"797 GREENE AVENUE, BROOKLYN, _2 Aug. 1882_.
"MY DEAR SIR,--May I trespass upon your attention, briefly,
in behalf of a literary undertaking in which I think you will feel
an interest? The facts are these: Mrs. Charlotte M. Clarke, who
has won a very decided success as a novelist while writing under
a pseudonym, has now in press a novel of a good deal more than
ordinary breadth and power, in which she treats the social and
political history of this country during the period immediately
preceding the late war and later. It is now her purpose to carry
the review forward in another novel to be entitled _The Theft of an
Empire_, and to concern itself with the events of 1876.
"From the character of the work now in press, which I have had
occasion to read in proof, I am satisfied that in the hands of this
writer the story of the election frauds of 1876 will have such a
dramatic setting forth as will command respect and attention in
quarters where the facts are now misconstrued. I need not suggest
to you the potency of fiction to impress truths of this nature upon
minds which receive such truths in no other way, but I may assure
you that I know of no author likely to make so effective use of this
material as Mrs. Clarke.
"The lady already has possession of very valuable materials, and in
making further collections she will have the active assistance of
some of the most prominent editors and public men of the country,
who are her friends; but she is especially anxious to get possession
of certain facts which you can doubtless furnish at once, but which
it would be difficult to get elsewhere. In her eagerness to get full
and accurate information for this purpose, she asks the privilege of
an interview with you at your own convenience, and my own interest
in the due performance of this necessary work induces me to make
this request for her. With respect to myself, and the sincerity
of my interest in the establishment of historic truth in this
connection, I beg to refer you to my friend Mr. Parke Godwin, under
whom I served upon the editorial staff of the _Evening Post_.
"Mrs. Clarke is staying for a few days at the Hotel Branting,
Madison Avenue and Fifty-eighth Street, and, if you are willing to
grant her request for a brief interview, she will call upon you at
any time you may name, and will trespass as little as may be upon
your time.
"Very respectfully, your obt. servant,
"GEO. CARY EGGLESTON."