Part 22 (1/2)
J HOLT
WAshi+NGTON, DC, January 21st, 1891
Dear Mrs Gouverneur:
I regret to be obliged to acknowledge the receipt of your welco to the condition of my eyes Foror writing, and I fear that this condition will continue for a good while to come So soon as I am able to do so I will either write or have the pleasure of calling on you In the rateful for your letter which, however, has been but imperfectly read The darkened chambers of my life never had more need than at present of the sunshi+ne which your syht me
Very sincerely yours,
J HOLT
WAshi+NGTON, DC, Jan 26th, 1893
Dear Mrs Gouverneur:
Your last two letters have been received and I thank you heartily for them As tokens of your continued friendly reed for the privilege of reading the letter of Mrs Vance [Mrs
Zebulon B Vance], which is herewith returned It is another of the many indications I have had of the subtle and wide spread circulation given to the Johnson-Speed calumny to which you refer It seems to me that the poison is beyond the reach of any human antidote, and that I enerous and effective good offices in thismy reputation and happiness, have filledsolicitudes, too, for ratitude, great as it was and is Let the good Lord be praised for ever and ever that spirits such as yours have been born into the world
I aed to address you in this brief and unsatisfactory manner by the hand of another After two years and a half of continued treatment I have as yet received no relief whatever, nor do the eement for the future While the world feasts, it is evident that _ that you are drinking yourself freely from the fountain of happiness you open for others, I remain
Very sincerely your friend,
J HOLT
WAshi+NGTON, DC, April 12, 1893
My dear good friend:
I regret ed to communicate with you by the hand of another, but rade, and at present there is no encourage better in store for me
I send you a nu the correspondence to which you refer between General Speed and myself In it there is also a detached printed letter of Colonel Brohich is important And I must ask that both this letter and the number of the Review be carefully preserved and after their perusal by your friend be returned to me, as I have no other copies and wish to preserve these
I am sorry that the sad circu you in person for your continued interest in my reputation which has been so basely assailed, but I trust as triumphantly vindicated
I thank you sincerely for what you have said of Mrs Kearny
It would be a great gratification to o, but this is a pleasure which I now have no encouragerateful for the repeated calls and inquiries as to ood as to make Such calls are precious fountains of consolation that will not go dry
Very sincerely your friend,
J HOLT
It has been asserted upon high authority that after the conviction and sentence of Mrs Surratt her daughter Anna, as well as Catholic priests and proton, attempted to see the President in order to intercede for executive cle, Collector of the Port of New York and then a guest at the White House, and by US Senator James Lane of Kansas It has also been said that Mrs Stephen A Douglas succeeded in reaching the President by pushi+ng herself past the guards, but her attempts in behalf of the conde very well and his political career interested me deeply He was froirlhood I often heard it asserted that the ht had fallen upon hi the Scotts in Washi+ngton, and was particularly impressed by his exceptionally sensitive nature General Scott once told me that at one period of his military career he was ordered to quell a disturbance between Canadians and A, and that the latter was so seriously affected by the scenes he witnessed at that ti before he recovered his nor President Johnson's ad, while Collector of the Port of New York, boarded a Jersey City ferry boat one hts to his person and jumped into the river When the news of his death reached me I was not surprised as I had seen evidences of his nervous teht well result in acts indicative of an unbalancedheart and exceptional ability, and in his death the State of New York lost one of her uished sons