A Secret Life_ The Lies and Scandals of President Grover Cleveland - Charles Lachman [150]
Milburn read the Sentinel’s account into the record. Then he turned to Ball. “Now, did you make an apology to any lady or person in Owensville?”
Ball stammered, “I . . . I . . . ”
“This question calls for a direct answer—yes or no.”
“Well, yes, I did.”
Milburn was done. Ball looked drained. One reporter who was in the courtroom said of Ball’s experience on the stand, “It was torture.” He wrote that Ball looked exhausted in “flesh (and) spirit” by the assault on his integrity.
Now it was Adelbert Moot’s turn. It was going to be a challenge to recoup some of the damage caused by Milburn’s skillful interrogation. Under Moot’s guidance, Ball gave the jurors a sense of his distinguished career. He said he’d earned his doctorate of divinity from Bates College in Maine. He explained the theological diversity in the Baptist church. He came from the church’s Free Will denomination, which placed autonomy in the hands of the local house of worship. It was important for Ball to clarify what it meant to be a Free Will Baptist, lest anyone on the jury think this somehow was a lesser branch of the church.
Moot brought the witness around to the mayoral campaign of 1881. Ball said he ran a local independent political club.
“That body supported Mr. Cleveland?”
“It did.”
“Was any question raised as to his moral character then?”
“There was not,” Ball answered. “One member did object to him, but I made no investigations.”
Ball acknowledged that he had received fifty dollars from Cleveland, but he denied the donation was in exchange for a political endorsement. He said he spent the money on a church construction project. Moreover, he noted, the check had been sent to him after the mayoral election.
“Did you ever ask or receive a dollar for political services of anyone?”
“No, sir. Every dollar I received for the church was used to build it.”
“Was the independent club a little political machine of your own?”
“No, it was not.” He downplayed his influence in Buffalo, saying that if he ran a political machine, then it was a “party of one.” He said he would never endorse anyone for fifty dollars or for any amount of money.
“Coming down to the time when Mr. Cleveland ran for governor, did your club have anything to do with that campaign?”
“No, sir.”
“Did you learn anything about the history of Grover Cleveland’s life at that time?”
“No, I did not.”
“When did you get your first information against Mr. Cleveland ?”
“Just before the political convention, which nominated Mr. Cleveland for president.”
“Who told you these facts first?”
“Dr. George W. Lewis.”
Lewis came from one of Buffalo’s most esteemed pioneer families. His brother, Dr. Diocletian Lewis, was a famous physical fitness advocate. Another brother, Loren Lewis, was a judge.
“Did you learn them from others?”
“Yes, a Mrs. Baker of Huron Street.”
Moot showed a letter that Ball had written to Dr. Lyman Abbott, the editor of a Christian newspaper in New York City. The Abbott Letter—one of three that Ball had sent to religious publications in July 1884—laid out the allegations that Cleveland had had an illegitimate son with Maria Halpin. Moot read the letter out loud, and as he did, murmurs rippled through the courtroom. The facts of the Halpin case were familiar to everyone, but the Abbott Letter contained a sensational new accusation: Cleveland had been courting a “respectable young lady” when he arrived at her home with a bottle of champagne and invited her to have a drink. She immediately grabbed the bottle and threw it out the window. That was the last time Cleveland was permitted in her home.
“Did you believe the statements contained