(Draft.)
"_Dec. 19, '79._
"A _Sun_ reporter called on Mr. Tilden, showed him a copy of the
_Sun_ of Sunday last containing an article copied from the _Star_,
and asked if it would be agreeable to him to say whether there was
any, and, if so, what foundation for the statements there made about
negotiations with him to obtain the electoral vote of the State of
South Carolina for $30,000.
"Mr. Tilden took the paper, ran his eyes over it, and then said: 'I
have no objection to answer your question if my friends of the _Sun_
think the publication worthy of such notice.
"'I do not see, on looking this article over, any statement
concerning me personally which is not a mere fiction.
"'The substance of the story is that I was visited at my house
by a gentleman from South Carolina, who told me that the vote of
the State had been given to me, but that the Returning Boards had
determined to count it against me unless they were paid $30,000;
that after declining the proposition, I recalled this agent by a
letter addressed to him at his hotel; that on the second interview I
referred him to a gentleman in this city; that that gentleman gave
him a package containing $30,000, which was sent to Charleston;
that the letter had scarcely left the wharf when the agent
received another letter from me requesting him to call at my house
immediately; that I then insisted upon the immediate return of the
package unopened, and that it be restored to the person from whom it
was received; that the agents remonstrated, saying:
"'"The corrupt men in Columbia and in the State generally have not
tried to count Hampton out. They know perfectly well that both you
and Hampton are elected and have received a majority of the votes of
the people, but they can afford to count you out, but not to count
Hampton out, because he and his friends will not stand it."
"'That notwithstanding this remonstrance, I persisted in requiring
the package to be restored to the person who handed it to the agent.'
"Mr. Tilden: 'Every one of these statements is totally false; no one
of the three pretended interviews ever happened. I never sent either
of the two letters attributed to me; I never referred any agent
bearing such a proposition to Mr. Brown or to Mr. Anybody else. All
the details concerning the package of money being sent and recalled
and my conversations respecting it also are wholly destitute of
truth. They are simply a fabrication from beginning to end.'"