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By Root 1742 0

Mr. Cleveland and finally he paid her $500 to give up the child and at length succeeded in getting her to leave the city. The boy was then given to a family on Niagara Street, where he still lives and I believe bears their name. But poor Maria Halpin, for that was her name, went away broken hearted, disgraced, an outcast, while her seducer continued to revel in the realm of lust and pretend before the great American public that he is a model of virtue, pre-eminently worthy of being honored by their votes and being exalted as an example of ambitious youth to imitate. Perhaps personal character originally ought not to be involved in political discussions, but it would be criminal to allow the virtuous to vote for so vile a man as this under a false impression that he is pure and honorable.

These are a part, only a part, of the facts that have been verified in relation to Mr. Cleveland’s character. It is painful to think of his offenses and shameful, infinitely shameful, to have such a man commended to the suffrages of a Christian nation. It is enough to alarm all decent people, and even cause the vulgar and profane to hesitate and demand a halt.

Ball signed the statement and dated it July 18.

Cresswell kept the handwritten original and stored it in a safe place at the Evening Telegraph offices. Three days later, on July 21, the Evening Telegraph hit the stands with one of the most famous headlines in the history of American journalism:

A TERRIBLE TALE

A DARK CHAPTER IN A PUBLIC MAN’S HISTORY

A Pitiful Story of Maria Halpin and Governor

Cleveland’s Son

Prominent Citizen States the Result of His

Investigation of Charges

Against the Governor—Interviews Touching the Case

Cresswell personally wrote the story. The lead sentence cut right to it: “Grover Cleveland’s reputation for morality has been bad in this city for some time.” Whispers of a scandal in Cleveland’s personal life had been an open secret in Buffalo—“freely used in private and broadly hinted at in public.”

Inquiries came to Buffalo thick and fast concerning these reports. These were addressed to ministers of the gospel, editors and business men who might be supposed to know and have the courage and candor to tell the truth about the matter.

Vague stories were afloat and people wanted something definite one way or the other. We had not pursued our investigations long before we discovered that others were on the same trail.

What came next was Ball’s anonymous “Citizen’s Statement,” which the Evening Telegraph published in its entirety on the front page. Cresswell described the writer as a leading minister of the city—“one of the most discreet, honored and trusted . . . worthy of all confidence,” and pledged to release his name at the proper time. Cresswell said the minister had recently presented his findings before a private conclave of Buffalo pastors and had expressed to them his belief that “Grover Cleveland’s immoralities are so great that his election should be opposed by all Christian people.

“The Telegraph’s action today is taken after counsel with several of the most influential pastors of Buffalo and with their warm approval.”

It was a shrewd posture. Who could condemn the Evening Telegraph for investigating the city’s favorite son when Buffalo’s own clergymen were giving their blessing?

The Evening Telegraph portrayed Maria as a valiant lady who had been victimized by an “infamous conspiracy.” Powerful forces had thrown her into an insane asylum without due process, but her “mother’s love and zeal” could not keep Maria from reclaiming her son, Oscar. The son born of that relationship “bears the governor’s image if he does not now bear his name.” Maria Halpin—a woman of “culture, proud spirit and hitherto unblemished life”—had been “shamed,” “disgraced,” and “dishonored” by Cleveland, which was code for rape.

The woman so treated was the mother of the son of the present governor of the state of New York, who aspires to be president of the United States. The men of America, as a rule, would die to protect the mothers of their children