A Secret Life_ The Lies and Scandals of President Grover Cleveland - Charles Lachman [49]
Over at the law offices of Milo A. Whitney, preparations for Maria Halpin vs. Grover Cleveland were proceeding at a quickening pace. Whitney seemed to be looking forward to the litigation; he thought it was shaping up to be an exceptionally strong case. Then one day, on the eve of filing the lawsuit, Maria Halpin came to see him. Accompanying her was a gentleman Whitney had never met before, her brother-in-law, Simeon Talbott. It quickly became evident to Whitney that his client was taking direction from Talbott, that the traveling salesman from Jersey City was calling the shots.
Talbott informed Whitney that there had been a change in strategy. There would be no litigation. The case was over. The Halpin family was not willing to risk a “public scandal.” Talbott said “innocent parties”—presumably meaning the Halpins and Maria’s two children—would be “bowed down in an exposure of Maria’s shame.” Before Whitney could absorb this extraordinary statement, he was handed another shock: a signed agreement made between Maria Halpin and Grover Cleveland. Talbott had done all the negotiating, and everything had been worked out. Cleveland would pay Maria the single lump sum payment of $500. In return, Maria Halpin agreed to “surrender her son, Oscar Folsom Cleveland, and make no further demands of any nature whatsoever upon his father.”
Whitney could not believe it. As he examined the settlement accord, he saw that it had been written in Grover Cleveland’s own hand. The crafty Cleveland had settled the case out of court without even the knowledge of Maria’s own attorney. And from Whitney’s point of view, it had been settled for a ridiculously low figure.
Right then, Whitney realized, even if he still believed Cleveland to have committed an egregious abuse of power, the lawsuit had been irrevocably “compromised.” His representation of Maria Halpin “ceased as soon as he saw that agreement.” The litigation had ended before it was ever begun.
As Whitney watched Maria Halpin and Simeon Talbott walk out of his office, his compassion for Maria was unchanged. Evidently, the poor woman had “yielded” to unrelenting family pressure, which left Whitney in a state of profound distress. He also had to wonder about the other pathetic victim in the case. What would be the fate of the orphaned boy, Oscar Folsom Cleveland?
New Year’s Day 1877 was marked by great events across the globe. In Delhi, in the fortieth year of her reign as British monarch, Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. At the stroke of midnight at Trinity Church in Manhattan, under a crisp cold sky, and to the solemn strikes of the belfry clock, an immense throng welcomed the New Year. In London, a British astronomer issued a warning to humanity that the sun could one day “blaze up” and destroy the earth. And in Washington, President Ulysses Grant, holding court at the Executive Mansion, received the diplomatic corps in their brilliant decorations and official regalia. Outside, a blinding snowstorm had begun in the nation’s capital; by nightfall, a foot of snow would render the streets impassable.
On this same day, January 1, 1877, in the city of Buffalo, a little boy departed the grounds of the Buffalo Orphan Asylum for the final time. Archival records indicate that he was “taken by his guardian.” The record is silent on the name of the guardian. It could have been Judge Burrows. It might have been Grover Cleveland. We do not know who took the youngster by the hand that day, but we do know where he was ultimately delivered: To 93 Niagara Street, the home of Dr. James E. King and his wife, Sarah.
Oscar must have been bewildered as he took in these splendid surroundings and got to know his new parents. It was a clapboard house with a front porch and veranda and a picket fence. This was the first real house he had ever experienced; until now he had lived only in dank apartments and boarding rooms. Perhaps Dr. King informed the boy of their exceptional connection. He, Dr. King, had been present at his birth. He had delivered the boy into the world.