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REPLY 
 
 OF 
 
 Hon. THOS. L. JONES 
 
 TO 
 
 GOVERNOR STEVENSON, 
 
 OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 McGill & Withekcw, Printers and Stereotypers, Washington, D. C. 
 

 
 JS 
 
TO THE PEOPLE OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 Fellow-Citizens: I come before you in a controversy 
 already prolonged, deprecated by me from the beginning, 
 and in which I had fondly hoped any further participation 
 of mine ivould be unnecessary. But the recent communica- 
 tion of Governor Stevenson to Senator McCreery, with the 
 appended correspondence, forbids my silence. It becomes 
 imperative upon me, as a man tenacious of his honor, to de- 
 fend a reputation which for the first time, in a life of fifty 
 years, much of it public, has ever been at all questioned. 
 
 I desire to submit, briefly as possible under the circum- 
 stances, a statement, analysis, and conclusion, to which I 
 earnestly invite the close examination and strict scrutiny of 
 an enlightened, just, and brave people, especially of those 
 whom I have the honor to represent in the Congress of the 
 United States. "Hear me for my cause," for it is the cause 
 of truth. 
 
 While at my home, enjoying the holiday interval of Con- 
 gress, I received the following letter from Governor J. W. 
 Stevenson: 
 [Strictly confidential.] 
 
 "Executive Office, 30th December, 1869. 
 
 "My Dear Jones: Accept my thanks for your kind letter 
 of congratulation upon my recent election to the Senate. In 
 return permit me to tender to you and yours a happy New 
 Year! I had a short, spirited contest, but I always kept the 
 lead. I made the race against wind and tide, with Trimble, 
 Carroll, Boone, Harrison, and the Senators of Owen and Ken- 
 ton against me. 
 
 "The people (God bless them) were for me, if small politi- 
 cal cabals were against me. The race has left no sore places. 
 I am in a good humor with everybody. I had hoped to have 
 seen you in Cincinnati before I left there on 24th. Can't 
 you pay me a visit? I hope so. I should be delighted to 
 see you on the 8th January to my supper. I have thought 
 again and again of your prediction the night I was nominated 
 for Lieutenant Governor, when we slept together at Mrs. 
 Wiugate's. Do you remember it? 
 
 "I presume my election astonished you, as everybody 
 
nearly seemed to think Tom invincible. He was easily 
 beaten. Out of the first, second, and third districts together 
 I got nineteen to his twenty-two. Write to me, and believe 
 me, very sincerely, yours. J. W. Stevenson. 
 
 "Hon. T.L.Jones." 
 
 This letter accounts for my luckless visit to Frankfort and 
 the gubernatorial mansion on the evening of the 8th January 
 last, as it also may appear to some as the prelude to a sequel 
 in which, if there has been a contrivance, the contriver should 
 be engulfed for all time. 
 
 I arrived at Frankfort in the afternoon of the 8th, regis- 
 tered my name at the Capitol Hotel, and shortly after, accom- 
 panied by a friend, went straightway to the executive office 
 on Main street. After sitting with the Governor an hour or 
 more! I arose to return to my hotel, when he insisted that I 
 should be his guest, that he had a room piupai-Acl for me, and 
 he immediately went with me to the hotel, took my port- 
 manteau in his hand, and escorted me to the mansion. Being 
 shown to a room, I remained a short time, then went back 
 to the hotel to see some friends, and when I returned to the 
 mansion the company had assembled and the supper was 
 going on. Here I met many old friends, and conversed with 
 them upon general topics. At the end of the table I well 
 remember meeting Mr. S. F. J. Trabue; we took wine to- 
 gether and talked probably ten or twelve minutes. The sub- 
 ject of the race for Congress in his district was mentioned; 
 he said he expected to be a candidate, and asked me if I 
 thought Mr. Beck would be. Mr. Beck's course in Congress 
 was spoken of, and some of his votes, as differing with mine 
 and others of the Kentucky delegation, as were also his 
 social relations with Butler and other radical members. I 
 distinctly recollect Mr. Trabue's saying that he would "pitch 
 into" Mr. Beck. The Burb ridge matter, I am quite sure, 
 was not, could not have been, mentioned, because I had ucver 
 heard Mr. Beck's name connected with it, either here, at 
 "Washington, or elsewhere. I had no conversation of any 
 length with any member or members of the Legislature ex- 
 cept that of the usual salutations among gentlemen on such 
 an occasion, and the name of Burbridge and the Burbridge 
 affair was not mentioned or thought of by me until the ban- 
 quet was over and the guests had departed. 
 
 At about 1 o'clock, as well as I can remember, the Gov- 
 ernor escorted me to my chamber, then Sunday morning. 
 Here we sat down, and after much talk, almost entirely of 
 
his own, telling me of his senatorial contest, who were his 
 friends, who his enemies, often using the names of McCreery 
 and Beck, (and here I discovered sparks of unkindness or 
 jealousy;) he at length asked me, "what about that Burbridge 
 matter?" and what I knew about Burbridge being recom- 
 mended by any of the Kentucky delegation. I told him all 
 I knew about it was what Colonel Blanton Duncan said to 
 me, then describing Colonel Duncan's interview with me 
 substantially, just as I have done whenever the matter has 
 been spoken of, and as I have narrated it in my letters upon 
 the subject. There could have been no misunderstanding, 
 for my language was emphatic, and no second question was 
 put to me on the subject. I cannot forget, however, that the 
 Governor said, in speaking of those members of the Legis- 
 lature from McCreery's region of the State who had voted 
 for him, that if McCreery's friends made war upon them he 
 would plage into their hands all the material he could with 
 which to defend and maintain themselves. This conversation 
 lasted till between 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning, when the 
 Governor bade me good night and withdrew to his own 
 chamber. 
 
 The next day, or that day rather, we breakfasted late, and 
 the Governor and I went to church together. After church 
 he accompanied me to the residence of Colonel Grant Green, 
 a connexion of mine, with whom I had an engagement to 
 dine. He sat with the family a short time in the parlor and 
 left. After dinner I passed an hour and a half or two hours 
 in the room of Senator Martin and Representative Lowe, 
 who were boarding with Colonel Green. About dark I took 
 leave of the family, and Colonel Green went with me to see 
 my old friend and partner Hon. George R. McKee, of Gar- 
 rard, and Dr. Dillie, of Harrison, who were rooming toge- 
 ther. We sat and talked for half an hour or more, when 
 Colonel Green and I left, he going to his home and I to the 
 Capitol Hotel, where I took tea with Mr. J. C. Demoss, the 
 representative of my own county. I mention these visits and 
 interviews, as the only ones to or with any members of the 
 Legislature during my stay in Frankfort, and I call upon 
 one or all of these gentlemen to state whether the Burbridge 
 matter was mentioned at all; and, if so, by whom and what 
 was said? I have no recollection that any allusion was made 
 to it. About 9 o'clock I returned to the Governor's man- 
 sion, and on entering the parlor found himself, a young gen- 
 tleman conversing apart, as I thought, with his eldest daugh- 
 ter, and perhaps another lady, the wife of a friend of ours, 
 
6 
 
 then on a visit to the Governor's family. I believe I was 
 introduced to the young gentleman, Mr. Castleman, but have 
 no recollection that a word passed between us during the 
 evening. The conversation was on general topics, and chiefly, 
 almost entirely indeed, at least that heard by me, between the 
 Governor and myself. The young gentleman and the Gov- 
 ernor's daughter soon withdrew to the next room. I was 
 greatly surprised when the Governor, in his last communi- 
 cation, attempted to locate our conversation on the Burbridge 
 matter in his parlor, and in presence of the persons named. 
 I have no recollection that the subject was there mentioned 
 at all. It is not impossible, however, that it might have been 
 alluded to; but one thing I know is impossible, that however 
 or by whom alluded to, I could never have said that I had seen 
 any petition for Burbridge, much less certain names upon it, 
 because it would have been an untruth, and I had no earthly 
 motive in saying it, About the hour of cloven the Governor 
 accompanied me again to my bed-room, and sat down and 
 talked, as on the night previous, at least two hours or more. 
 No further mention of the Burbridge matter, but the sena- 
 torial contest and other subjects occupied us until our eyes 
 were weary, and the Governor departed with another kind 
 "good night." The next morning, after a hurried breakfast, 
 he walked with me to the cars and bade me adieu. Had an- 
 ticipations and designs been accomplished, or had they van- 
 ished without an established basis ? We shall see. 
 
 I have been thus particular in describing this visit to Frank- 
 fort and the executive mansion that the public may be the 
 better able to place a just estimate upon the Governor's state- 
 ment and argument, and upon mine. 
 
 On the 15th of January I returned to Washington. During 
 the month of Februaiy I received letters from Mr. Silver- 
 tooth, of the Kentucky House of Representatives; Mr. Holt, 
 of the Senate, and Mr. Hewitt, quartermaster general of the 
 State, all asking me if I could give them any information 
 touching the report that Mr. McCreery had recommended 
 General S. G. Burbridge for office. I do not preserve my 
 letters generally, receiving such a multitude, but destroy 
 them as soon as answered. My recollection of these letters 
 is, that they were not based upon the idea that I knew the 
 fact for which they inquired, but that I could probably ascer- 
 tain it. Messrs. Holt and Silvertooth had voted for Gov- 
 ernor Stevenson fof United States Senator, and intimated 
 that this information would be important to them. General 
 Hewitt wrote in behalf of others in like attitude with Holt 
 
and Silvertooth, saying, I think that I would be conferring a 
 favor upon the Democracy of the State by finding out the 
 fact in reference to this report. My inference at once upon 
 the reception of these letters was, that Governor Stevenson 
 had told these gentlemen what I had said to him upon this 
 subject when in Frankfort, never supposing for a moment 
 that he had told more than what I did say, that being suffi- 
 cient for them to make the inquiry. After some delay I 
 answered their letters as satisfactorily as I could, and sub- 
 stantially as detailed in my letters to Governor Stevenson, 
 already published. I had yet no suspicion whatever that 
 any one had represented me as having said that I had ever 
 seen a petition for Burbridge, or that any of the Kentucky 
 delegation had recommended him for office. I heard and 
 thought no more upon this subject until while on a short 
 visit home. On Saturday night, the 19th of March, was 
 handed me the following telegram from J. 1ST. Furber, Esq., 
 the representative from Covington, then at Frankfort. Mr. 
 Furber had heard, probably from the Governor, something 
 of this matter, and, as a true friend of mine, wished me to 
 be set right: 
 
 "Hon. T. L. Jones: A paper was read in the House yes- 
 terday from McCreery and Beck, denying that they had ever 
 siirned a recommendation for General Burbridge for office. 
 
 rri • • • • • 
 
 This raises a question ot veracity with you. You had better 
 be here on Monday and set it right." * * * 
 
 This telegram struck me with great surprise and with in- 
 dignation, for the inference, of course, was, that some one 
 had reported me as saying that those gentlemen had signed 
 a recommendation for Burbridge. I could not then reach 
 Frankfort by Monday, and having determined to speak at 
 Independence on that day, I telegraphed Mr. Furber as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 "What do you meau? Who doubts my veracity, or how 
 is it called in question? If any one says that I ever stated 
 that McCreery, Beck, or anybody else signed a recommend- 
 ation for Burbridge, he says falsely. I have an engagement 
 for Monday." 
 
 It then flashed upon my mind for the first time that Gov- 
 ernor Stevenson had misconstrued or misrepresented what 
 I had said to him on the night of his banquet, as he was the 
 only person I had spoken to on the Burbridge subject during 
 my visit to Frankfort. 
 
On Monday I received the following letter from Governor 
 Stevenson: 
 
 [Strictly confidential.] 
 
 "Executive Mansion, 18th March, 1870. 
 
 "My Dear Jones: During the night of my senatorial ban- 
 quet you may remember that you spoke of having had a 
 paper presented to you for your signature, by Blanton Dun- 
 can, recommending Stephen Gano Burbridge to Andrew 
 Johnson as Commissioner of Internal Revenue for the 
 United States, and that McCreery, Beck, and Golladay 
 signed it, and their names were to it when it was presented 
 to you. Although this thing has been publicly talked of, 
 and Trabue sent word to Beck in January that it was so 
 talked of, though it has been in the papers, especially in the 
 Paris and Lexington papers, a month ago, and although Gol- 
 laday, Beck, and McCreery must have been informed of it 
 many weeks since, no disavowal of the fact of their recom- 
 mendation ever was known until Chenoweth received a letter, 
 a day or two ago, from Mr. Beck, denying it; and it was 
 stated last night that Mr. Griffith had received a letter from 
 McCreery and Beck, stating that the statement that they 
 had ever recommended Burbridge as Commissioner of Inter- 
 nal Revenue was wholly false. Last night seven or eight 
 members of the legislature, several of whom had heard your 
 statement as to having seen Beck's, McCreery's, and Golla- 
 day's names to the paper, came to my house and asked me 
 to post you as to these denials. 
 
 "I heard also that Beck had recently withdrawn the paper 
 recommending Burbridge from the files, and left his receipt. 
 Is this so? If it be, let me advise you to get a copy of the 
 receipt, and lose no time in obtaining it. I have not seen 
 any of the denials; but this matter of their recommendation 
 has been used by Beck's opponents for this Congressional 
 nomination, as Oscar Turner tells me, and it has been in the 
 Paris and Lexington papers and no contradiction has ap- 
 peared until now. 
 
 "I have told all that I knew that your statement of seeing 
 their signatures to the paper would be substantiated. I 
 would place myself at once in a position where you can be 
 corroborated. I presume all our delegation saw the paper. 
 I write this for your own eye, to put you in possession of 
 these reported denials. 
 
 "I suspect saw the recommendation of Burbridge, 
 
 and Blanton Duncan certainly knew who signed it. 
 
 "If Beck did withdraw the papers, get a copy of his re- 
 
ceipt, and especially its date. I wrote you a long letter to 
 Washington. You must throw your attention to Kenton. 
 
 is very active, and will enlist county pride and county 
 
 feeling in his favor. Is for you? How is ? How 
 
 is ? Do you claim ? Can't you come up and 
 
 spend a night? Sincerely and faithfully, yours, 
 
 "J.'W. Stevenson." 
 
 Now let the reader mark well every line of the above let- 
 ter. "During the night of my senatorial banquet you may 
 remember that you spoke of having had a paper presented 
 to you for your signature by Blanton Duncan, recommend- 
 ing Stephen Gano Burbridge to Andrew Johnson as Com- 
 missioner of Internal Eevenue for the United States, and 
 that McCreery, Beck, and Golladay had signed it, and their 
 names were to it when it was presented to you." 
 
 Now, I ask, " spoke to whom on the night of my senato- 
 rial banquet?" Not to Trabue, for Trabue says, "I have 
 no recollection that Colonel Jones mentioned the names of 
 either Colonel McCreery or Mr. Golladay." 
 
 I here insert Mr. Trabue's note to Governor Stevenson: 
 
 "Frankfort, April 26, 1870. 
 "Hon. J. W. Stevenson. 
 
 "Dear Sir: In reply to your inquiry touching the con- 
 versation between Colonel Jones and myself in reference to 
 the recommendation of General Burbridge, I have to say 
 that, at your banquet on the night of the 8th of January last, 
 I met the Hon. T. L. Jones, who, in a conversation with me, 
 stated, according to my best recollection, in substance, that 
 Colonel Blanton Duncan had brought to him a paper signed 
 by a portion of the Kentucky delegation recommending 
 General Burbridge to office, and that Colonel Duncan asked 
 him to sign it; that he declined, when the Colonel urged 
 him persistently, and he replied, 'Crucify me first!' 
 
 "I asked Colonel Jones if Mr. Beck's name was to the 
 paper. He replied that it was, adding, I think, that it was 
 high on the list. 
 
 " I have no recollection that Colonel Jones mentioned the 
 names of either Colonel McCreery or Mr. Golladay. 
 
 "Very respectfully, S. F. J. Trabue." 
 
 Trabue, then, is out of the question as to hearing that 
 McCreery and Golladay signed. The Governor has failed to 
 bring any other witness for the night of the banquet, when 
 he first and properly fixes the conversation, and where the 
 
10 
 
 " you spoke" was to him in the bed-room, and to no other 
 human being. Let the Governor turn this point if he can. 
 
 2. " Last night seven or eight members of the legislature, 
 several of whom had heard your statement as to having seen 
 Beck's, McCreery's, and Golladay's name to the paper," &c. 
 I ask what member or members heard the statement? He 
 has failed to bring one to the witness-stand, and I defy him 
 to do it. They heard no statement from me, and if they ever 
 heard it at all, they heard it from the Governor himself, or 
 one of the " eight or ten people to whom he had in confidence 
 mentioned it." It will be observed that our Governor is a 
 " strictly confidential " gentleman, and imparts his confidence 
 to every man in Kentucky. His mouth is a confidential 
 trumpet. But he goes on, " came to my house (these mem- 
 bers) and asked me to post you as to these denials." Now, 
 these members, probably every one except Mr. Silvertooth, 
 if he indeed was one, were strangers to me, and could have 
 had no motive in having me posted, and 1 wanted no posting. 
 He (the Governor) was the man to be posted, for he had given 
 them the false information, and it was about to be developed. 
 
 The remainder of this letter may seem to an uncritical eye 
 to be an argument rather for my benefit, (and I was not dis- 
 posed at first to criticize it myself,) but on considering the 
 context, and what precedes and follows in this history, it was 
 for his benefit alone. This letter wa^ first read by my fire- 
 side at night, my wife and son being present, and my first 
 remark was, " Well, here is the most incomprehensible mis- 
 understanding or the most unblushing audacity on the part 
 of Governor Stevenson that I ever knew a man guilty of." I 
 felt amazed and angry, but the long and intimate relations 
 which had existed between the Governor and myself induced 
 me, with as much patience as I could command, to answer 
 him immediately in the following letter : 
 
 "At Home, March 21, 1870— Evening. 
 "Dear Stevenson: I have just received your letter, and 
 I must express my amazement at the statements therein 
 made: 1st. That 1 had said to you, in our conversation at 
 your house, that Blanton Duncan had presented me a paper 
 recommending Burbridge, with Beck's, McCreery's, and Gol- 
 laday's names attached to it. In this you are greatly mis- 
 taken. It is impossible that I could have said so. I well 
 remember the conversation, and what I said was this: that 
 Blanton Duncan called, on me at ilie House of Representatives 
 and said that the Kentucky delegation either- had done so or was 
 
11 
 
 about to recommend General Burbridge for office, and asked me if 
 I would unite in the recommendation, and that I promptly refused. 
 I could not have said that I saw the paper, for I never did 
 see any such paper. I told you at the same time that it was 
 reported in Washington that McCreery and Golladay had 
 gone with Burbridge, or for him, to solicit an appointment 
 from the President; that it had been charged against Golla- 
 day in the papers, and that he had denied it in the papers. 
 I told you that this was all I knew about the matter. 2d. 
 That several members of the Legislature had heard me make 
 similar statements, viz, that I had seen the names of those 
 gentlemen to a recommendation for Burbridge, is equally 
 amazing to me. Now, I aver that no member of the Legisla- 
 ture ever heard me make any such statement; and I have no re- 
 collection of saying a word, upon the subject in Frankfort, 
 except to yourself. I had very little conversation with any 
 members of the Legislature, except Martin and Lowe, in 
 their room at Green's; and there I do not think that subject 
 ivas mentioned at all. There must be a great misapprehension 
 somewhere, else a willful misrepresentation. Mr. Silvertooth, 
 Mr. Holt, and General Hewitt, each wrote to me to know if 
 McCreery had recommended Burbridge. I took some pains 
 to find out, and could not ascertain; and I detailed to each 
 one of them, just as I did to you, all I knew about the whole 
 matter. I refer you to those letters, especially my letter to 
 General Hewitt, as I suppose. Silvertooth and Holt have 
 probably left Frankfort. I do not remember to have used 
 Beck's name at all to you in speaking of the recommendation 
 of Burbridge; but it was used in another connection, viz, 
 his intimacy with Butler and other radicals. No human 
 being ever heard me say that I had seen a recommendation 
 for Burbridge, or that I had seen any name attached to it, for 
 the reason that I never did see either, and I could not have told 
 an untruth. I spoke, when .at all, of rumor, and of the 
 interview with Duncan, just as narrated above. I received a 
 telegram from Furber on Saturday, which I did not under- 
 stand, but to which I replied, utterly denying that I ever 
 made the statement that McCreery or Beck, or anybody, 
 signed a recommendation for Burbridge. This matter annoys 
 me, and if I find that it assumes a responsible shape, involv- 
 ing my veracity, I shall publish a card. I cannot believe 
 that you would willingly misrepresent me. I have written 
 in haste. Yours, truly, Thomas L. Jones. 
 
 •"P. S. — After asking several persons in Washington for 
 
12 
 
 the facts, and learning .nothing positively, I told McCreery 
 himself that such letters had been written to me making such 
 inquiries, and he begged me to go to the appointment office 
 in the Treasury and see if there were any applications there 
 for Burbridge, and whose names were attached to them, so 
 that I could report to the authors of those letters. I did so, 
 and found that Burbridge had withdrawn all his papers, and 
 I saw his receipt for the same. This might be significant. 
 I made this statement to Holt and to General Hewitt. (See 
 Hewitt's letter.) If any of the delegation ever signed for 
 Burbridge they all now deny it. Blanton Duncan probably 
 knows whether they ever did or not. 
 
 "I return to Washington to-morrow. Spoke at Inde- 
 pendence to-day with , and was well pleased with the 
 
 result. Will write again from Washington. T. L. J. 
 
 "P. S. — I have never heard of Beck's withdrawing any 
 paper. T.L.J." 
 
 This letter fully explains itself, and is in accordance with 
 all my statements before and after, and needs very little com- 
 ment. One important item in it, however, should be now 
 mentioned: 1st. "That I had said to you in conversation at 
 your house;" and further on, "I well remember the conver- 
 sation," meaning, of course, the conversation in the bed- 
 room; and further, " I have no recollection of saying a word 
 upon the subject in Frankfort except to yourself," which was 
 of course in the bed room. 
 
 It should be observed also in this letter that I refer the 
 Governor to my letters to Mr. Silvertooth, Mr. Holt, and 
 General Hewitt, all of whom were intimate with him, and 
 who doubtless had read them to him, as he says in his state- 
 ment he had "advised them to write to Colonel Jones and 
 get the statement directly from him." Now, if they read him 
 these letters, written some time before, in which I make the 
 game statement about the Burbridge matter that I make to 
 him in the letter above and made to him on the night of the 
 banquet, how could he write me the letter of the 18th March, 
 and, indeed, the one which follows on the 26th March? I 
 was detained at home by sickness until the 26th March, and 
 I returned to Washington on the 27th. I found in my mail 
 nothing from Governor Stevenson after his letter of the 18th, 
 but I received the anonymous letter which now follows: 
 
 " Frankfort, March 17. 
 " Colonel T. L. Jones. 
 
 "Sir: As a friend of yours, I wish to give you an item of 
 
13 
 
 news that is engaging a good deal of attention in Frankfort, 
 and in which I myself feel considerable interest, that of Beck 
 and McCreery having signed a recommendation for Bur- 
 bridge. It is now whispered around here that you deny it 
 or evade a direct answer. 
 
 "I must confess I can scarcely believe this to be so. The 
 Governor has spoken of it to numbers of gentlemen, giving 
 you as authority, and several others speak of it here, all giv- 
 ing yourself or Blanton Duncan as authority, and I myself 
 spoke of it, not, however, until it became publicly talked of 
 here. I heard you detail the circumstance of the presenta- 
 tion of the petition to you by Duncan, and that McCreery's 
 and Beck's names ivere signed to it, and that you spurned it, 
 and I admired you, as all Kentuckians will, for doing so, 
 when you even had such uamoe to justify an act that might 
 at that time have been considered only an act of policy, but 
 which you would not do even to gain influence with the party 
 in power. I suppose McCreery and Beck signed it, only 
 thinking they might be better able to benefit their constitu- 
 ents if they did so, but we gloried in you for not signing it. 
 
 "I most assuredly would be obliged, if called upon, to cer- 
 tify to the fact of having heard you say that the names " ivere 
 signed" to the petition. So will a number of other gentle- 
 men of the highest respectability. I cannot think, from the 
 moral courage I have always known you to exhibit, that you 
 would even evade a thing of that sort. "Where is the peti- 
 tion? Can it not be produced? and, if not, why? Blanton 
 Duncan, I am told, saw the names, and has told a good many 
 gentlemen that those names were on it. I have no doubt they 
 were doing what they thought for the best when they did 
 sign it, and just let them say so, and come out and defend 
 their act like bold brave Kentuckians should do ; every one 
 would respect them for it, and excuse the deed for the motive's 
 sake. 
 
 "I write you this because I am a friend of yours, and I do 
 not think either you or Duncan will place yourselves in the 
 attitude of evading or denying a statement that can be so 
 easily proved by so many people. Certainly you will not 
 back down from a thing when you have all to lose and noth- 
 ing to gain by it but contempt. Fortify yourself with 
 plenty of proof, and all Kentucky will sustain you, her noble 
 son, who had the courage to do right. Creep out of it, and 
 my word for it you are a 'dead duck' sure. 
 
 "Wishing to hear from you very soon, I am, truly, 
 
 "Your Friend." 
 
14 
 
 This offspring is without a name. "Who shall assume its 
 paternity? Examine it well, my fellow-citizens; whose fea- 
 tures does it resemble, and in whose interest or benefit was 
 it brought forth? 
 
 Mr. Benton's rule of criticism, in comparing two papers, 
 was, if three words were identical and in the same connec- 
 tion and upon the same subject, it gave suspicion. If nine 
 words were so adduced, the proof was almost positive that 
 they emanated from the same brain. Now, let us examine 
 the Governor's letter and the anonymous one. 
 
 The Governor says: 
 
 1. As a dear friend, &c. 
 
 2. I have told all that I 
 knew. 
 
 3. Although this thing has 
 been publicly talked of. 
 
 4. You may remember that 
 you spoke of having had a 
 paper presented to you for 
 your signature by Blanton 
 Duncan, recommending — and 
 that McCreery, Beck, and 
 Golladay signed it, and their 
 names were to it when it was 
 presented to you. 
 
 5. The paper is the best 
 evidence as to who signed it. 
 Why is it not produced and 
 exhibited? 
 
 6. Blanton Duncan certain- 
 ly knew who signed it. 
 
 7. I hope you understand 
 that the only motive in my 
 letter to you was to place you 
 on a proper guard, as a dear 
 friend; and, 
 
 8. I would place myself at 
 once in a position where you 
 can be corroborated, &c. 
 
 Are these letters products of the same brain? I shall not 
 determine. What would Mr. Benton say? 
 
 The reception of this letter, the silence of Governor Ste- 
 venson, and the incidental reports coming from Frankfort 
 impelled me to issue the following card, which might have 
 
 Anonymous says: 
 
 1. As a friend of yours. 
 
 2. The Governor has spoken 
 of it to numbers of gentlemen. 
 
 3. It became publicly talk- 
 ed of here. 
 
 4. I heard you detail the 
 circumstance of the presenta- 
 tion of the petition to you by 
 Duncan, and that McCreery's 
 and Beck's names were sign- 
 ed to it. 
 
 5. Where is the petition? 
 Can it not be produced; and, 
 if not, why? 
 
 6. Blanton Duncan, I am 
 told, saw the names. 
 
 7. I write you this because 
 I am a friend of yours. 
 
 8. Fortify yourself 
 plenty of proof, &c. 
 
 with 
 
15 
 
 been more prudently worded, but nevertheless niy honeat 
 impulse. 
 
 The adage that "falsehood travels a thousand miles while 
 truth is putting on her boots" occurred to me, and I thought 
 the remedy should be quick and sharp. 
 
 !* To the Editor of the Courier- Journal: 
 
 "Information having reached my ears that it has been cur- 
 rently reported at Frankfurt, and especially among the mem- 
 bers of the Kentucky legislature, that I had made the state- 
 ment that I had seen a recommendation of General S. G-. 
 Burbridge to President Johnson for office, and the names of 
 Messrs. McCreery, Beck, and Golladay were signed to the 
 same, I here avow that.no human being ever heard me make 
 any such statement, and I pronounce him who says he did a 
 liar and slanderer. "Thomas L. Jokes." 
 
 "House of Representatives, 
 
 "Washington City, D. C., March 28, 1870." 
 
 This card I intended to apply to every one whom it might 
 fit, from Governor Stevenson down. Two days after it was 
 issued, and on the 30th March, I received from the Governor 
 the following letter : 
 
 [Strictly confidential.] 
 
 "Executive Office, 1<oth March, 1870. 
 
 "My Dear Jones: I received your letter of 2Lst two days 
 ago. I was certainly as much surprised by it as you could 
 have been by mine. 
 
 "My letter, which so astonished you, was promptevd by the 
 kindest motive. When writing it, I had never conceived it 
 possible that I could have (as it now appears I did) misunder- 
 stand your statement made on the evening of the 9th of Jan- 
 uary, that a recommendation in writing had been presented 
 to you by Blanton Duncan, asking that S. G. Burbr/dge 
 might be appointed by the President Commissioner of Inter- 
 nal Revenue for United States, and that the names of Be.ck, 
 McCreery, and Golladay were upon it. Hearing incidentali'y, 
 upon the evening I wrote, that Beck and McCreery were 
 about denying it, I, upon the spur of the moment, and actu- 
 ated by the warmest friendship, wrote to you advising you 
 of the fact, never doubting then that you had seen their sig- 
 natures, and your ability to establish that fact. I am truly 
 glad now that I did write to you. It removes an erroneous 
 impression from my mind of what you intended to convey, 
 as compared with what I was positive you said. It enables 
 me to put the matter right with some eight or ten people to 
 
16 
 
 wliom I had, in confidence, mentioned it, by informing all such 
 that you were misunderstood by me. I am incapable of mis- 
 representing anybody; but least of all a valued friend like your- 
 self, whose honor, truth, and nobility of character I would 
 defend as quickly as my own. Of course you will understand 
 that your statement of my having misunderstood you is suffi- 
 cient. You and I can never be put in antagonism on points 
 like these. I deeply regret that any misconception of what 
 you said took place, and you will not doubt that it was 
 wholly unintentional. I regret that any statement of mine 
 should have done injustice to anybody, especially Beck or 
 McCreery; but as far as lam concerned it shall be 0. K. 
 Are you not mistaken in supposing and stating that you did 
 not mention the subject to any one but myself? Did you not 
 mention it to several members of the Legislature on the night 
 of the 8th? I suspect you have forgotten it, but that, on re- 
 viewing the past, you will find out that you are unintention- 
 ally mistaken, and you will ascertain that you did mention it 
 to many others beside myself at other places and times than 
 the 8th or 9th of January at my house. "What you said to 
 me, and those present at my house upon the 9th January, 
 has been communicated to but very few, and to them in con- 
 fidence. 
 
 "The publicity of the rumor of Beck's indorsement of Mr. 
 Burbriclge, which has been circulated since January in this 
 district, and which appeared several weeks ago in the Paris 
 and Lexington papers, did not spring from anything you said 
 to me or others at my house. Did you ever speak of Beck's 
 indorsement of Burbridge to Edward C. Marshall at the Cin- 
 cinnati races last fall? Did you remember to have alluded 
 to it at dinner at I. T. Martin's, in Cynthiana, on the day the 
 Confederate dead were reinterred? Did you not hold a long 
 conversation with S. F. J. Trabue on this subject in Frank- 
 fort? He says so: that his recollection is, that you told him 
 "that Beck's name was high on the list." I read him your 
 letter, and told him he had clearly misunderstood. I have 
 done the same thing to those who heard the conversation in 
 my house, and who understood you as I did. 
 
 I hope you understand that the only motive in my letter 
 to you was to place you on a proper guard as a dear friend 
 in the event of autagonism in statement between yourself 
 and others on the existence of a fact. It is a subject I felt 
 no interest in, and was in no way connected with. Very few 
 know that 3^011 even told me, and those few have not spoken 
 of it. The publicity comes from statements made by you at 
 
25 
 
 me first," which he attributes to me in his note to Governor 
 Stevenson, if I know myself, is totally unlike me, and never, 
 on an} 7 occasion, fell from my lips. I here insert the follow- 
 ing letter, received on my return to Washington on the 27th 
 March : 
 
 " Frankfort, March 17, 1870. 
 
 "Hon. T. L. Jones. 
 
 " Dear Sir : I have understood that the papers constituting 
 the application and its support of General Burbridge for a 
 high official position during President Johnson's administra- 
 tion have been withdrawn from the State Department, and 
 the receipt of Mr. Beck for them left on file. 
 
 " May I ask of you the favor of obtaining for me a copy of 
 the receipt and forwarding it to Frankfort. 
 
 "Very truly, S. F. J. Trabue." 
 
 This letter surprised me in the mention of Mr. Beck's 
 withdrawing papers as Governor Stevenson's had received 
 at home; and this idea of Beck's withdrawing papers, as I 
 am told by General Hewitt, who has been in Washington 
 for some weeks past, was drawn from my letter to him, 
 (Hewitt,) in which, as we both think, Beck's name was not 
 used at all, but, after speaking of Burbridge, I simply used 
 the initial B. But these gentlemen, so eager in their search, 
 would have it to mean Beck, although his name was nowhere 
 mentioned in the letter. This is our recollection, but the 
 letter would be the best proof. I kept no copy, but will 
 publish it if General Hewitt sends it in time. I answered 
 Mr. Trabue's letter immediately or very soon, telling him, 
 just as I had told Governor Stevenson, Messrs. Silvertooth, 
 Holt, and Hewitt, all I knew about the Burbridge affair, and 
 saying of Mr. Beck that, so far as his withdrawing papers, I 
 had never heard his name connected with the affair at all ; 
 and I recalled to him, too, our conversation at the banquet, 
 in which I expressly said the name of Burbridge was not 
 mentioned. It is singular that Mr. Trabue never replied to 
 my letter, and never intimated in any way that he differed 
 with me in my statement of our conversation at the banquet, 
 although this letter was received by him several weeks before 
 the date of his note to Governor Stevenson. It might give 
 additional light on this part of the subject if we knew who 
 mentioned the matter to the other first, Stevenson or Trabue, 
 and between Stevenson and the "several gentlemen who 
 applied to me (him) to know what Colonel Jones had stated 
 to me (him) upon the subject;" whether they first heard it 
 3 
 
26 
 
 from him or he from them; and also if he had published the 
 calls upon Trabue and Castleman, in answer to which their 
 notes to him were written. This might be significant. Here I am 
 reminded of the Governor's comment upon the phrase " might 
 be significant" in the P. S. of my letter of 21st March. It 
 was used in reference to General Burbridge himself, and his 
 objects, not my colleagues. 
 
 But the Governor goes on and says he "understood Colo- 
 nel Jones to say that it was rumored in "Washington that 
 McOreery and Golladay had gone in a carriage with General 
 Burbridge to the President's to urge his appointment." Part 
 of this I did say in the bed-room, but the carriage, which he 
 seems to make particular and impressive for effect, I totally 
 den}'; for everybody knows that Senator McCreery never 
 rides in carriages, and I never heard of his being in but one 
 in my life, and that was with me on another occasion. 
 
 He says, in his last communication, "I sought to give no 
 publicity to this statement, and yet he says in his letter of 
 March 26 he mentioned it to some "eight or ten people in 
 confidence;" that might mean fifteen or twenty, probably did, 
 and they each mentioned it perhaps, not so "strictly confi- 
 dential," to fifteen or twenty others, and that covered the 
 whole Legislature and a considerable part of Frankfort. 
 
 But he told his friends, and he never "failed to state," that 
 I had, on the night of the 9th, made the statement; bnt he 
 has failed to give the name of one member of the Legisla- 
 ture or friend who says he, the Governor, told him it was 
 on the 9th the statement was made. Up to the night of the 
 17th of March the Governor sa} 7 s, "Fully impressed with the 
 belief that Jones had seen Senator McCreery's name, with 
 that of Beck, upon the paper," &c. Now does anybody be- 
 lieve that he had not seen my letters to Silvertooth, Holt, 
 and Hewitt, whom he had advised to write to me, and to 
 whom I had written days if not weeks before, telling them 
 all I knew about the matter, viz., the iuterview with Duncan, 
 just as narrated in my published letters, and on all occasions 
 when the subject was spoken of? This was an important 
 matter; the Governor desired to know it, and so did his 
 friends, who wished to use it in their defence at home for 
 having voted against McCreery for Senator. And just here 
 I will mention, that a gentleman, a near friend of the Gov- 
 ernor, informs me that he heard the Governor say, if he 
 knew this report of McCreery recommending Burbridge to 
 be true, he would place it in the hands of his friends to meet 
 attacks from McCreery's friends for having voted against 
 
27 
 
 him; and this exactly comports with his expression, to the 
 same effect, to me in the bed-room. There is no doubt in 
 my mind that the moment, so to speak, that these gentle- 
 men received my letters, they went to Governor Stevenson 
 to give him their contents. He could not, therefore, but 
 have known what I had said upon the subject long before 
 the night of the 17th March. No; the object of his letter 
 of the 18th, written, as he says, "under impulse and excite- 
 ment, and in great haste," was not for my benefit and for me 
 to be corroborated; he is too cold a man to act thus for a 
 friend; but it was for his own benefit, and to corroborate 
 himself, as I think I shall show before my conclusion. The 
 Governor says that "he (Mr. Trabue) also informed him that 
 the Hon. E. C. Marshall had informed him (Trabue) that 
 Colonel Jones had mentioned the subject of the recommend- 
 ation of General Burbridge to him at the Cincinnati races." 
 There must be some mistake here again. I have no idea 
 that Mr. Marshall said anything on that subject, as I do not 
 think it was mentioned in our conversation at the races; but 
 if he did, he could have made no such statement as would 
 comport with that of Mr. Trabue's or Governor Stevenson's, 
 and, as the basis of my belief, I insert extracts from a letter 
 of Mr. Marshall to me, of date March 16, 1870: 
 
 "Versailles, Ky., March 16, 1870. 
 "Hon. T. L. Jones. 
 
 "Dear Sir: There has been a rumor in this district that 
 Mr. Beck promoted the nomination of General Burbridge 
 for the office to which Delano was appointed. You would, 
 as a member from Kentucdy, of course, know if this is true, 
 and how it may be proved." 
 
 Again, after speaking of his being a candidate for Congress 
 against Mr. Beck, or in his district: 
 
 "I write to you to ask information in this Burbridge affair, 
 and hope it will consist with your views and engagements 
 to put me in the way of obtaining the proof. I am sorry to 
 trouble you, as I know how fully your time is occupied, hut I 
 hope you will not consider it an unwarranted liberty. 
 
 "I am, with great respect, your friend, 
 
 "E. C. Marshall." 
 
 There is no allusion in the letter to any conversation about 
 Burbridge as having occurred at the races or elsewhere. I 
 answered this letter at once, telling Mr. Marshall all I knew 
 of the Burbridge matter, as I had told others, and saying 
 
28 
 
 also, if I am not greatly mistaken, that I never heard Mr. 
 Beck's name connected with it. 
 
 I insert here the correspondence between Colonel Duncan 
 and myself to show that there is no material difference in 
 our statements: 
 
 "Louisville, March 29, 1870. 
 "Hon. T. L. Jones. 
 
 "Dear Sir: Several persons have asked me concerning 
 the appointment sought by General Burbridge, of internal 
 revenue, from President Johnson, alleging that you have 
 given a minute account of my approaching you upon the 
 subject to indorse him. As I never did so, and was not 
 aware of General Burbridge having applied for such a posi- 
 tion, I must request you to correct the statements. 
 
 "I presume that you have simply fallen into an errer and 
 have forgotten what occurred. I was requested by some of 
 General Burbridge's friends to ascertain whether the Ken- 
 tucky delegation would unite in a request which was written 
 out and handed to me. That was to give General Burbridge 
 a commission in the army. I went in the House, saw you, 
 Beck, Trimble, and Knott, and each expressed a disinclina- 
 tion to recommend General Burbridge for anything. I 
 obtained no signatures, because I had been told they were 
 useless, if any of the delegation declined, and I did not see 
 either of the Senators. The paper was handed back by me 
 just as I received it. 
 
 " Some of Burbridge's friends were aiding me in the at- 
 tempt to recover my property, and their request to me to aid 
 them in this point was promptly acceded to as a quid pro 
 quo. 
 
 " Whether any of the delegation signed a recommendation 
 for Burbridge as an officer in the internal revenue depart- 
 ment I have no knowledge whatever, and certainly had 
 nothing to do with it. 
 
 " I would be obliged if you would show this to Senator 
 McCreery, Beck, Knott, and Trimble. 
 
 "Yours, truly, "Blanton Duncan." 
 
 "House of Representatives, 
 
 "Washington, D. C, April 2, 1870. 
 
 " Dear Sir: Yours of the 29th ultimo is just received, and 
 
 I am glad you have written to me on the subject referred to. 
 
 " Your statement is quite correct, and almost precisely such 
 
 as I have made. I have never spoken upon the matter of a 
 
 recommendation for General Burbridge, except when appealed 
 
29 
 
 to, and then to this effect. All I knew about it was that Col- 
 onel Blauton Duncan had called upon me at the House of 
 Representatives, and asked me if I would be willing to unite 
 in a recommendation of General B. for office; that the 
 Kentucky delegation or some of them would do, or thought 
 of doing so, or some words to that effect, and I promptly 
 declined. I do not remember that you mentioned any par- 
 ticular office. I believe I said to one person that perhaps it 
 might have been Commissioner of Internal Revenue. 
 
 "You never showed me any paper, nor spoke of any 
 paper. 
 
 "The only person who, to the best of my knowledge, 
 alluded to the subject to me at Frankfort last winter, was 
 Governor Stevenson, and I told him all I knew about it was 
 just what I have said above. It seems that he then miscon- 
 strued my words, as he has admitted by letter to me. A false 
 impression seems to have prevailed in Frankfort as to what 
 I said upon the subject. Mr. Holt, -of the Senate, and Gen- 
 eral Hewitt, of Frankfort, wrote to me to know if Mr. Mc- 
 Creery and one or two others wrote to me to know if Mr. 
 Beck had signed a recommendation' for Burbridge, and I 
 replied, saying in substance just what I have said above to 
 you, being all I knew about the matter. Hearing of these 
 false reports as to my statement, I have ordered a card to be 
 published in the Courier- Journal, which you have probably 
 seen. I never imputed any improper motive to you, and 
 was reluctant to mention your name, as you may see by my 
 letter to General Hewitt; and I attributed your instrument- 
 ality (however small) in the matter to your kind feelings for 
 General Burbridge, in return for aid given you by his friends, 
 perhaps by himself, in recovering your property from the 
 Government. 
 
 "This is an unpleasant affair to all; but so far as I am con- 
 cerned, the truth shall be made manifest. 
 
 "Truly, yours, &c, Thos. L. Jones. 
 
 "Col. Blanton Duncan." 
 
 The Governor also says: "I had heard also from a gen- 
 tleman of the highest character, whose name I will not, 
 unless it hereafter becomes necessary, drag into this contro- 
 versy, say that he heard Colonel T. L. Jones, at Colonel I. T. 
 Martin's, in Cynthiana, upon the day of the inauguration of 
 the Confederate monument, allude to this recommendation 
 of General Burbridge, and the distinct impression left upon 
 my informant's mind, from what Colonel Jones said, was, 
 
30 
 
 that all the Kentucky delegation in Congress had recom- 
 mended Burbridge except himself." Now, I defy the Gov- 
 ernor to bring out the "gentleman of the highest charac- 
 ter;" and it is a little remarkable he did not bring him out 
 or allude to him more particularly, as he does not hesitate to 
 bring ladies on the stage whose identity many cannot doubt. 
 This is a delicacy of the Governor somewhat difficult to 
 explain, and especially as he calls Mr. Beck's opponent for 
 Congress and his own would-be son-in-law. But, in refer- 
 ence to the dinner in Cynthiana, /call upon the host himself,. 
 Colonel Martin, on whose immediate left I sat at the table, 
 and who doubtless heard every word I uttered, to say whether 
 the Burbridge matter was mentioned at all, and what I said 
 upon the subject, if it was mentioned. I have no recollec- 
 tion that it was then spoken of, but if it was, I do know that 
 I made no statement of having seen paper or names, and no- 
 body could justly have inferred any such thing from what I 
 said, or that the Kentucky delegation had recommended 
 Burbridge. The Governor referred me to Colonel Penna- 
 baker to find out something for him, in the same spirit, no 
 doubt, which prompted him to try and put me as a spy upon 
 McCreery and Beck, all to corroborate me in a statement 
 which he knew as well as the God that created him I never 
 made. It was all for his own purposes, as will appear in the 
 sequel. 
 
 As evidence of the Governor's desire to fasten a stigma 
 upon Senator McCreery, and to give his friends material to 
 defend themselves, I here submit an extract of a letter from 
 him, dated February 9, 1870: 
 
 " I learn from a letter written by to , that Mc- 
 Creery is using his influence with radicals to have me re- 
 jected. Can this be possible? has no doubt of it, and 
 
 says the squibs from Washington of Mack and others are 
 prompted by McCreery. I will not credit this until it is 
 confirmed. If true, I want it known through the length and 
 breadth of Kentucky. The indignation of those who have 
 heard the rumor is vehement and denunciatory. McCreery 
 is the last man whom I could have supposed would have 
 stooped to such a course. It is unlike him, as I have known 
 him. Do you think it is so ? If you can find out incident- 
 ally from the Republicans, I wish you would write to me. 
 "Very faithfully, 
 
 "J. W. Stevenson. 
 
 "Col. T. L. Jones." 
 
31 
 
 Now, if he possessed the Burbridge material, which he 
 admits he had told his friends on the 10th of January, as 
 communicated by me, already sufficient to destroy McCreery, 
 why would he be appealing to me for additional material to 
 spread "through the length and breadth of Kentucky?" 
 Indeed, is it not remarkable that in none of his correspond- 
 ence with me since the Senatorial banquet has he mentioned 
 or alluded to this awful Burbridge matter at all. 
 
 I replied to this letter, saying I could hear of no such thing 
 against Senator McCreery, and could not believe him guilty 
 of it. Why did not the Governor here, if he were the fair and 
 frank man he assumes to be in this business, "appeal to Sen- 
 ator McCreery himself," or ask me to do so, as he 1 i d ad- 
 vised his friends to do, saying, "He is a man of truth and 
 honor" — "his word is his bond," &c. 
 
 Now as to the origin of this slander, the Governor says 
 in his statement: "Senator McCreery must know that I 
 neither originated nor circulated the rumor of Ins alleged 
 recommendation of General Burbridge for office," and he 
 goes on to argue adroitly and tries to prove that the slander 
 had its origin in Washington, refers to the interview of 
 Colonel Duncan with me, and says: "If what Colonel Dun- 
 can said was true or untrue," &c, and represents me report- 
 ing the slander "as emanating from Colonel Blanton Dun- 
 can." Now, nobody has charged Colonel Duncan with 
 untruth. He did not say to me that McCreery had recom- 
 mended Burbridge, nor did I ever state that he said so. 
 There is no material difference in the statements of Colonel 
 Duncan and myself. The slander was not in the rumor, but 
 in the actual statement of a falsehood. Who first made this 
 statement and began to circulate it? 
 
 The Governor admits, in his letter of the 26th March, that 
 he misunderstood me; he now admits, in his statement, that 
 he did allude to the subject on the 10th January, and then, 
 no doubt, he began to circulate his misunderstanding of what 
 I said. 
 
 The slander was not in what Duncan said to me, or what 
 I narrated, but the misunderstanding and misrepresentation 
 of Governor Stevenson was and is the only slander in the 
 case, which, under a fair construction of the Governor's ad- 
 mission, had its birth on the 10th day of January. But it 
 may have had it long before. In other words, the Governor 
 admits that he misunderstood me. This is an admission 
 that I never said that I had seen a paper with the names of 
 McCreery, Beck, and Golladay upon it. What I did say in 
 
32 
 
 my conversation with him appears in the correspondence now 
 published, and this is all I said, by his own admission. Now, 
 I submit, can he, from anything I did say, have understood 
 or construed me as he afterwards reported me, and does it 
 not inevitably follow that it was a pure fabrication on his 
 part, all this about the names and the paper? and is it not 
 to be set down alone to the eagerness of the Governor to 
 injure McCreery. 
 
 I now desire to call attention, with a little weariness no 
 doubt to the reader and repetition of my own, but still amus- 
 ing, if not instructive, to the fact that the Governor, although 
 in his letter, written "under impulse," when the truth is most 
 likely to come on a given point, fixed the date of our conver- 
 sation on the night of the banquet, yet since he has required 
 witnesses fixes it in his statement on the 9th, and, to make it 
 very truthful, no less than eight times, as follows: 1st. "Upon 
 Sunday night the 9th of January, a lady friend," &c. 2d. 
 " Colonel Jones had upon the night of the 9th of January," 
 &c. 3d. "Viz, on the 9th of January, and certainly three 
 persons besides myself were present, and heard every word 
 which was said by Colonel Jones in regard to it." 4th. " That 
 Colonel Jones did state upon the 9th of January;" and, 
 5th. " That Colonel T. L. Jones had stated to me on the night 
 of the 9th that he had seen the written recommendation," &c. 
 6th. " Colonel Jones admits in his letter of the 21st, that on 
 the night of the 9th January," &c. 7th. "Again Colonel 
 Jones, upon the night of the 9th Januar}^, tells us," &c. 8th. 
 "Now, I assert that from the day the Legislature assembled 
 to the 9th of January, I never heard this rumor directly or 
 indirectly alluded to." 
 
 It often happens that one untruth requires another and 
 many to support it. 
 
 What shall I call these eight distinct assertions without 
 the slightest foundation of truth? I deny emphatically every 
 one of them. And so far as the 6th is concerned, that " Col- 
 onel Jones admits, in his letter of the 21st, that on the night 
 nf tbf fRh January," &c. I admit nothing on the 9th. Reader, 
 examine my letter of the 21st, and see for yourself; and I 
 never can admit the statement of the Governor, which I shall 
 ever believe he himself knows to be untrue. But I place 
 right here the statement of one of his nearest friends, Dr. J. 
 Russell Hawkins, of Frankfort, long and now the clerk of 
 the Kentucky Senate, whose character stands unimpeached, 
 whose word no man will doubt, and whom Governor Steven- 
 son has known nearly all his life : 
 
33 
 
 " Sunday, April 4, 1870. 
 "Had conversation this day with Dr. J. E. Hawkins, who 
 says Stevenson told him that he only inferred from conver- 
 sation with Jones that he, Jones, had seen the signature of 
 McCreery to papers of Burbridge, and that Jones did not 
 say he had seen any such papers, but he (Stevenson) only 
 inferred it from the conversation. Geo. B. Hodge, 
 
 "J. Taylor." 
 
 I certify on honor that the above is a true copy from a 
 memorandum of the conversation with Dr. J. R. Hawkins, 
 taken down and signed by myself and Colonel Taylor within 
 three minutes after its utterance by Dr. Hawkins. The orig- 
 inal is in my possession. George B. Hodge. 
 
 Dr. Hawkins, on the same day, and after my noting his 
 previous conversation, had his attention called to the facts, 
 and repeated the expression verbatim. G. B. H. 
 
 These gentlemen, General George B. Hodge and Colonel 
 James Taylor, both of Newport, Kentucky, are well known 
 to the country. I am credibly informed, also, that Dr. Haw- 
 kins made the same statement at the residence and in pres- 
 ence of liis brother, E. W. Hawkins, Esq., of Newport. 
 
 I repeat the 8th assertion of the Governor: "Now, I 
 assert that, from the day the Legislature assembled to the 
 9th of January, I never heard this rumor directly or indirectly 
 alluded to." Again he says: "If the subject of this recom- 
 mendation was ever talked of prior to the 8th of January, 
 by me or my friends, it is susceptible of proof. I aver that 
 no one can be found who will assert it." I place now in 
 answer to that a letter from Major J. J. Marshall, of Oldham 
 county, brother of the Hon. Humphrey Marshall, and a gen- 
 tleman well known in Kentucky: 
 
 "Oldham County, Ky., May 11, 1870. 
 "Colonel T. L. Jones, 
 
 " Washington City. 
 "Dear Sir: Your favor of the 30th ult. was received on 
 Saturday evening last. You wish to know if 'Mr. J. T. 
 Berry asked me if I could support a man who had recom- 
 mended Burbridge for office,' and also, ' if I will do you the 
 favor to state when it was he asked me that question and in 
 what connection.' I have no objection to answering all your 
 interrogatories, and for that purpose will give you a short 
 resume of the whole affair as it occurred, as nearly and as 
 clearly as I can remember. I think it was the evening before 
 
34 
 
 the municipal election in Louisville this spring — February or 
 March — I forget which. I walked into 'RuferV — the 'St. 
 Charles' — in Louisville, to get my supper, or dinner, as you 
 please, for I had eaten nothing since I left home in the morn- 
 ing. It was about 8 o'clock. Mr. B. and some other gen- 
 tlemen were in the room as I entered. I was invited by the 
 company to take a drink with them, which I did, and then 
 went into one of the little boxes to eat the supper I had 
 ordered. In a short time Mr. B. came into the box where I 
 was and took a seat. We commenced talking, but upon 
 what subject I do not remember. During our conversation, 
 however, the name of Mr. Vories, the Senator from this dis- 
 trict, was used, and I made some remark — I do not remem- 
 ber now what it was — in regard to his legislative action, when 
 Mr. B. said, ' He is a sharp fellow and a first-rate hand to elec- 
 tioneer.' I made no reply, and in a minute or two after B. 
 said, 'You don't like him because he voted for Stevenson for 
 Senator.' I replied, 'No, I do not like that.' He asked me 
 'Why I was opposed to Stevenson.' I told him I thought 
 Colonel McCreery, under all the circumstances, was entitled 
 to a re-election, and I believed the people of the State wanted 
 him re-elected. We talked the matter over for awhile, of 
 course neither convincing the other of the ' error of his ways,' 
 when B. remarked, I think in these very words: 'Would 
 you support a man who recommended Burbridge for office?' 
 Unhesitatingly I said I would not. He then said McC. had 
 done so, and I am of the impression, although I am not certain, 
 that afterwards, in reiterating the above, he connected Mr. 
 Beck's name with that of Colonel McCreery as among those 
 who had recommended Burbridge. I said I did not believe 
 the statement, when he repeated it, and he said, "I suppose 
 you would believe it if Tom Jones said so.' I told him if 
 you were to say you knew it to be a fact, I supposed I would 
 believe it. The exact words of his reply I do not know that 
 I can quote, but I think they were these: 'Well, Colonel 
 Jones does say so, and I can show it to you in his hand- 
 writing,* or 'it is in his handwriting.' The impression 
 made upon my mind was, that you had written to that effect, 
 although 1 was still incredulous both of the fact of Colonel 
 McCreery's recommendation of Burbridge, and of your hav- 
 ing written to that effect, or even of your assertion of it. As 
 it was neither pleasant or profitable to me to discuss the 
 matter any further, I remained silent, and in a short time 
 Mr. Berry left me, saying, however, previous to his going, 
 that ' Governor Stevenson knew of this before the Senatorial elec- 
 
35 
 
 Hon, but he made no use of it, for he would scorn to do such a 
 thing, and if he could not be elected without using such things as 
 thai, he would not hare the office." On that point I did not 
 choose to make any observation, and there the conversation 
 ended, and Mr. B. left me. Respectfully, 
 
 "J. J. Marshall." 
 
 Colonel James T. Berry, the gentleman alluded to in the 
 above letter, is a brother-in-law of Governor Stevenson, and 
 I have always esteemed him as a man of strict integrity, and 
 my warm personal friend. He was in Frankfort during the 
 senatorial contest, and one of the Governor's most active 
 friends. 
 
 The Governor says: "Senator McCreery seeks indirectly 
 to produce the impression that his alleged recommendation 
 of General Burbrklge was fabricated by me, and secretly 
 used to his prejudice during the senatorial election;" and 
 further on he says: "That truth and justice alike would 
 seem to demand that no insinuation should be made that the 
 scandal had been used during that contest in my behalf and 
 to his prejudice." In answer to these bold paragraphs, I 
 subjoin the following voluntary, timely, and manly letter: 
 
 "Louisville, Ky., Mag 10, 1870. 
 "Hon T. L. Jones. 
 
 "Dear Sir: Having seen your letter in the Cornier Jour- 
 nal, and believing that you are being unfairly dealt with, I 
 have concluded to communicate one fact. Mr. Pierson, of 
 this city, who is a member of the House of Representatives, 
 says that the report that McCreery signed General Burbridge's 
 reccommendation for office was circulated by Stevenson's 
 friends during the canvass for United States Senate between 
 McCreery and Stevenson, and that this report was the prin- 
 cipal reason that caused him to vote for Stevenson. That he 
 intended to vote for McCreery when elected, and until he 
 learned this report. So Stevenson must have heard the report 
 long before you came to Frankfort. For particular reasons 
 I do not wish my name mentioned in connection with this 
 matter. 
 
 " I suppose Pierson would give a statement to that effect, if 
 requested by some friend of yours, as I heard him say to-day 
 that he would sign a petition requesting Stevenson to resign 
 his office of United States Senator." 
 
 The author of this letter is as true a gentleman as any in 
 Kentucky, but I withhold Ms name for the present at his own 
 
36 
 
 request. I would prefer Mr. Pierson's statement, of course; 
 he will not deny, I presume, what is said in this letter. He 
 can easily be found. 
 
 I also insert the following extract from a letter of a well- 
 known gentleman in the county of Jefferson : 
 
 "I heard from a friend that Mr. Pierson, a member of the 
 Legislature, had said in his and my brother's presence, that 
 he was a McCreery man, but in consequence of the Bur- 
 bridge charges had voted for Stevenson, and that he knew 
 positively of a number of others who were influenced by 
 the same cause. The parties mentioned above are responsi- 
 ble and reliable." 
 
 I withhold the name of this gentleman, although he has 
 not desired it, but his integrity will not be questioned. 
 
 A word now upon the term " strictly confidential," which 
 the Governor so frequently mentions, as if to implj^ that I 
 had been guilty of a breach of confidence or propriety in 
 reading parts of his letters to the few individuals I named to 
 him. I explained to him that I thought it necessary to read 
 them in order to set us both right, and this is the opinion of 
 all those to whom I did read them. It is the habit of the 
 Governor to mark his letters "strictly confidential," and I 
 do not think there are two out of ten of the numbers I have 
 received from him without this mark, although one is sur- 
 prised to know, in reading them, what he desires to be kept 
 in confidence. It is so common with him, that I have attached 
 but little importance to it. But I deny that he could impose 
 confidence in regard to these letters. A man may claim con- 
 fidence in matters personal to himself, but I deny that he can 
 defame another, or attempt to involve a friend under the seal 
 of confidence and secresy. As well stab a man, and say don't 
 show the blood or send for a surgeon, it is a confidential stab; 
 I am chief of State, you are my friend; you must suffer, and, 
 if needs be, die to save the State. What! engender the 
 loathsome spawn of slander and cast it into my nest for in 
 cubation, to be warmed into life and be defended by me? 
 No ! I dash back the foul offspring into the face of its pro- 
 genitor, that it may defile only the seat of its origin. 
 
 I have now adverted, I believe, to all the points in the 
 Governor's statement which I need answer. It has required 
 time, and has tried the patience of the reader, it is true, but 
 he will remember that character is at stake, which to a proud 
 man is dearer than life. 
 
37 
 
 Now, what has the Governor done, and how am I in future 
 to regard him? He has, in my opinion, told to his friends, 
 and for purposes of his own, perhaps now understood by the 
 [public, that which he knew to be false, and against his long- 
 tried and best friend. When the denial of McCreery and 
 Beck went to Frankfort the falsehood was developed, and 
 the Governor, " under impulse and excitement and in great 
 haste,*' finds it necessary to write to me in order to vindicate 
 him with those to whom he had told the falsehood, and make 
 a statement which he knew to be untrue, and knowing at the 
 same time that I would deny it. He reflected, however, that 
 he could accept my statement ; say he had unintentionally 
 misunderstood me, and could set me right and himself too, 
 with all those to whom he had so falsely spoken ! 
 
 All this, indeed, he says he did, and quite overcomes me 
 with praise and adulation. He has now, he thinks, recov- 
 ered from his great indiscretion and is safe, and here I 
 would have covered him with the mantle of charity and bid 
 the matter rest forever. But the still aggrieved Senator 
 projects a missile which disconcerts and seems to destroy 
 him. He looks about and considers long and well; finally 
 determines that the only hole for him to escape will be 
 through the character of his friend; he must acknowledge 
 himself false, else so prove his friend, and he sets about the 
 work to weave a net around him in the meshes of which he 
 is to be bound to death. Yes, he forgets all his fond love 
 and praise, for (he says) my "honor, truth, and nobility of 
 character," and after having urged even "Mr. Trabue and 
 Mr. Castleman that it was due to Colonel Jones that we 
 should accept his statement of what he did say," yet he 
 sets about to prove me a falsifier, and calls these men and 
 only these to the witness-stand. He concludes with Iago in 
 his soliloquy — 
 
 "Ay that's the way; 
 Dull not device by coldness and delay." 
 
 He goes to Louisville and to Covington, and sends others 
 also, aa I have been informed, to find out whether I had 
 made the statement in those places; he might have gone to my 
 immediate friends and relatives — my father-in-law, brothers- 
 in-law, even my wife — and he could have heard . nothing 
 that would have made evidence, for it never existed. He is 
 driven back to his own domicil, the sanctity of his own 
 family, which he violates, and there he thinks he has found 
 the material. He has even attempted to skulk behind the 
 drapery of fair woman, and place her husband in antago- 
 
38 
 
 nism to me; said even on one occasion, as I am informed, 
 that I would have to settle the matter with a gentleman, 
 well-known to me, of courage and honor, and the report 
 went forth involving our names in a difficulty. But I had 
 no apprehension that that gentleman would place himself in 
 defence of anything which he did not know to be true, and 
 especially against a friend. But the Governor! Oh, shade 
 of Virginia chivalry, canst thou veil the deformity of thy 
 degenerate son ! 
 
 Look for a moment at the reason and sense of this thing. 
 I go home and mingle with my constituents freely, have 
 daily intercouse with gentlemen all around me in Covington 
 and Newport, never a word about seeing a paper and names 
 upon it for Bui-bridge, to them, or even in the inmost recesses 
 of my family circle; but I am invited to the Governor's ban- 
 quet, and there, before the assembled Legislature and many 
 others, I raise this dreadful hobgoblin, and slander my col- 
 leagues, with whom I am on terms of perfect friendship. I 
 even present the frightful apparition in the Governor's pri- 
 vate parlor and before ladies. What the impelling motive? 
 What the intent? Fellow-citizens, is it like the man who 
 addresses you, or does it bear the slighest shadow of reason 
 and truth? The motive was not with me, but facts and cir- 
 cumstances point in another direction. 
 
 But even if these charges which the Governor brings 
 against me were true, which I never can admit, or I had in- 
 advertently used any language capable of misconstruction 
 upon so portentous a subject, was it becoming in him on the 
 10th, as he admits, and perhaps before the smoke of the 
 engine which carried me away was lost in the air, (for I left 
 him at the depot,) to begin to circulate his recollection of a 
 private conversation, under the sanctity of his own roof, even 
 if it occurred, as he pretends, before a few of his family cir- 
 cle? Why, if he thought there had been anything in it, or 
 attached any importance to it, as the "dear friend of mine," 
 which he calls himself, can you upasgia© that lip would not 
 have referred to it in the long conversation in the bed-room 
 the second night, probably again and again, or on the walk 
 to the depot in the morning, to have satisfied himself as to 
 my words or meaning? But he never alludes to it once, by 
 word or letter, to me from the hour it was spoken until that 
 "haste and excitement letter" came of the 18th March. It 
 might be well for Kentucky gentlemen to beware how they visit 
 the " Governor's palace," for the present term at least, unless 
 indeed their honors are insured before they enter its portals. 
 
39 
 
 See the infamy. A man high in position appeals " to God 
 and the people of Kentucky for honor, truth, fidelity, and 
 uprightness, in both official and private life," and makes a 
 statement which, I am convinced, he knows to be false, and 
 then attempts to prove it upon one who has been his best 
 friend. Oh, Heaven ! I had not supposed that human mean- 
 ness could have descended so deep. I have known this man 
 long and well, but owe him nothing. The obligation, if any, 
 is to me, and he knows it. I have stood by him when others 
 faltered and abandoned. I have always overlooked his weak 
 points, which were not few, and appreciated his stronger ones ; 
 but his present showing reveals what was probably always 
 in him, and what now in his dilemma would "no longer 
 down." To save himself he would tarnish the honor of his 
 friend of twenty years, and although he oils him with his 
 tongue, yet presents him to the people of Kentucky as a liar. 
 
 I may forgive, bat never, never forget. The unpleasant 
 memories of this friendship I throw to the dogs; the purer 
 ones I blow to heaven. 
 
 The executive mansion of Kentucky has been occupied by 
 illustrious names — the Shelbys, the Deshas, the Garrards, 
 the Scotts, the Clarkes, the Letchers, the Wickliffes, the 
 Crittendens, Moreheads, Powels, Helms, and others; but 
 it was reserved for this ignoble son of noble Virginia first to 
 tarnish the honor of the house. What would a man not do 
 who has done as he? Might he not pour poison in the cup 
 of his invited friend, or draw with deadly chloroform the 
 breath of his sleeping guest? For what is honor but life; 
 yea, sweeter than life itself. Has the executive mansion of 
 Kentucky become a corner for gossip and falsehood and foul 
 slander, to "knot and gender in?" Has the blood of the 
 Borgias sprung from the tomb of ages, and become vivified 
 in the person of Kentucky's Governor ? 
 
 But the inquiry is now one of veracity between the Gov- 
 ernor and myself. We are both in responsible places. I 
 shrink not from the investigation, and invite it from in- 
 f.,,,,.^ ^ preueirc age. i can up the proud men of Virginia 
 and Carolina, where we and our families are both well known; 
 let them speak from boyhood to eartj numterodr; y«, early 
 manhood, and on. I call up the brave and gallant men of 
 our adopted State, who have known us for twenty years and 
 more, and I place before them my word and integrity as a man 
 against his. But in this business, in which he is the arch 
 perpetrator, has not the *< mischief of his own lips" covered 
 
40 
 
 him? "Let not an evil speaker be established in the 
 earth." 
 
 I now dismiss this subject, and would fain hope for good 
 and all. It has been long and tedious to me, perhaps more 
 so to my readers. But how shall I dismiss this whilom friend, 
 now so false and treacherous? 
 
 Hence, from my sight and memory forever! go thou — shall 
 I say, liar, slanderer, coward? — from the presence of honest 
 men and gentlemen; and if before this unhappy strife shall 
 end, blood shall flow, whether I or another may fall, I brand 
 thy brow with the blackness of Cain; wander up and down 
 in the earth; wear the mark as long as thou livest ; and when 
 thou diest thou shalt surely so appear before thy God ! 
 
 My countrymen, if in what I Lave saM language is em- 
 ployed which falls upon your ears as violent and unnecessary, 
 I ask your pardon, but beg you to reflect that it comes from 
 a man sensitive in the extreme, who feels that a serious at- 
 tempt has been made to wound his honor and blast his repu- 
 tation before the State and the world. But I trust that in 
 your judgment the coils so artfully woven around me are 
 shivered into atoms, and that I stand before you in the sun- 
 light of truth. But "come what, come ma} r ," I am at peace 
 within; for as I stand before God and saints and angels, in 
 all I have said, to the best of my knowledge, I have spoken 
 the truth. 
 
 Falsehood and vice oft for a season prevail against truth 
 and virtue, but I calmly and confidently abide the issue. 
 
 "Truth crushed to earth shall rise again; 
 The eternal years of God are her's ; 
 But error, wounded, writhes with pain, 
 And dies among her worshipers." 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 THOMAS LAURENS JONES. 
 Washington, D. C, May 16, 1870. 
 
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