Chapter L: A. Stebbins, of Chicago, Illinois, ex-attorney for the Red Cross, in

July, 1916, in a written report to the Library Committee of the House, and to which report he makes affidavit, refers to the charges of 1903 and 1904 in words such as follow: “The _only witness_ ever produced to give testimony;—testimony was wholly unworthy of credit—false and untrue;—for blackmailing purposes;—clearly indicating blackmail.”

On February 20, 1903, as elsewhere stated, the “remonstrants” certified in writing (certification of record) as to the “integrity, good name and fame of Clara Barton.” At the investigation held in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Room on April 12, 1904, _in re_ the terrifying twenty-four page “remonstrance” before the Proctor Red Cross Committee, General John M. Wilson, himself a “remonstrant” and representing the “remonstrants” on that occasion, among other things said “We do not charge that anybody has been guilty of malfeasance,” in Red Cross affairs.

Referring to this very occasion, Major-General W. R. Shafter, Commander of the American Army in the Spanish-American War, in 1904 while the case was pending, said: “If the charges made against Clara Barton were true, no gentleman could afford to be mixed up in the affair, but not one word uttered against her _is_ true.” Clara Barton, in 1911, referring to that now historic event, said: “The harvest is not what the reapers expected, and I suspect if it were all to be done over again in the light of their newly-gained experience, it would not be done.”

To the credit of man’s respect for historic truth in official decisions, and his innate American chivalry, since the exoneration in 1904 there is not, at least of record, by any man an adverse criticism of the Red Cross Founder. _The perversion of the truth of history, however, by woman is as injurious to the public weal as such perversion by man, and through no ingenuous excuse of chivalry for a live woman, and against a dead woman, should untruth have countenance._ The investigation, for want of evidence, was _summarily dismissed_, on motion of the Committee itself. It thus became a mere farcical episode in American history.

The written certification of the Founder’s “integrity,” by the “remonstrants” in 1903; the oral disclaimer by the “remonstrants” of _any_ Red Cross malfeasance in office officially proclaimed at the investigation in 1904, followed by a unanimous decision adverse to the “remonstrants,” the incident then should have been closed. The “accusation,” however, of even worse import than that originally in the _indictment_, by the “remonstrants” of 1903 and of 1904, again comes to the attention of the public in a semi-official way, from the same “lone woman accuser,” and is still a living factor in Red Cross policy,—still coming—still going—never ending—

All slander
Must still be strangled in its birth; as time
Will soon conspire to make it strong enough
To overcome truth.

A certain letter by a Red Cross official, assuming to represent the Red Cross Society, was mailed from the Washington Red Cross headquarters to the members of the U. S. Senate and House of Representatives. Said letter was written to be used, and was used, as the basis of an argument against the record and fame of Clara Barton before the Library Committee of Congress. On the letter-head was the following:

The American Red Cross

Pointe-au-Pie
Province of Quebec,
Canada. July 29, 1916.

The letter was signed ... (unofficially).

From that long letter, certain to be in American annals of peculiar
interest as an epistolary curio, are taken the following excerpts:

“Her father died in 1862, leaving property valued at a little more
than $1,000, of which she received a few hundred.”

“I may say individually that previous to the war Miss Barton appears,
according to her statement to have taught school at Bordentown, New
Jersey, where a teacher’s salary was $300 per year. A little later the
records show that she and some other woman occasionally did copying in
the Interior Department.”

“She obtained from Congress in 1866, $15,000 which she said she had
expended of her own money in tracing the missing soldiers. It is
difficult to understand where she obtained this money and also upon
what her income depended in future years, as she stated she never
received any salary or income from the Red Cross and yet she had no
other remunerative occupation that we know of.”

“In the 126 volumes of the War Department records of the Civil War no
mention is made of Miss Barton’s name or services except in a single
letter from her asking information as to prisoners at Annapolis.”

“We have a printed diary of.... This diary was published in 1863.
Though the names of a number of efficient women like Miss Dix and
others connected with the Sanitary Commission are mentioned in a
laudatory way, Miss Barton is never referred to.”

“In many published accounts of the Sanitary and Christian Commissions,
Miss Barton is not mentioned, though hundreds of other devoted women
are given.”

“Just after the Civil War, several gentlemen who had been connected
with the Sanitary Commission organized the first American Red Cross
Society, but as the Senate had not at that time ratified the treaty of
Geneva, this body could hold no official status and shortly went out
of existence.”

“In 1881 Miss Barton who, previously when visiting in Vienna, had
learned of the treaty of Geneva and the Red Cross societies, with a
number of others organized the American Red Cross.”

“The International Committee of Geneva transmitted through her a
letter to the President of the United States requesting the
ratification of the Treaty.”

“Mr. Blaine interested himself in the matter and in 1882 the Treaty
was ratified by the United States Senate.”

“From 1881 until 1904 Miss Barton remained the President of this small
American Red Cross, and sometimes acted also as its treasurer.”

“Financial statements were not made public and it is impossible to say
what funds were received and expended during the 23 years of its
existence.”

“I don’t care to take your time in stating many evidences of the
misuse of the Red Cross relief funds under Miss Barton, but I desire
to mention two or three incidents.”

“She advertised in the Worcester papers for contributions for relief
among the soldiers, but no record was made of what she received or
expended during the Civil War.”

“Certain letters we have seem to show that she occasionally had some
of the contributed funds invested in the West.”

“It is difficult to obtain data regarding the receipts and expenditure
of funds.”

“At the time of the Russian famine in 1892 ... no financial report was
made.”

“Shortly after this time Miss Barton bought real estate in Washington
and Glen Echo....”

“I think I have given, however, sufficient evidence to show why
dishonest appropriation of relief funds for the personal use of Miss
Barton makes the officials of the American Red Cross strongly opposed
to having the memorial of such a woman placed in a building that
stands in remembrance of the noblest, finest and most self-sacrificing
womanhood of America. Should your committee desire me to go to
Washington and lay before it the evidence I have given and more in our
possession, I would be willing to do so.”

... would well become
A woman’s story at a winter’s fire,
_Authorized_ by her grandam.

The “charges,” including detractions, innuendoes and suspicions (of which the foregoing are only in part), take a wide range, extending from the time Clara Barton taught her first school at Bordentown in 1836 (80 years previous), down to the Sea Islands hurricane in 1893 (22 years previous). These “charges” were segregated by a friend of Clara Barton for the Library Committee. In that form they consist of thirty-one “charges,” including the accuser’s _personal verdict_, “the dishonest appropriation of relief funds.” In history the “accusation” will be referred to as “_The Thirty-One Charges Without a Charge In It._” In legal circles such affirmations are known as “stale charges,” or by a worse name; but, even if presented immediately, such “charges” would have no standing in any court of equity in this country. The “charges” are further negatived by the admissions of the accuser, “It is difficult to obtain data regarding the receipts and expenditures;” “It is impossible to say what funds were received and expended.”

Also, inexcusable ignorance was shown on the part of the accuser of Clara Barton as to her methods in Red Cross affairs. It is certified to by the Red Cross (and of official record) that Clara Barton made her report at the close of every disaster, and in every instance the report was approved by the Red Cross, and was satisfactory to her government and the American people. Besides besmirching the history and good name of the Red Cross and her country, thus to impeach the integrity of the Founder of the Red Cross and for more than a score of years its President, is to impeach also her various boards of officers and her hundreds of other associates, including American Presidents,—all of whom uniformly approved her methods, her reports and the results achieved, while “she remained the President of this small American Red Cross and sometimes acted also as its Treasurer.”

If what the “lone accuser” asserts be true, that “we (Red Cross) have letters that seem to show that she occasionally had some of the contributed funds invested in the West,” they are letters, among other Red Cross effects, that came officially into the possession of the Red Cross, in 1904, through the pleasure and free-will offering of the conscientious-and-honest-to-a-fault-concealing-nothing Clara Barton. And for which also she received a _clearance card_, a “receipt in full.” As an American citizen and a member of the Red Cross I protest the legal right, or the moral right, of the Red Cross “accuser” now to incriminate her whose lips are sealed, or longer to approve of record, _upon what seems to show_.... The facts _not only seem to show, but do show_, that if Clara Barton had not accepted as a present from the twin brothers, Edwin and Edward Baltzley of Glen Echo, Chautauqua, her Glen Echo real estate, and for a house thereon as a present, the wreckage lumber from the people of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1889, there would have been no free-of-rent home for the Red Cross for the last fifteen years of her Red Cross administration and that of other philanthropies; that, while the accuser was living in a palace and “rolling in wealth,” the accused would have been homeless and penniless, living on charity.

The “lone accuser” has no “letters that seem to show,” save and except such letters be interpreted by an “enemy,” and for an ulterior purpose. There is no truth in cynicism, or but half truth, which is more untruth than no truth. There is no truth in “we (Red Cross) have others in our possession” which the “lone accuser” pretended to have in her _post-mortem cruise_, in 1916, while trying to thwart the will of the people as to the proposed Clara Barton memorial tablet in the American Red Cross Building; and, still worse, trying to blot out forever the name of the Red Cross Founder. As the sentiment of all the people, but said by the people of Johnstown just after the flood, in 1889: “Try to describe the sunshine. Try to describe the starlight. Picture the sunlight and the starlight, and then try to say good bye to Clara Barton.”

Truth will come to sight.

_In re_ Memorial to Clara Barton in 1916, the Library Committee of the House of Representatives, having before them all charges of whatsoever nature against Clara Barton, but especially those certain _post mortem_ “charges,” wholly ignored each charge, and all “charges,” made by the “remonstrants” of 1902–4, in their memorial to Congress at that time. The report of the Library Committee in 1916 was favorable to Miss Barton, and as disastrous to the cause of the “remonstrants” as was that of the Red Cross Proctor Committee, in 1904.

From the House Records, in the unanimously approved report by the Library Committee, are the following excerpts:

“Miss Barton’s life was given up to the work of relieving the distress in Europe and America, and her place in the affection of her friends and admirers is secure. None of them is willing to admit that she needs any special tablet, or stone, or that either is required to keep alive her memory as a benefactor of all distressed mankind. As one of the women of the Civil War, and a distinguished one, she also is memorialized in the Red Cross Building.”

RICHARD OLNEY

I have always believed in Miss Barton’s merits as a patriot and
disinterested worker in aid of suffering humanity.
RICHARD OLNEY, in 1916.
]

ATTORNEYS FOR THE AMERICAN RED CROSS SOCIETY UNDER THE PRESIDENCY OF
CLARA BARTON

LEWIS A. STEBBINS

Clara Barton is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of
humanitarians of recent times.
LEWIS A. STEBBINS, in 1922.
]

WILLIAM H. SEARS

Measured by her achievements, Clara Barton is the greatest woman the
world has yet produced.
WILLIAM H. SEARS.
]

The memorial tablet[8] was not placed in the Red Cross Building, as requested by the friends of Clara Barton, backed by one and one-half millions of petitioners to have it so placed, the most forceful argument being that one of the largest contributors to the cost of the building—and a friend of the accuser—made objection.

Footnote 8:

As a substitute for the proposed memorial tablet in the Red Cross
building, the statue of Clara Barton, representing American
philanthropy, should be placed in the “Hall of Fame” in the National
Capitol, alongside that of Frances Willard, representing temperance;
and the name of the Red Cross Founder also should be recognized as
President _In Memoriam_ of the American Red Cross, as her name is now
recognized by The National First Aid Association of America.

The foregoing is the authentic record presented to Congress in 1916, and a complete statement of facts—all the important recorded facts—relating to the “charges” of 1903–1904, with no official charges succeeding that date. Nor have I found in many months of examination in the Library of Congress, consisting of 2,800,000 volumes, or anywhere else of record, any detraction of early American Red Cross history or the slightest intimation that the Red Cross Founder was dishonest or a malfeasant in office, except from the pen of this “lone accuser.”

Every officer, under oath sworn to conduct his office to the best of his ability, that knowingly conceals “dishonest appropriation” of public funds becomes _particeps criminis_, in the dishonest transaction. If true, therefore, as the “lone accuser” asserts over her signature in her letter to the Members of Congress, that “we (i.e., Red Cross) have letters that seem to show”—“dishonest appropriation of relief funds” then, inasmuch as no effort was made to recover from her or her estate these alleged losses, Clara Barton’s successors as Red Cross executives, in their capacity as trustees of a public trust, Mrs. John A. Logan, W. H. Taft and Woodrow Wilson become involved.

“CHARGES”? YES, REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM

If not true, what could have been the object hoped for by the accusing Red Cross official, in her perversion of Red Cross history? Was it that she might dictate to one hundred millions of people the sentiment of a government building, known as The American Red Cross Building? It is somewhat significant that a few months later the United States put four millions of soldiers in the field, to make “The World Safe for Democracy.”

Since this chapter was written and in type, there came into the possession of the author a letter, unsolicited, and relating to the possible motive. The letter was written by the Honorable Francis Atwater, the well-known Journalist and Ex-State Senator of Connecticut, and who for 40 years was Clara Barton’s co-worker and financial adviser. The letter, sworn to, follows:

October 14, 1921.

Mrs. Marietta B. Wilkins,
359 Boylston Street,
Boston, Mass.

My dear Mrs. Wilkins:

Miss Andrews informs me that —— has been in communication with you in
regard to Miss Barton. I would like to say a few words about ——. About
1900 she became interested as a member of the American Red Cross. Miss
Barton, some fifteen years previous, had founded the association after
years of effort. She furnished the funds for the purpose, as she did
for many years afterward for its support. It became a very popular
institution. Miss Barton was honored by the world as no other woman
had ever been.

—— having great wealth and connected with the social elements of
Washington, coveted Miss Barton’s position and honors. She used her
every endeavor to accomplish this purpose. She visited me in my office
at Meriden, Conn., knowing I had great influence with Miss Barton, and
offered, if I would get her to become honorary president of the Red
Cross, to raise a million dollars for a Red Cross temple to be built
in Washington and Miss Barton could have any sum she chose as an
annuity, expecting, of course, to succeed Miss Barton as president. If
we did not accept her offer she insinuated we would be sorry. Her
proposition was spurned.

From that day she hounded and persecuted Miss Barton until her wicked
design was completed. Since Miss Barton’s death —— has made the most
damaging, slanderous statements, well knowing there is no law to which
she is amenable. If there was we would avenge Miss Barton’s memory
quickly.

I will say that Miss Barton when she died was several thousand dollars
poorer than when she established the Red Cross. She had the friendship
and confidence of every president from Lincoln to McKinley, also Gen.
B. F. Butler, Vice-President Wilson, Charles Sumner, Senator Hoar and
Richard Olney of Massachusetts, the most influential men of the
country, and the crowned heads of the world. Many, like myself, gave
years of our time and paid our own expenses, not for the Red Cross,
but for Miss Barton and humanity. With friends of great wealth who
offered and sent her checks for large amounts to her individual order
to be used as she pleased (I opened many such letters) could any one
imagine that Miss Barton would stoop to steal a few paltry dollars?

If —— persists in vilifying Miss Barton’s character, I wish you would
ask her to make her statements in my presence.

Our Saviour was crucified, but has been remembered affectionately ever
since.

—— is down and out in the Red Cross, which since her removal has
printed much in Miss Barton’s favor.

—— seems obsessed with only one idea, to besmirch the memory of Clara
Barton but, like Abraham Lincoln, who in life was so sadly traduced,
Miss Barton’s name will be blessed more and more as the years pass by,
while —— will pass away practically unknown and unmourned.

Yours truly,
(Signed) FRANCIS ATWATER.

_AFFIDAVIT_

Personally appeared before me Francis Atwater, and made oath that the
facts set forth in the above statement are true to the best of his
knowledge and belief.

(Signed) _Edward B. Whitney_.
Notary Public.

Meriden, Conn., Oct. 21, 1921.

The probable motive of the “lone accuser” was the subject of much comment on Capitol Hill. Soon after the defamatory letter reached the Members of the National Legislature there came a near-explosion in the House that promised to rival that of the Petersburg mine explosion of Civil War days; and to which scene, in the blackness of night, midst thunder and lightning and blinding storm, and on her horse with one attendant taking her life in her hands, Clara Barton rushed to the scene of death and mangled bodies, to save the lives of her country’s patriots. Accompanying the near-explosion, there also was predicted a tidal-wave as destructive to the Red Cross management as was that at Galveston in 1900 to her stricken people; and hard-following which, from what was then thought to be her death-bed, Clara Barton was on that storm-swept coast, in charge of the life rescue station.

Especially tense was the consternation on the part of the members from fifteen or twenty states whose peoples respectively (from 1881 to 1900), had been the beneficiaries to the extent of thousands of lives saved and untold sufferings assuaged, at the hands of that “_small American Red Cross_.” What really quieted the five hundred legislators on Capitol Hill was the rumor that the sensation came from a luxurious summer resort in Canada, where there had been summering merely a harmless phenomenon—an incinerator with a “continuous performance” furnace-flame, containing no heat units. But just what happened, and why, at the Nation’s Capital with threats, impendent, of a criminal suit and in the “jungle of intrigue” following, is a story for the novelist, not a subject for this pen picture.

One patriot-Congressman, however, for days kept revolving in his mind the many awful scenes, in which Clara Barton was her country’s “Angel of Mercy”; of the Michigan forest fires of 1881; of the two Mississippi River floods of 1882 and 1883; of the Ohio and Mississippi River flood of 1884, in which Clara Barton came near losing her life; of the Charleston earthquake of 1886; of the Mt. Vernon cyclone of 1886; of the Florida Yellow Fever scourge of 1888; of the Johnstown flood of 1889; of the Cuban scourge of famine and war of 1898, where “The Angel of Mercy” again lay at death’s door; nor could he forget the many other national, and international, disasters in which the woman-patriot served her country.

Her fitful days of war were over; in far-away New England, she was sleeping her sleep of harmless peace; her character was being assailed in the very Capitol Building where fifty-five years before she had cared for the unfortunate boys of the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, who had fallen in service to country. In all the world was there ever such tragedy? But the “assassin” lives to a purpose; he serves to perpetuate to posterity the virtues of his victim; in contrast, his victim seems the more glorious. In such atmosphere of near-treason, as did many other Congressmen, “Fighting Joe,” of Kansas, tried to be “reasonable,” but his “Fighting Irish” got the best of him. He was too chivalric to give his pent-up feelings vent to a woman; but he was less considerate of one of the most distinguished of his men compatriots, as is shown in the following letter (letter of record in “Sears’ Report to the Library Committee of Congress”—page 139, but text given by Taggart from memory):

September 6, 1916.

Major-General Arthur Murray, U.S.A., Retired,
American Red Cross Society,
Washington, D. C.
My Dear General:

After a careful perusal of the enclosure on the subject of a tablet
for Miss Clara Barton, I find it my duty to say to you that I am
profoundly astonished that an officer of your rank would lend himself
to the publication of such an unseemly screed against one who is
esteemed the greatest of American women.

As one who served as a soldier in the least of capacities, I am
astonished that a distinguished soldier should have a shame in
belittling and accusing the dead—not simply the ordinary and common
dead, but a glorious woman who has departed.

To my mind, Miss Clara Barton gave expression to the sympathy and
tenderness of all the hearts of all the women in the world. If she was
overwrought, and did more than she might have done, who will say that
it was a fault? The whole world knew and loved her; and I daresay that
her own dear land, that she served with such unremitting devotion as
an angel of mercy, is the only place under all the stars where harsh
words were ever written or said about her.

General, I know you are not responsible for the inscrutable jealousy
that gnaws at the hearts of women. You did not write the article. I
have no commission to defend Miss Barton, except what I trust is the
best impulse of an American citizen. Her name should not perish and no
one should listen with patience to an attack upon her record, much
less her character.

Yours truly,
(Signed) JOSEPH TAGGART, M.C. 2nd Kansas District.

THE LIST OF NAMES OF TRIBUTES IN THE WAY OF BADGES, MEDALS, DECORATIONS
AND OTHER EVIDENCES OF ESTEEM PRESENTED TO CLARA BARTON.

No. 1. _Masonic Emblem._ Given to Clara Barton by her father, and worn by her through the Civil War, 1861–1865.

No. 2. _The German Official Red Cross Field Badge._ Presented by the Grand Duchess of Baden, and worn by Clara Barton through the Franco-German War, 1870–1871.

No. 3. _The Iron Cross of Germany._ Conferred by Emperor William I and Empress Augusta, 1871, in recognition of Clara Barton’s services for humanity in the Franco-German War.

No. 4. _The Gold Cross of Remembrance._ Conferred by the Grand Duke and Duchess of Baden, Germany, 1871.

No. 5. _Royal Brooch._ Presented by the Grand Duchess of Baden, Germany, 1897. When presenting this brooch to Clara Barton, the Grand Duchess said: “An unbroken friendship of 26 years deserves to be tied by a knot of gold.”

No. 6. _The Official Medal of the International Red Cross._ Presented by The International Committee of Geneva to Clara Barton when, through her efforts, the Congress of the United States adopted the Treaty of Geneva in 1882.

No. 7. _Servian Decoration._ Conferred by Queen Nathalie of Servia, 1883, in recognition of Clara Barton’s services for humanity.

No. 8. _Gold Badge._ Presented by the National Woman’s Relief Corps to Clara Barton, the sole Honorary Member of the Relief Corps, 1883.

No. 9. _Silver Medal._ Conferred by Augusta, Empress of Germany, 1884.

No. 10. _The Gold Badge of the “Waffengenosen.”_ German soldiers in America, who took part in the Franco-German War 1870–1871, presented to their Honorary Member, Clara Barton, 1885.

No. 11. _Silver Medal._ Of the Mass. Charitable Mechanics Institution. Presented 1887.

No. 12. _Turkish Decoration._ Conferred by the Sultan Abdul-Hamid 1897, through the State Dept., with the request that if America desired to send further relief to his domains please send back the missionaries of humanity they sent before.

No. 13. _Gold Badge of “Sorosis,” N. Y._ Presented to Clara Barton, their Honorary Member, 1890.

No. 14. _Red Cross Insignia._ In Commemoration of the Armenian Relief Field, 1896. Presented by Clara Barton’s Assistants on the field, in memory of the same.

No. 15. _Gold Brooch and Locket._ Presented by the Ladies of Johnstown, Pa., at the close of the Relief Work of the Johnstown Flood, 1889.

No. 16. _Amethyst Pendant—Royal jewel._ Given by the Grand Duchess of Baden and constantly worn by Clara Barton.

No. 17. _Royal Jewel—Smoky Topaz surrounded by perfectly matched pearls._ Presented by the Grand Duchess of Baden, 1884.

No. 18. _Royal Jewel—Topaz brooch with Red Cross._ Presented by Augusta, Empress of Germany, 1887.

No. 19. _Belgian Decoration._ Conferred by the Red Cross of Belgium, in 1892.

No. 20. _Spanish Decoration of Honor._ Conferred by the Spanish Government in 1898.

No. 21. _Gold Badge of “The Clara Barton Lodge of the Sisters of the G. A. R. of Gloucester, Mass.”_ Presented to Clara Barton, their Honorary Member, 1890.

No. 22. _Armenian Decoration._ Conferred by the Armenian Prince Guy Lusignan, 1896, in recognition of services in relief of the Armenian Massacres.

No. 23. _Russian Decoration._ Conferred by the Czar Nicholas and the Dowager Empress Dagmar, 1892.

No. 24. _Gold Medal of the Vanderbilt Benevolent Association of South Carolina._ Presented to Clara Barton, their Honorary President, 1894.

In addition to the above pictured decorations, the original collection as arranged by Mr. and Mrs. Roscoe G. Wells for exhibition at the first annual meeting of The National First Aid Association of America contained

_Gold Badge of the War Veterans and Sons Association, of Brooklyn, N. Y._ Presented to their Honorary Member, Clara Barton, April, 1899.

_Badge of the Loyal Legion of Women of Washington, D. C._ Presented to their Honorary Member, Clara Barton, 1893.

_American Red Cross Pin._ Presented by a Friend.

_Silver Ink Stand._ Presented to Clara Barton on her departure for Armenia, 1896, by Mr. Spencer Trask.

_Ivory Sealing Wax Set with Gold Trimmings._ Presented to Clara Barton on her departure for Armenia in Relief of the Sufferers of the Massacres in 1896 by Mrs. Charles Raymond, President Red Cross Hospital.

Top.—Picture of Clara Barton taken in Paris in 1871.

Clara Barton was also the recipient of many diplomas of honor, resolutions, votes of thanks and commendations from rulers of nations, legislative bodies, relief Committees and distinguished or titled personages. In her home at Glen Echo the visitor could see many of these, together with great flags of foreign nations which had been presented to her as tributes to, and testimonials of, Clara Barton’s great work for humanity.

BADGES, MEDALS, DECORATIONS
]

The unintentionally offending official, on receiving the foregoing letter, forthwith resigned his position in the Society; but the author of the “unseemly screed” continues “full of honors”—a _shining_ Red Cross light to the youth of this country, while the “screed” remains of record as a blot on the fair name of the Red Cross Founder.

Contrasting Patriotic West towards the memory of the Father of his Country and Political Washington towards the memory of the Mother of the Red Cross, about this time there appeared the following pertinent-to-the-occasion Associated Press dispatch:

JAIL WASHINGTON’S LIBELER

Tacoma Man Must Serve 4 Months for Attack on First President.

Olympia, Wash., Dec. 29.—As a libeler of George Washington’s memory,
Paul Haffer, of Tacoma, must serve four months in the county jail, the
Washington supreme court today upholding the conviction of Haffer on a
criminal libel charge.

Haffer published an article accusing the first President of the United
States of drunkenness and other irregularities.

_Washington Post_, Dec. 30, 1916.

It might be of interest, both to the friends and “enemies” of Clara Barton, by way of contrast to this pathetic picture of her closing years and of the more recent years, to know that three years before her passing she deeded her “Glen Echo Red Cross Home,” the gift to her by friends, to Dr. Julian B. Hubbell, who had served her cause for more than thirty years without compensation, but with the expressed wish that eventually it should revert to the American Red Cross. It can, therefore, be said of Clara Barton and the Red Cross as similarly it was said of that bond of “love eternal” between Theodosius and Constantia, “They were lovely in their lives, and in their death they were not divided.”

At no time in her life did Clara Barton seek preferment;—she said, “I wish you could know how entirely indifferent I am to _personal_ honors conferred.” She did not seek the Red Cross Presidency; she accepted it, under protest, from President Garfield. Resigning the position several times, she still continued to hold it because no one else acceptable to the Society was found to take her place. She appealed to no jurist nor politician to protect her, for _she had always lived and moved in the full glare of the public gaze and could safely trust her character and good name to the care of the American people_. She entrusted her all—her Red Cross and her good name—to the Government she had “_loyally tried to serve_:” and so long as the Red Cross banner is held sacred as the emblem of America’s humanity God have mercy on her country and ours, if that trust of woman shall have been misplaced.

The records, in the “reign of _terrorizing_,” show that the so-called “charges” before the Library Committee were made by _one_ person, unofficially, not by the Red Cross; by the _same_ person, of record in 1903, who made similar “charges” before the Red Cross Committee, the accuser by the Committee discredited; by the _same_ person who appeared before the Red Cross Proctor Committee, and there unceremoniously “turned down”; by the _same_ person referred to by Clara Barton’s successor to the Red Cross Presidency, as to the motive of the accuser in the affidavit herein presented; by the _same_ person whom Clara Barton refused to support as her successor; by the _same_ person who has taken the rostrum since Clara Barton’s death to traduce the country’s benefactor; by the _same_ “enemy” who has relentlessly persecuted Clara Barton and traduced her memory for nearly twenty years; by the _same_ person whom Clara Barton received in her Red Cross household, and in her personal household, as her friend; by the _same_ person who, on February 20, 1903, wrote to their mutual “_friend_,” Mrs. General John A. Logan (letter of record): “Miss Barton is in town.... I know you will use all your influence to have her accept the position of Honorary Presidency for Life, with an annuity.”

The affidavit by Clara Barton’s immediate successor to the Red Cross Presidency, Mrs. John A. Logan, as to the conspiracy and the object hoped for, in the persecution; the statement by the “remonstrants” themselves in 1903 as to the “_integrity_” of Clara Barton; the statement of ex-Secretary of State Richard Olney; the summary dismissal by the Proctor Red Cross Committee, and on motion of the Committee itself, of the investigation of all “charges” whatsoever made by the “remonstrants”; the unchallenged sworn statement by Attorney L. A. Stebbins; the unchallenged signed statement by Attorney W. H. Sears; the official statement by the American Red Cross that “There was no foundation for such a “charge”; the exceeding high compliment by the Library Committee of Congress;—all these facts of public record make officially conclusive the _vindication_ (no, the spotless record), of Clara Barton.” As her reputation has been three times in jeopardy, Clara Barton has been thrice-_vindicated_, thrice officially complimented, every time unanimously.

Truth is truth
To the end of the reckoning.

Previous to the date of the so-called “charges” in 1904, as tributes unsolicited and graciously tendered, Clara Barton had received twenty-seven decorations and other official honors; had received tributes from nine American presidents, nine foreign rulers; also by eleven foreign nations and several of our American States and Cities, through official resolutions. Since 1904, the year in which the conspiracy occurred, Clara Barton has been commended by two American Presidents, at the laying of the corner stone of The Red Cross Building at Washington by the U. S. Government through the then Acting Secretary of War; by the Commander of the largest American army ever mobilized; by at least three thousand American newspapers, not one newspaper in the country commenting on the “charges” with approval; by America’s great statesmen; by America’s great women; by a memorial representing a million and one-half of American citizens; by the Civil War veterans, North and South; by the United Spanish War Veterans; by the Sons of Veterans; by the Legion of Loyal Women; by the National Woman’s Relief Corps; by the National Army Nurses; by the National Woman Suffrage Association; by the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union; by the Protestant, Catholic and other religious organizations; and by all other public and private institutions whose attention has been called to this matter of national interest.

Whether in art, literature or philanthropy the pride of a nation is in the realized ideal. That which must live longest and best serve the race is the highest ideal, realized. American philanthropy, the realized ideal obtained through “a movement the most philanthropic of the age and an intrinsic part of world-civilization,” is the nation’s chiefest moral asset. A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that the memorial tributes to the Founder and petitions by the people be heeded,—the schemers discredited officially—that _the record of untruth_ may not stand against this nation through envy of “one of God’s noblest.”

Justice is the end of government, womanhood the crown of American civilization,—and the spirit of the woman “whose movement spanned the globe,” a heritage to this nation priceless. That spirit through wars and national disasters should be the saving spirit in untold suffering among “the countless millions and uncounted generations throughout the civilized world.” “Unfounded charges,” inhumanity’s foul blot, _must be and will be_ removed from the scroll of The American Red Cross, off the escutcheon of the American nation—that the name of humanity’s luminary may shine throughout time as the guiding star in American philanthropy.

LXXXVII

Andersonville[9] was not the gateway of hell; it was hell itself.

CLARA BARTON.

Footnote 9:

Without honoring the request of the Secretary of War, Edwin M.
Stanton, to take an expedition to Andersonville to mark the graves
of the missing soldiers, there could have been no cemetery at
Andersonville. The cemetery which the Government now so worthily
owns is a gift from our active corps of women.—Clara Barton.

He (President Lincoln) said, “I will help you.” He smoothed the way
and made it possible, assisting me until the work was done.

CLARA BARTON.

Only in the Great Book of Life is it written what Clara Barton did for
the homes of this land, after the Civil War was over.

SARAH A. SPENCER.

In a Memorial to U. S. Congress, Clara Barton said that in doing this
work referred to, as per itemized bill, she reported that she had
expended from her private funds as a contribution to the cause
$1,759.33, and further said: “My own time and services have been
cheerfully given.” THE AUTHOR.

I remembered our prisons crowded with starving men whom all the powers
and pities of the world could not reach with a bit of bread. I thought
of the widows’ weeds still fresh and dark through all the land, north
and south, from the pine to the palm, the shadows on the hearths and
hearts over all my country—sore, broken hearts; ruined, desolate
homes. CLARA BARTON.

DORENCE ATWATER

For the record of your dead you are indebted to the forethought,
courage and perseverance of Dorence Atwater, a young man not
twenty-one years of age.—(Signed) CLARA BARTON, in an official
report to the people of the United States of America, in 1865.
]

This memorial will stand as a silent reminder of the untiring and
loyal devotion of one whose memory will live while time endures.—IDA
S. MCBRIDE, Chairman Memorial Committee.

DEDICATION OF MEMORIAL TO CLARA BARTON AT ANDERSONVILLE, GEORGIA, MAY
31, 1915

Erected by the Woman’s Relief Corps Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the
Republic.

Left to right: Mrs. Emma E. Grinnell, P. Dept., Pres. Wisc. W. R. C.;
William Grinnell, P. Dept., Com. G. A. R., Wisc; Mrs. Ida S.
McBride, P. Natl. Pres. W. R. C.; Miss Agnes Hitt, P. Natl. Pres.,
W. R. C.; Hon. Washington Gardner, P. Com.-in-Chief, G. A. R.; Mrs.
Mary A. North, P. Natl. Jun. Vice-Pres., W. R. C.
]

The path of this work was opened for her through records kept by
Dorence Atwater, a Connecticut boy-prisoner at Andersonville, who had
been detailed to keep a record for the prison officials of the dead,
and their burial. He kept a secret duplicate record, with location of
graves. He saw a notice asking for information signed “Clara Barton,”
when he at once wrote to her. Together they went to Andersonville and
with his aid she succeeded with the identification of 19,920 graves
and placing headstones above them, while 400 of these were marked
“unknown.”

Manchester (N. H.) _Mirror_.

Yes, give me the land with a grave in each spot,
And the names in the graves that shall not be forgot;
Yes, give me the land of the wreck and the tomb—
There’s grandeur in graves, there’s glory in gloom;
For out of the gloom future brightness is born,
And after the night looms the sunrise of morn;
And the graves of the dead, with the grass overgrown,
May yet form the footstool of liberty’s throne;
And earth’s single wreck in the war path of night
Shall yet be a rock in the temple of right.
FATHER RYAN.

OF GRAVES, OF WORMS, OF EPITAPHS

After the Civil War Clara Barton engaged in a sad mission. Of the Federal soldiers, there were 80,000 missing. Letters from the sorrowing were coming to the President and the Secretary of War, for information. To obtain the names of the missing, how died, where buried, and other information about loved ones, was a tremendous undertaking,—it was Clara Barton’s mission. Many of her personal friends said it was impossible, but President Lincoln gave her encouragement. She also received her Commission from the President, who had published the following:

TO THE FRIENDS OF THE MISSING PRISONERS:

Miss Clara Barton has kindly offered to search for the missing
prisoners of war. Please address her at Annapolis, Maryland, giving
the name, regiment, and company, of any missing prisoner.

A. LINCOLN.

For four long years she carried in her heart the sorrows of scores of thousands, in unhappy homes. She took the lecture platform and, in public halls, churches and school-houses, she said to the people “let’s talk of graves and worms and epitaphs.”

She had known Sorrow,—he had walked with her,
Oft supped, and broke the bitter ashen crust;
And in the dead leaves still she heard the stir
Of his black mantle trailing in the dust.

Few of the obscure dead had even head-boards at their graves. In the absence of head-boards, the information was obtained through an ex-federal prisoner, who had kept the necessary data. Tens of thousands of letters were exchanged. Through correspondence, private information, personal contact with friends of the missing, and an inspection in the cemetery, the remains of 19,920 of the missing were found, the remains sent home, or the grave marked. The whole expense of this work was about $17,000, the amount advanced by Miss Barton. Later, the Government reimbursed her to the extent of $15,000. So stupendous, so philanthropic, and so successful, was this work that this one mission of love, of itself, would have given Clara Barton eternal fame.

Sad wistful eyes and broken hearts that beat
For the loved sound of unreturning feet

And when the oaks their banners wave,
Dream of the battle and an unmarked grave!
FRANK L. STANTON.

If all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of
the world in praise of women were applied to the women of America, it
would not do them justice, for their conduct during the war. God bless
the women of America. A. LINCOLN.

I feel how weak and fruitless would be any word of mine which should
attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming; but I
cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in
the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

A. LINCOLN (in his letter to Mrs. Bixby).

Mothers—wives—and maidens, would there were some testimonials grand
enough for you—some tablet that could show to the world the sacrifice
of American womanhood and American motherhood in the Civil War!
Sacrifices so nobly and so firmly—but so gently and so
beautifully,—made. CLARA BARTON.

In the crowded yards of every prison ground, in the dark ravines of
the tangled forests, in the miry, poison swamps, where the slimy
serpent crawls by day and the will-o’-the-wisp dances vigil at night,
in the beds of the mighty rivers, under the waves of the salt sea, in
the drifting sands of the desert islands, on the lonely picket line,
and by the roadside, where the weary soldier laid down with his
knapsack and his gun, and his march of life was ended; there in their
strange beds they sleep till the morning of the great reveille.

CLARA BARTON.

To show the sentiment then existing among the people, and the appreciation of the services rendered,—of the thousands of letters received by Miss Barton are appended the following:

GRATITUDE OF A BROKEN-HEARTED MOTHER

“Paw Paw, Van Buren Co., Michigan,
July the 5th, 1865.

“MISS CLARA BARTON,

“_Dear Madam_:—Seeing a notice in the paper of the effort you are making to ascertain the fate of missing soldiers from Michigan, I hasten to address you in regard to my son. His name is Eugene P. Osborne. He was a private in the 13th Michigan Regiment, Co. H Infantry; was in Sherman’s Army; left Atlanta last November with the Regiment, became lame soon after leaving there, and fell out the first day of December, near Louisville, Georgia. Since that time we have never been able to learn anything of him, or what has become of him. Those that went with him from this place, and were in the Company with him, have returned, but they know not what has become of him, or what his fate may be. We have endeavored to learn something of him by writing to various persons and places, but as yet we have heard nothing reliable.

“Will you, Oh! will you, aid me in the search for my loved but unfortunate son; if so, the prayers and gratitude of a heartbroken Mother shall be yours. Please answer without delay and tell me if you know aught concerning him, for this cruel suspense is dreadful.

“Respectfully yours,

“Address “Mrs. C. A. OSBORNE, “Paw Paw, Van Buren Co., Michigan.”

I never for a moment lose sight of the mothers and sisters and
white-haired fathers, and children moving quietly about, and dropping
the unseen, silent tear in those far-away saddened homes.

CLARA BARTON.

THANK YOU FROM MY VERY HEART, HIS POOR HEART-BROKEN MOTHER

“MISS BARTON:

“_Dear Angel of Love and Mercy_:—I address these few lines to you hoping to get some information in regard to my son’s remains. He died in August in the dreadful prison pen at Andersonville. I think it was about the ninth day of the month. Did you find when you were there on the list the name of Edward H. Walton, Co. H, 57th Regt. Massachusetts Volunteers? If so, you will confer a great kindness on me, his poor heartbroken Mother, by giving me what information you can. He went from Worcester, Mass.

“Please let me know if you think I could obtain his remains if I should send for them, as I am very anxious to get them. I shall ever remember your great kindness and labor in thus giving me the comfort that you have seen the remains of the poor murdered ones decently buried. I thank you from my very heart and may heaven bless you while you live and when you have done on earth may the richest of heaven’s blessings be yours through that never ending eternity for which thousands of mothers will pray.

“Very respectfully,
“Your humble servant,
(Signed) “MRS. DOLLY WALTON,
“Worcester, Mass.

“Mother of Edward H. Walton, Co. H, Fifty-seventh Regt. Mass. Vol., died at Andersonville Prison in August, ’64.”

Nor has morbid sympathy been all; out amid the smoke and fire of our
guns, with only the murky canopy above and the bloody ground beneath,
I have not lost sight of those saddened homes.

CLARA BARTON.

MAY GOD BLESS YOU

“LaFayette, Ind., March 30, 1866.

“DEAR MISS BARTON:—

“Will you please excuse a bereaved Mother again addressing you. I have seen by the papers that you have visited Andersonville. Can you give me any information respecting my dear lost son, my poor boy, as you have visited the graves of the precious dead; did you find the name of John Newton Strain? Oh! it would be a satisfaction, although a melancholy one, to know where his dear remains rest and oh! if I could only have them brought home, my noble boy, no better son a Mother ever had. If he had died on the field of battle it would not have been so hard. He belonged to the New York 2nd Cavalry Co. I. Dear Miss, if you can give me any information it will be most thankfully received and the best I can say is, may God bless you and be your great reward.

“From your afflicted friend,
(Signed) “ELIZA FORESMAN.
“Lafayette, Ind.”

“Please answer.”

I have too often wiped the gathering damp from pale anxious brows and
caught from a shy quivering lip the last faint whispers of home, not
to realize the terrible cost of these separations.

CLARA BARTON.

The history of Andersonville is the most sad, and at the same time the
most discouraging to our confidence in man’s inhumanity to man, of all
the episodes of the Civil War.—_Harper’s Weekly_, Oct. 7, 1865.

The name of Clara Barton will be held in grateful remembrance whenever
and wherever human needs are weighed in the scales of human
want.—_Washington Gardner._

_By permission of “Harper’s Weekly.”_

CEMETERY AT ANDERSONVILLE, GEORGIA

The Department of Georgia, Grand Army of the Republic, early secured
title to the Andersonville stockade, which it later transferred to
the National organization, Woman’s Relief Corps, Auxiliary to the
Grand Army of the Republic. This body, after having purchased very
considerable additions and improved and beautified the whole through
a period of sixteen years, deeded the entire property to the United
States Government which, together with the cemetery, will be held in
trust perpetually as the most tragic and hallowed plot of ground
under the flag. WASHINGTON GARDNER, Post Commander-in-Chief, G. A.
R., in his memorial address, May 31, 1915.

The number of graves marked is 19,920. Scattered among the
thickly designated graves stand four hundred tablets, bearing
only the number and the touching inscription “Unknown Union
Soldiers.”—(Signed) CLARA BARTON, in an official report to the
people of the United States of America, in 1865.
]

The winds will blow, the skies will weep,
Where fair Columbia’s heroes sleep,
And Clara Barton’s name is known
Where waves our flag or stands a throne;
The work she did fills every heart
Wherein affection hath a part;
A woman to her country true,
She marked the graves where sleep the Blue.
—From the dedicatory poem _Clara Barton_, by T. C. Harbaugh.

MY PRAYERS FOR YOU

_“Miss Clara Barton_:

“Please give me some information, if you can, of Frank Pearson of the U. S. Str. _Mackinaw_, North Atlantic Squadron. He was from New York State. I have not heard from him since the last of March. They were then on the Appomattox River and I suppose he fell when Petersburg was captured. I wrote to him the first of April, and not getting any word from him I wrote to his Captain but never heard from him. I had given up all hopes of ever hearing what has happened my _best friend_. When I saw your name, that you were trying to find our lost friends, I took courage, but whether I will have any better luck to hear just a word about _Poor Frank_. Three years and a half on the _Blockade_. Oh! how fast the time was passing; only six months from April until he would have been once more free. I would have willingly died for him, but God has ordered it otherwise and I am not the only one that is mourning for a _Dear Friend_.

“If you can find anything about him please let me know as soon as you can conveniently. My prayers for you. Oh! how lonely! how sad I feel all alone in this cold world. ‘Would that I were resting too!’

“Pardon me and excuse the writing. My eyes are dim. Please answer soon. I am

“Your friend,
(Signed) “MATTIE C. BEATTY,
“Coal Bluff, Washington County, Penna.”

LXXXVIII

Clara Barton is Clara Barton. DR. SAMUEL WOODWARD.

Clara Barton went to Russia, in 1892, to carry food to the famine
sufferers there;—the most widely known American of today.

_Central Christian Advocate._

The total value of contributions from America to Russia in 1892 was
estimated at about $800,000. Through all sources, here and in Europe,
upwards of 35,000 people were saved from starvation.

PERCY H. EPLER, Author.

Clara Barton gave to the world a greater influence than Catherine of
Russia with her millions of subjects—her name will be remembered when
that of Catherine shall have been forgotten.

Parsons (Kan.) _Sunday_.

The sign of the Red Cross, in crimson red, had come nearer its true
significance under Clara Barton’s direction than it ever did before,
whether by Constantine, named, or borne by crusader bands in assaults
upon the Crescent. Worcester (Mass.) _Telegram_.

When stricken Armenia called for help in 1896, it was Clara Barton who
led the relief corps of salvation and sustenance.

Grand Rapids (Mich.) _Herald_.

Resolved, That we regard Miss Barton the highest representative and
purest embodiment of the Christian humanitarian spirit in America. The
Church of Martyrs (Armenian Congregational Church). Worcester, Mass.

They knew, in Turkey, we had taken our lives in our hands to come to
them, with no thought of ourselves. CLARA BARTON.

No American will hereafter in foreign lands feel any less security
since the American National Red Cross has been before them in Russia
and Armenia. CLARA BARTON.

When the cry came from Turkey, what man was there in all this land
brave enough to lead where Clara Barton went, like an Angel of Mercy?
The boundless love of that woman’s heart! God bless Clara Barton! MRS.
ELLEN SPENCER MUSSEY.

When the wail of the Armenians and downtrodden of the Oriental World
was heard, Clara Barton was among the first to raise the banner of the
Red Cross, like the crusader of old and push forward to the scenes of
anguish and carnage.

MRS. GEN. JOHN A. LOGAN.

The work Clara Barton did in Asia Minor, and which Col. Hinton
designated as the Statesmanship of Philanthropy, was similar to the
work along this line she did at the Sea Islands flood, in the
Carolinas. THE AUTHOR.

Clara Barton, in Asia Minor, has done a splendid work, sensibly and
economically managed. HENRY C. DWIGHT, D.D., American Board of Foreign
Missions at Constantinople.

The difficulties of the work in Asia Minor, the perils and discomforts
would surely have appalled a less courageous heart than Clara
Barton’s. JOS. K. GREENE, Resident Missionary in Armenia.

To Turkey and Armenia—a mission so difficult and perilous that all the
world wondered, watched, waited, hoped and prayed for her success, and
her safe return to her native land. W. H. SEARS.

To us who have seen so much and worked so long and so hard, it would
seem that the Red Cross movement has some “significance”—some
connection with philanthropy. CLARA BARTON.

The Red Cross flag has no Christian sense that many suppose. It is
broader than Christianity itself, because it has neither prejudice nor
bounds; Christian, Mohammedan and pagan are the same in the eyes of
the Red Cross. CLARA BARTON.

The principal nations of earth are bound together by the bands of the
highest international law that must make war in the future less
barbarous than it has been in the past. CLARA BARTON.

Bakashish is the substitute for our “tip” system. To make any headway
in Turkey with a hoard of beggars, two words must be mastered:
“Yok”—No; and “Hide-git”—Be off with you.

GEORGE H. PULLMAN, Secretary to Clara Barton in Turkey.

The moral support given in Asia Minor was far beyond any valuation. At
such a money valuation then, the aggregate value of the relief
distribution is nearly $350,000. GEO. H. PULLMAN.

Reticent, constant and efficient, Clara Barton has won the confidence
of every government under whose flag she has labored—as in the land of
the Crescent and Scimitar—and has done honor to her native land. B. H.
WARNER.

No matter how far from home, how lone and desolate, the soldier knows
the Red Cross for his own; the glazing eye can discern it and next to
God or “Allah” it is his Saviour, the American Annie Laurie of the
wounded soldier. CLARA BARTON.

There is, we are happy to believe, a warmth and an appreciation of the
Red Cross that brings added honor to the country.

CLARA BARTON.

TURKEY—STATESMANSHIP OF PHILANTHROPY—ARMENIA

“Alone, bereft, forsaken, sick and heartbroken, without food, raiment or shelter, on the snow-piled mountain sides and along the smiling valleys they wander and linger and perish. By scores, by hundreds, they die; no help, no medicine, no skill, little food and, as if common woes were not enough, the Angel of Disease flaps his black wings like a pall.” Such the condition, says Clara Barton, in Asia Minor in 1896; and “Help or we perish,” the cry of the people.

DR. G. PASDERMADJIAN

THE DEMOCRACY OF ARMENIA

Armenian Legation,
January 17, 1922.

After the great massacre of 1895, thanks to the personal testimony of
Clara Barton, we came to learn of another Christian Power, a nation
dedicated to the lofty principles of our common religion, a champion
of liberty and justice, and a helpful friend to all oppressed and
suffering peoples. We are indebted to Clara Barton in the sense that
she was the first among other Americans to inspire us with this
faith.

DR. G. PASDERMADJIAN,
Minister from Armenia to United States.
]