rela eions of any sort with the firm of A A low co the merchants knew that the rul ing lug classes meant what they said the officers officer of the vessel likewise knew that the authorities were in dead earnest and with neither officers nor merchants anxious to have the threatened edict issued the ladles ladies were at once escorted back to their quarters aboard ship ana and kept there until after the vessel bad had cleared the harbor and all danger was past of disturbing large commercial rela relations tiong that were profitable alike to china and america that gentlemen was the china of 1840 and thereabouts there therea abo boits its copyright 1910 1111 by E J edwards edward I 1 explained to you what my present pur pose Is that my taste has deteriorated but I 1 do not so regard it let me tell you briefly the history of my personal relation to tobacco it began I 1 think when I 1 was a lad and took the form of a quid which I 1 be came an expert in tucking under my tongue afterwards I 1 learned the de lights of the pipe and I 1 suppose there was no other youngster of my age who could more deftly cut plug tobacco so aa as to make it available tor for pipe king well time runs on and there came a time when I 1 was able to gratify one of 0 my youthful ambitions I 1 could buy the choicest havana aciga ciga cigars rs without seriously interfering with my income I 1 smoked a good many changing off from the havana cigars to the pipe in the course of a day s smoking at ast last it occurred to me that some thing was lacking in the havana cigar it did not quite fulfill my youthful an I 1 experimented I 1 bought what was called a seed leaf cigar with a connecticut wrapper after awhile I 1 became satiated of these and I 1 searched for something else the pittsburg stogie was recommended to me it certainly had the merit of cheapness it if that be a merit in co and I 1 experimented with the stogie then once more I 1 changed off so that I 1 might acquire the subtler flavor of the wheeling toby now that has hai palled and I 1 have been looking around new york in the hope of finding cigars which would seem to most people vile but which I 1 am sure would be am brosiah to me I 1 can cant t find any they have put into my hands some of those little things that cost ten cents a box but they are a delusion I 1 would soon er smoke sweet fern cigarettes so I 1 want to know if you can direct me to an honest tobacco merchant who will tell me what Is the worst cigar in the new york market ex hepting those made tor for chinese con I 1 want real tobacco and if you will do this and I 1 find the wax map Is as good as his word I 1 will guaran tee him a regular market for a air fair amount of 0 his cigars I 1 saw mark twain was really in earnest and after making some in took him to a tobacco dealer who I 1 knew would tell the truth who it if a cigar was bad would boldly say so I 1 introduced the humorist to this man explaining our errand and he produced what he called the very worst cigars he had ever had in his shop he let mark twain experiment with one then and there the test m nas as satisfactory this Is after all the real thing exclaimed mark with delight I 1 will now negotiate for a box of them so that I 1 may be sure of having them handy when I 1 want them A few minutes later with a hundred of those awful affairs tucked fondly under his arm with one of them scent ing up the whole neighborhood from its position between his lips and with the parting assertion that he had bad dis covered that the worst cigars so bo called are the best for me after all mark twain went happily to hie hill home and I 1 afterwards learned that for some months he was a steady pur chaser of those cigars copyright 1910 by b L J edwards |