Kentucky Gazette And General Advertiser

SUPPLEMENT

THE KENTUCKY GAZETTE AND GENERAL ADVERTISER.

LEXINGTON, MAY 10, 1808.

St. Louis, April 5th, 1806.

SIR,

SEVERAL vile, malignant and groundless fabrications, having lately issued from your press with design to stab my reputation, I should feel myself unworthy the confidence with which I am honoured, did I suffer them, however contemptible, to pass unnoticed. I must therefore request of you, sir, to favor me with the names of the authors of the several pieces which you have published, under the signature of an American, on the 6th of February, of Aristides on the 26th of the same month, and of the cruel assassin who authorized the publication of the communication in your Gazette of the 1st ultimo, respecting the expedition of Lieut. Wilkinson up the Missouri, and in the mean time I will thank you to give publicity to the papers under cover, which will expose the unexampled depravity & baseness of your infamous correspondent.

I have this moment seen your publication of a letter dated at this place, the 20th February. The author of this ingenious essay has overacted his part. His affected mystery, terror, and alarm, cannot conceal the real design, to scatter falsehoods and excite prejudices at a critical moment, beyond the reach of reasonable explanation or refutation. This may be considered the last desperate resort of an expiring faction. It has been the boast of the disorganizing junto who infest this territory, that they would write me out of office, and for this end the sacred mounds of truth, justice, and honor are prostrated. I have barely time before the departure of the mail, to assure that the innuendos and assertions of this letter writer are substantially false and groundless. We are here all peace and tranquility, and I have heard of no person wearing arms, except it be Mr. Moses Austin of the Mine a Breton, and a youth by the name of Hammond, lately a clerk of Mr. Riddick at the old Mines, who being asked why he carried pistols in his bosom, answered, he understood some person had threatened to "whip" him.

The outrage imputed to lieutenant Wilkinson, who will be pardoned by the liberal, for resenting the unheard of abuse offered to his father, will be explained in the documents under cover, relative to Hempstead and Rankin, which I must also request you to publish with this note.—I have another favour to ask Mr. Bradford, will you have the goodness to give me the name of your correspondent of the 20th of February, I think I am entitled to it, yet will assure you a hair of his head shall not be touched on my account, and that I will harbour no resentment against him.

Respectfully I am Sir,

Your obedient servant.

JA. WILKINSON.

Mr. Daniel Bradford, Printer of the Kentucky Gazette.

[The Editor has no hesitation in complying with the request of Governor Wilkinson, in his note above. The names of the authors alluded to, are communicated to him by letter. Unable to form a correct opinion of the merits of the parties at St. Louis, from the distance, and contrariety of the statements, the Editor has sedulously avoided becoming a partisan in the contest, even in opinion. His press has been open for the reception of pieces on either side; and he has always reserved to himself the privilege of giving the names of their authors, when called on by any person implicated.]

SIR,

The public service requiring the detachment of a small party high up on the Missouri, I am desirous to send with them a surgeon of skill and a gentleman of general science, whose knowledge in botany and chemistry may be usefully applied, and therefore I beg leave to enquire on what terms you would accompany this detachment.

With great respect, I am sir,

Your obdt. servt.

JA. WILKINSON.

St. Louis, Oct. 13, 1805.

Doctor Andw. Steele.

St. Louis, Oct. 13, 1805.

SIR,

I have received your note of this day, requesting to know on what conditions I would accompany a military party ascending the Missouri, to a considerable distance. No pecific consideration under one hundred dollars per month, and my subsistence, would make such an expedition an object to me, as I should have to abandon my practice here; but if I may be permitted to take with me a small quantity of goods, not to encumber the boat, and be indulged in the privilege of trading with such Indians as may fall in our way, for their skins, furs, &c. to be carried in the boat, returning to this place, I would accompany the detachment without other consideration than my subsistence and servant, as I expect the advantages resulting from the trade may compensate me for my trouble & sacrifices.

I have the honor to be,

With great respect, sir,

Your obdt. servant.

ANDW. STEELE.

His excellency gen. Jas. Wilkinson.

St. Louis, October 15, 1805.

SIR,

I have received your letter of the 13th inst. and agree to your proposition, on the condition that you do not encumber the boat or suffer your private views to interrupt the necessary attentions to the sick. I will request at the same time, that you keep a diary of your proceedings, that you may ascertain the variation of the magnetic needle, and latitude at different points, and make industrious enquiries into the natural history, products, population, minute geography, &c. of the regions you are about to penetrate. I wish you an agreeable voyage, and am with perfect respect & great esteem,

Sir,

Your obdt. servant.

JA. WILKINSON.

Doctor A. Steele.

I do certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the correspondence betwixt governor Wilkinson and myself, relative to my services in the detachment lately under the com. mand of lieut. Wilkinson up the Missouri river; and that I accompanied that detachment on the terms expressed in my letter to the governor, with his approbation, considering myself the only person connected with the party, who had the privilege of trading with the Indians.

ANDW. STEELE.

St. Louis, April 10, 1806.

This day, personally appeared & came before me, a justice of the peace in and for the district of St. Louis, in the territory of Louisiana, Morgan Eddy, who being duly sworn on the Evangelist of Almighty God, deposeth and saith, that the evening Martin Williamson was accidentally shot, he had left the entrenchment owing to an alarm being made by a centinel, and immediately returned, hearing nothing more than the war whistle passed around the camp, and further the deponent faith, that he without lieut. Wilkinson's order, crossed the chain of centinels with the said Williamson, and that having reconnoitred but a short time, they seated themselves near an old burnt stump, about fifteen feet in height, and during this time the whistles increased and approached nearer the camp, and that lieut. Wilkinson being in the entrenchment, hailed three different times who comes there! No answer was given and a centinel fired, immediately after lieutenant Wilkinson hailed three times more who comes there, and on receiving no reply, fired his fusee and shot Williamson, who was sitting very close to him outside of the line of centinels, a considerable distance, and that Williamson declared his death had been occasioned by his own imprudence, and that lieutenant Wilkinson had treated him kindly and as a friend, that he forgave him for his unfortunate death, and made no mention about his family; and further, that he this deponent who was the person nearest Williamson, was not touched by a shot, nor any other person of the camp as he ever understood. And further faith not.

(Signed) MORGAN EDDY.

Sworn the 2d April, 1806,

before me,

(Signed) S. HAMMOND.

St. Louis, Feb. 2, 1806.

GENTLEMEN,

Having heard a few hours since, from Mr. J. Mullanphy, that a certificate had been extorted from you by lieut. Wilkinson under threats and menaces, which concerned my character, I demanded and received from the lieutenant the said certificate, which I now enclose you for your disposal; and I beg you to be assured that the application was utterly unknown to me, and that I highly condemn it, as I shall always prefer to rest my conduct and character upon their merits, and not upon the certificates of any man or men.

I know nothing of the circumstances attending the giving of this certificate, but am informed it was drawn up by Judge Griffin, by whom I find it is witnessed—but Gentlemen as I discountenance all acts of violence, and particularly from a soldier to a citizen, if you have any complaints to offer against Lieutenant Wilkinson or Lt. Kimball who I understand accompanied him, present them to me and they shall be strictly attended to.

I am

Your Obedient Servant,

JA. WILKINSON.

Messrs. E. Hempstead, and F. Rankin.

We, Edward Hempstead, attorney at law, and J. Rankin, do hereby certify that we have never intentionally made any declaration injurious to the character of General Wilkinson, Governor of the Louisiana Territory.

January 31st, 1806.

Signed

E. HEMPSTEAD,

J. RANKIN.

Witness,

John Griffin,

One of the Judges of the Indiana Territory.

Signed

Joseph Kimball,

Lt. Regt. Art's.

True copy from the original.

RICHARD STEPHENS.

Signed

ANTHY. NEW.

St. Louis, 15th April, 1806.

MR. DANIEL BRADFORD;

SIR,

A letter has appeared in your paper of the 20th of February, said to be written in this place, in which the author has introduced my name; this licentious tool of faction, has not dared to charge me directly with any improper conduct, but by false libellous and infamous assertions, he implicates my conduct as a public officer and insinuates roundly, that I have prostituted official influence and power to intimidate the good people of this territory to sign a recommendation of Governor Wilkinson; where I am known this calumny would be treated with the contempt it merits, but with those who are strangers to me, it may possibly for a moment gain credit—I must therefore demand from you, the publication of this note with the name of the author of the letter alluded to, that I may be enabled whilst I correct his slanders, to expose the villain and impostor to the public indignation.

I am Sir

Your Humb. & Obt. Servant,

CLEMENT B. PENROSE.

[However the Editor may be disposed to comply with the demand of Maj. Penrose, he finds it impossible; as he published no paper on the 20th February. It is probable the letter was dated the 20th February, and published the 15th March, as that is the only one recollected by the Editor, in which the Major's name is mentioned. If he was certain that this is the letter referred to, the name of the writer should not be an instant withheld; but as it possibly may not be, he conceives it better to await further advice, than to risk the injury of an innocent person.]