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THE COURIER
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in the United States. He was a prominent union man during the
time that Kentucky wub holding that abnormal condition of armed
neutrality. He voted at the presidential election in 1860 for Bell
and Everett. He never was a democrat, but ho was a strong
union man from the beginning. General Thayer further says that
he was in a condition to know that if it was not for violating confi
dence he would give up his informer. I happened to know both
sides of that question, and I know the cause of Bristow's withdraw
ing from Grant's cabinet; and General Thayer is mistaken again
when he sayB that Grant told Bristow that he had no further use
for him as secretary of the treasury. Bristow sent his resignation
to the White house, and it was delivered to General Grant in the
presence of General Belknap, who was then secretary of war. After
Grant read it he handed it to Belknap and made the remark that
this resignation did not come any too soon. This is the fact. Gen
eral Belknap told me this himself afterwards. When General Grant
appointed a man by the name of Taf t from Georgia as attorney gene
ral of the United States, he also appointed Bristow as the assistant
attorney general of the United States, and he acted in the capacity
of attorney general nearly all the time that Taf t was attorney gene
ral on account of the bad health of Taft. Afterwards Grantappoint
ed Bristow as secretary of the treasury. He at once began to break
up the "whisky rings" throughout the country and landed some 100
or 200 distillers in the penitentiary, two from St Joseph that I know
of, and in-the other cases I examined the papers on file in the office
of the solicitor of the treasury department. Bristow's trouble began
with Grant through an accident that discovered that Babcock had
been mixed up with Joyce, who was afterward tried and convicted
in St. Louis at the name time that Babcock was acquitted. What
discovered Babcock was this: There were dispatches sent out to St.
Louis from Washington repeatedly, signed "Sylph." The detectives
got possession of a number of these "Sylph' dispatches, and they
could not find out by any means who wrote them. A detective by
the name of Miller took one of these dispatches to Secretary Bristow
and asked him whose handwriting that was. Bristow answered at
once, "Babcock wrote that dispatch, the president's private secre
tary," and on the strength of that information the detective went to
St. Louis and Babcock was indicted and tried and acquitted, but
never afterwards did he act as private secretary to General Grant.
About this time Henry Atkinson of this state was commissioner of
pensions, and appointed me clerk of the pension bureau while I was
temporarily in Washington. Columbus Delano, who was secretary
of the interior, had a eon-in-law by the name of Clark, who was also
clerk in the pension bureau, and when the candidates for president
were being talked about in the spring of 1876, Bristow was cham
pioned by Bill Chandler, (now United States senator from New
Hampshire), Judge Hoar and Senator Dawes and all the New Eng
land politicians except Blaine and a few of his adherents. They went
to Cincinnatti, and Bristow receeived the largest number of votes of
any candidate except Hayes, who was nominated. This man Clark
and I exchanged views, and I declared myself in favor of Bristow,
and that 1 intended to go to the convention and do all I could for
him. The very next day after I made this assertion I received an
order from the comriissioner of pensions to proceed at once to San
Francisco and examine the pension agent's accounts. Without me
informing Clark that I had received such an order he approached
me and twitted me with the remark that I would not be here when
the Cincinnatti convention was to meet. I took the order up to the
secretary of the treasury, Bristow, and I asked him what he thought
and he said, "You are not going, are you?" I remarked that I would
either go or else resign. He said, "Go down there and resign, and
come back here." I went to the interior department, tendered my
resignation to take effect at once and Bristow appointed me as
special assistant United States attorney to prosecute distilleries and
distillers, and the whisky thieves. Up to the time that Bristow
went out of the treasury I covered into that institution about 90,-
000 of money collected by way of compromise with a number of dis
tillers in Kentucky and east Tennessee. Fending a meeting of the
Cincinnatti convention in the fall of 1876, 1 was well acquainted with
all the leading colored men, Blanche Bruce, United States senator
from. Mississippi, General Bob Small of South Carolina, "Pinch
Back Nash" and other leading colored men. They all came to Wash
ington before going to the convention. Before they started for the
convention they had all come to the conclusion, with the exception
of two or three of them to vote for Bristow for president, and they
did so till Hayes was nominated. General Thayer is mistaken again.
Bristow never resigned the secretaryship of the treasury until the
day after the Cincinnatti convention -.djourned. It is somewhat
annoying to have on's friend of a life-time belittled in a manner in
which General Thayer sees proper to write and speak about Ben
Bristow. He is a man that impresses everyone that meets him with
the air and dignity of a gentleman. He holds as high a standard of
honor as any man that lives. A truer and more faithful friend
than Ben Bristow has no existence. I have known him all my life.
We stood together in the early days, he being only about five years
my senior. Together we fought the union battles before the war on
stump and all over Kentucky to prevent the state from going out of
the union. Wo went out together in the home guards before Ken
tucky recruited any soldiers for the army, and to have a friend of
mine abused in that style is a little more than I will submit to with
out making a huge back action. Delano and Belknap and some
others around the White house were constantly trying to make a
breach between Grant and Bristow; and Grant told Bristow a short
time before his resignation, (say some sixty days), that they were
bringiug him all kinds of reports about himself (Bristow)', but he
said he could see the motive in nearly all of them and paid no atten
tion to it; but the trial of Babcock took place about that time, and
General Grant's only remark on that subject was to an intimate
friend of his, that he thought Bristow should not have told that it
was Babcock's writing in the "Sylph" dispatches. Bristow in speak
ing of this subject to me afterward, said that he had not the remo
test idea that it would make any trouble, and he said it so quickly
that he did not have the remotest idea that it would result so dis
astrously to Babcock. Bristow is the head of his social and political
relations. He ranks among the Depsws and Choates in New York
city, whero he is now a very eminent railroad and corporation attor
ney. The republican legislature at every election of United
States senator for titteen years always cast its vote for, Bristow.
That ought to be proof conclusive that he neither has the big -1163-,
nor is he a third rate lawyer.
MONTE CARLO.
A big yellowish building with a blue clock dial stares at you
on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sparkling sea. It is not a
beautiful building nor an ugly one. But nobody who goes to
Monte Carlo bothers himself about thearcbitecture of the place.
All roads in Monte Carlo lead to the yellowish structure, which is
the palace of chance. You begin your novitiate by "following the
crowd," not that there is any crowd to follow, but you see a group
of sedate persons ascending the steps of the yellowish place and
you Btraightway 6cent the game. Of course you ask no questions
you do not choose te betray yourself as a Btranger since you
have a haunting fear that confidence men must lurk in these quar
ters. You follow the man in front of you a grave and reverend
seignor, whois probably a deacon or a bank president when he is at
home. He knows his way about. He ascends the carpeted
steps and passes without flinching the immense uniformed per
son at the portal.
The elderly gentleman turns into a large cloak room at the
right and delivers bis overcoat and walking stick to the courteous
Highest of all in Leavening Power. Latest U. S. Gov't Report
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