There was also put out a second answer to this letter, more valuable as a defense to Messrs. Ward and Fish than the other:
"My Dear Mr. Fish:
"In relation to the matter of discounts kindly made by you for account of Grant and Ward, I would say that I think the investments are safe, and I am willing that Mr. Ward should derive what profit he can for the firm that the use of my name and influence may bring."
This was signed apparently in General Grant's own hand, and upon it the detractors of Grant fell with joy. It was photo-lithographed and sent throughout the country. The signature was to all appearance genuine; the body of the letter was written in another hand. Action had already begun against Fish, and this letter became important evidence.
In March of the following year the testimony of General Grant was demanded. He was unable to leave his room—was indeed almost at the point of death—and the counsel for Fish went to the attorney for the Grants and expressed the deepest regret that the trial should come up at a time when the General was so ill, and suggested its postponement. But Grant's attorney, knowing well the temper of the General, said, "No. Let the trial go on. General Grant is ready to testify."
General Grant's deposition was taken in the room of his house on Sixty-sixth Street. He stated that he had considered himself merely a special partner in the business of Grant and Ward, liable only for his investment. He did not remember to have seen Mr. Fish's letter. He did not know that any government contracts were handled, and he had no knowledge that his name was being used to induce others to invest in doubtful speculations. When the alleged letter to Fish was placed before him, he examined the signature closely, and said that it was undoubtedly of his own writing, but that he had no knowledge of the letter itself. He added, that in the course of a long executive life he had become accustomed to affix his signature to many papers without reading them, it being impossible to personally examine everything which was put before him to sign.
The trial developed that the letter was written, at Ward's request, by Spencer the cashier. Spencer remembered the letter perfectly, for the reason that Ward brought the rough draft of it to him on a pad one morning in the midsummer of 1882. It had many corrections and interlineations for so short a letter, and that fact aided to fix the matter in Mr. Spencer's mind. It meant nothing unsigned; but with Grant's signature it would be very serviceable, and Ward had turned his attention to getting it signed. He afterwards confessed to Walter S. Johnston, the receiver of the Marine Bank,[1] that he had slipped it into a pile of other letters, and presenting it to General Grant as he was hurrying to finish his mail and catch a boat, easily procured the signature without arousing suspicion.
Ward's own testimony at the first trial was very remarkable. He was at first broken and a little bewildered, and came to the stand "looking like a man suffering from loss of sleep. His face was bloodless, his ears seemed to hang from his head." He admitted that he had been insolvent for two years.[2] He was unable to tell where and when he had made large purchases of real estate, such as Booth's Theater. The "books of the firm" were not "the books of the office": there was a difference. The "books of the firm" included books which the Grants had never seen. He admitted that there had never been any contracts; that when he said "invested in a contract," it meant that the money went into the bank as his personal deposit. He did not remember that he had ever had any dealings with the government of any kind. He admitted putting the Vanderbilt check into his personal account. He admitted having paid $3,000 for jewelry on the 22d of, April, but he had forgotten to whom he gave it. He had no contracts, and he was making no such profits as he paid to investors. Business was transacted in the name of Grant and Ward, but no one transacted it but himself. The Grants knew nothing about it. His method, as he himself delineated it, was to borrow large sums for pretended investment, set aside a profit out of the principal, and by prompt payment of this profit, induce the lender to leave the principal in his hands. He deceived the many for the few, and these few were not the Grants. He was uncertain as to what became of immense sums. Some of them appeared on the secret book he kept, and some did not. In a later trial this singular book was put in evidence. It was cabalistic in text. No one could understand it, not even Ward himself.
- ↑ From an interview with Mr. Johnston for McClure's Magazine.
- ↑ Generalized from Ward's testimony before Commissioner Cole.
