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Show THK .MURCHINSO.V ' 1DEXT George Osgoodsby died the other day at Pasadena, and his demise recalls re-calls a political incident of the pres-i(lentialcampaign pres-i(lentialcampaign of 1 8 S S whioh undoubtedly un-doubtedly defeated Grover Cleveland for re-election to the presidency. The famous "Murchison letter" was written by Osgoodsby, and the unfortunate answer by Lord Saek-villtt Saek-villtt West. British minister at Washington, Wash-ington, alienated the heavy Irish vote al that time conceded to Ihe Democratic Demo-cratic party. The name of Murchison was assum ed, and under that cognomen Os-goodby Os-goodby wrote to Lord Sackville asking ask-ing his opinion as to whom newly-uaturalized newly-uaturalized British subjects should support for president. The British minister, thinking it a personal inquiry in-quiry from a loyal English friend, and having a high regard for President Pres-ident Cleveland, advised "Murchison' to vote for Cleveland. On receipt of the letter at Pomona, then the residence resi-dence of Osgoodsby, who was an editorial edi-torial writer on a local paper, its contents were telegraphed to Harrison Harri-son Gray Otis of the Los Angeles Times, and the next morning Sack-viJlo Sack-viJlo West's unfortunate letter was printed in all of the Republican news papers of the country, creating consternation con-sternation among the Democrats and precipitating an international em-broilgo em-broilgo resulting in the retirement of the British minister. California went for Harrison by a few hundred votes. As a matter of two of the Democratic, electors were victorious. Jn New York the plurality plural-ity for Harrison was so small that there is no question but that the Murchison Mur-chison incident was responsible for the loss to the Democrats of the Empire Em-pire state, and this meant the loss of the presidency. . . The Murchison letter was a sequel to the Burchard "Rum Romanism and Rebellion" incident in the campaign' cam-paign' of 1884. when Blain lost the presidency by the narrow adverse plurality pl-urality of 1245 in New York state Hemet (Calif.) News. |