I want to thank Doris Cross for her invaluable editorial contributions to the final manuscript. She has my sincere appreciation for another great job. Tamie Rovnak served as my research associate in Buffalo for more than two years of indefatigable endeavor.
William Kendall III and his son, William Kendall IV, descendants of Minnie Kendall and Sarah Kendall King, were also generous with their time and advice. And Ruth Kahn Stouroff was kind enough to offer me firsthand memories of Dr. James E. King Jr.
Many dedicated archivists and librarians were extraordinarily helpful, especially Cynthia Van Ness of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, Sister Mary Grace Higgins of the Sisters of Charity Hospital in Buffalo, John A. Edens of the University at Buffalo Libraries of the State University of New York, and Barbara Davis of the New Rochelle Public Library. I also want to express my gratitude to Jarrod Cushing for creating some of the graphics used in this book, and David Voisinet and Robyn Carlton of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department Law Library, in Rochester for their essential efforts in locating the files of Ball vs. The Evening Post Corporation. Also, Tim Freeman, Utica Public Library; Wendy Edwards, Ludington Library, Bryn Mawr; Daniel DiLandro, college archivist and Special Collections librarian, E. H. Butler Library, Buffalo; Malinda Triller, Dickinson College; Jennifer B. Lee and Tara C. Craig, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Butler Library, Columbia University; Muriel Godbout, Wells College; and Jeanette Cafaro, Historical Society of Princeton.
Also, Paul Toomey and Vanessa E. Higgins in Boston; Rick Moody in New Rochelle, Beverly Hermes in St. Paul, Patti Cottingham of the Scripps Howard Foundation, and the historians Dr. Mary Block and Dr. Merril Smith. The historian Barbara Bair of the Library of Congress went beyond the call of duty in guiding me through the Cleveland Collection.
In Buffalo, Karen Spencer, Archives & Special Collections, Charles B. Sears Law Library at the University of Buffalo; Jeannine A. Lee, senior law librarian, Buffalo City Court Library; and Michael Nowakowski, Erie County Clerk’s Office. Buffalo lawyers Glenn Murray, Maryann Saccomando Freedman, Courtland R. LaVallee, and Chief Judge Carl L. Bucki of the Western District of New York Bankcruptcy Court were all enormously generous.
Any errors or omissions in the writing of A Secret Life are mine alone.
Thanks to the Minnesota Historical Society for making available the correspondence between Rose Cleveland and Evangeline Marrs Simpson Whipple. Although I have cast a critical eye on the historian Allan Nevins, this relates only to his biography of Grover Cleveland. None of the conclusions in this book should diminish the great body of work in Nevins’s illustrious career. I want to acknowledge my reliance on his Cleveland biography, which, despite its flaws, remains the definitive work on President Cleveland’s life. A Secret Life should not be seen as a biography of Cleveland but, rather, as the story of the Maria Halpin scandal. Anyone wishing to explore the full, rich life of Grover Cleveland and his two presidential administrations are advised to read Nevins’s work.
Thanks to my colleagues at Inside Edition and CBS Television Distribution and Charlie Carillo, Eric Fettmann, and Lisa Sharkey for all their encouragement. I owe yet another debt of appreciation to my literary agent, the great Larry Kirshbaum, and everyone at Skyhorse Publishing, particularly Herman Graf and Jennifer McCartney.
Finally, to my wife, Nancy Glass, whose loving support through these years of research and writing were so important in the completion of this book. Her editorial eye greatly contributed to the final product. And to our children—Max, Pamela, and Sloane—for all that they mean to us.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Armitage, Charles H. Grover Cleveland as Buffalo Knew Him. Buffalo: Buffalo Evening News, 1926.
Bailey, George M. Illustrated Buffalo, the Queen City of the Lakes. Buffalo: Acme Publishing and Engraving Co., 1890.
Baker, William Spohn. American Engravers and Their Works. Philadelphia: Gebbie & Barrie, 1875.
Barnum, Augustine. The Lives of Grover Cleveland and Thomas A. Hendricks: Democratic Presidential Candidates of 1884. Chicago: A. G. Nettleton & Co., 1884.
Bassett, Norman L. Sprague’s Journal of Maine History, vol. 8. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1909.
Batterberry, Michael and Ariane. On the Town: The Landmark History of Eating, Drinking, and Entertainments From the American Revolution to the Food Revolution. Oxford: Routledge, 1998.
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Block, Mary R. Block. An Accusation Easily to be Made: A History of Rape Law in Nineteenth Century America. Lexington: University of Kentucky, 2001, PhD dissertation.
Brands, H. W. The Reckless Decade: America in the 1890s. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
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Browne, Ray Broadus and Lawrence A. Kreiser. The Civil War and Reconstruction. Oxford: Greenwood Press, 2003.
Chudacoff, Howard P. The Age of the Bachelor: Creating an American Subculture. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.
Crook, William H. Memories of the White House: The Home Life of Our Presidents from Lincoln to Roosevelt. Boston: Little Brown and Co., 1911.
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Dunlap, Annette. Frank: The Story of Frances Folsom Cleveland, America’s Youngest First Lady. Albany: SUNY Press, 2009.
Faderman, Lillian. Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth- Century America. New York: Penguin, 1992.
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Field, George W. Field’s Medico-Legal Guide for Doctors and Lawyers. Albany: Banks & Brothers, 1887.
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Howe, M. A. DeWolkfe. Portrait of an Independent. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1932.
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Leary, Thomas E. and Elizabeth Sholes. Buffalo’s Pan-American Exposition. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 1998.
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Lynch, Denis Tilden. Grover Cleveland: A Man Four-Square. New York: Horace Liveright, Inc., 1932.
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Nevins, Allan. ed. Letters of Grover Cleveland. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1933.
Parker, George F. Recollections of Grover Cleveland. New York: The Century Company, 1911.
Peck, Harry Thurston. Twenty Years of the Republic, 1885–1905. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1920.
Rapp, Marvin. The Port of Buffalo. Duke University doctoral thesis, 1947.
Rice, William Gorham and Francis Lynde Stetson. Was New York’s Vote Stolen? New York: The North American Review Publishing Co., 1914.
Richardson, Jean. A History of the Sisters of Charity Hospital, Buffalo, New York 1848–1900. Lewiston, New York. The Edwin Mellen Press, 2005.
Robar, Stephen F., Frances Clara Folsom Cleveland. New York: Nova History Publications, 2004.
Seacord, Morgan H., Biographical Sketches and Index of the Huguenot Settlers of New Rochelle, 1687–1776. New Rochelle, New York. The Huguenot and Historical Association of New Rochelle.
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NOTES
PROLOGUE
3. The child was born on September 14, 1874, United States Federal Census, 1880; Buffalo, New York. The census approximates the year of the child’s birth as 1875. Later census records (see 1900 Census) clarify James E. King Jr.’s date of birth as September 1874.
4. The baby had a “sore” on the top of his head: Account of Minnie Kendall, Chicago Tribune, “Maria Halpin’s Terrible Experience Related By Her Child’s Nurse,” 1 October 1884.
6. “Yes, it does look like its father,” Ibid.
1. BUFFALO
7. “I am kind of fooling away my time here,” Grover Cleveland (GC) to Mary Cleveland Hoyt, undated, winter 1853–1854, Allan Nevins, ed., Letters of Grover Cleveland (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1933), 3–4. Hereafter Nevins, Letters.
8. “like an inspiration,” Allan Nevins, Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage (New York: Dodd, Mead and Co.,1958 edition), 27.
8. “It’s just the place for a young man to establish himself in,” New York Times, 24 January 1892.
9. “I was attracted by the name,” Denis Tilden Lynch, Grover Cleveland: A Man Four-Square (New York: Horace Liveright, Inc., 1932), 31.
10. “my start in life,” GC to Ingham Townsend, 23 January 1867, Nevins, Letters, 10.
11. “proper location for me,” Richard Cleveland to Dr. A. B. Cleveland, 12 October 1841, Cleveland Papers, Library of Congress.
11. “His modesty killed him,” Nevins, 13.
12. not a “single friend or acquaintance,” Letter to editor from Lewis Allen to Buffalo Courier, 14 July 1884.
13. he came close to losing two fingers: GC to Mary Cleveland Hoyt, 29 October 1850, Nevins, Letters, 9.
14. The two-story Allen house, constructed of stone: Charles H. Armitage, Grover Cleveland as Buffalo Knew Him (Buffalo: Buffalo Evening News, 1926, Kessinger Publishing Edition), 4.
14. “Who’s the new fellow?” Ibid, 2–3; 7.
16. “high-spirited boy,” Armitage, 15.
17. Lewis Allen was probably Buffalo’s leading citizen, Nevins, 32–33.
18. Grover was trapped inside (Author’s note: This incident is murky. Some books say Cleveland was locked out only during lunch hour (Nevins, 36); Armitage says it happened overnight.
19. “Pay him what they could afford,” Armitage, 15.
19. “very satisfactory,” GC to Mary Cleveland Hoyt, 18 October 1855, Nevins, Letters, 4–5.
20. pocket was feeling “light,” Ibid, 14 November 1855, 5.
20. “though sometimes I find it pretty hard,” Ibid, 31 December 1855, 6–7.
21. “I am so ashamed of myself after allowing such a swindle,” Ibid, 14 February 1856, 8; 1 January 1858, 8–9.
22. “The truth is I have a great deal to do nowadays,” Ibid, 27 May 1858, 20.
23. “Politically, we differed,” New York Times, 24 April 1887.
24. “sad in the eye,” Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, 18 February 1861.
24. “You must save the Union,” Buffalo Courier, 18 February 1861.
25. “lukewarm,” Nevins, 48.
25. even Grover Cleveland said that was a myth, ibid, 50.
25. behind drum and bugle, ibid, 47.
27. “I have my man,” Buffalo Democrat and Chronicle, 3 September 1884. Author’s note: The spelling of Cleveland’s substitute has been spelled in various ways, including Benninsky and Brinske. The spelling of Biniski is from Army records.
28. “I told him if he would . . . help me out if I came out alive: Buffalo Sunday Times interview with Beniski, 10 July 1887.
29. “The terms . . . were distinctly repeated by me: GC to John E. Hale, 13 September 1887, Nevins, Letters, 52.
30. “frightfully filthy,” Testimony of Dr. George W. Edwards, U.S. Army surgeon, 6 June 1864.
31. Beniski’s medical records show: Application for pension signed by Beniski (with his mark, the letter X) 3 June 1886, National Archives and Records, Pension no. 561–108.
2. THE BACHELOR
32. Hovenden gave chase, Brooklyn Eagle, 16 November 1858.
33. The Halpins had immigrated to the United States in 1842, William Spohn Baker, American Engravers and Their Works (Philadelphia: Gebbie & Barrie, 1875), 79.
33. “Is that all?” Fletcher Harper paid the bill, The Dial, 1912 (The Dial was a literary review published in Chicago; the incident involving Fletcher Harper and Frederick Halpin took place in 1869.)
33. In general, he was in “poor health”: Chicago Tribune, 18 August 1884. Interview with Robert Hovenden.
35. “Well, Cleve, I have been offered: Lynch, 48.
36. “Grover! Do you realize we have by now ‘anticipated,’” Saturday Evening Post, “Grover Cleveland’s Career in Buffalo, 1855–1885, 28 August 1920. Lyman Bass’s background is from Henry Perry Smith, History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County: 1620–1884, vol. 1 (Syracuse, New York, D. Mason & Co.), 481.
36. Bass’s electoral strength lay in the towns: Nevins, 53.
37. A favorite was, “There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea,” ibid, 57;
37. “hammer and tongs,” Lynch, 51.
38. “Boas used to say he preferred to have his patrons. Armitage, 67.
38. forced to “lose a day,” Lynch, 48.
38. It was the dawning of the Age of the Bachelor: Howard P. Chudacoff, The Age of the Bachelor: Creating an American Subculture (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999), 35. Author’s note: Chudacoff’s book offers an excellent analysis of the era.
39. “How doth the little busy B”: GC to Mary Cleveland Hoyt, 14 February 1856, Nevins, Letters, 7–8.
40. “Let’s dance the step-over,” Armitage, 35.
40. “queer people”: Nevins, 55–56.
41. “They needed it, too,” Level said. Armitage, 24.
41. “lock, stock or barrel,” ibid, 27.
42. My Dear Mr. Townsend: GC to Ingham Townsend, 23 January 1867, Nevins, Letters, 10.
42. “As thy days are, so shall thy strength be,” Nevins, 56.
43. “livery-stable set,” ibid. 58.
44. “sink of iniquity,” ibid, 59.
47. “Can’t do it, Louis” Lynch, 58–61.
48. Patrick Morrissey was short, about five-four: Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, 6 September 1872.
51. “No, I have to do it myself. I am the sheriff,” Lynch, 65.
53. “I do not know how it is, but I have an impression: the story is recounted by Colonel William C. Church in The Century magazine, undated,“Midwinter Resort.”
56. an “estimable lady”: Utica Morning
Herald, 4 November 1872.
56. “a servant of Mr. Cleveland, the lessee of the R.V. Hotel, New York Times, 23 November 1872.
57. “When the boats were filled there was no room for them: Augustine Barnum, The Lives of Grover Cleveland and Thomas A. Hendricks: Democratic Presidential Candidates of 1884 (Chicago: A. G. Nettleton & Co., 1884), 186.
3. MARIA
60. Alexander Stewart’s showcase: Ray Broadus Browne and Lawrence A. Kreiser, The Civil War and Reconstruction (Oxford: Greenwood Press, 2003), 59–60.
61. “remarkable beauty and rare accomplishments”: Buffalo Evening Telegraph, interview with Maria Baker, 21 July 1884.
62. “pure and spotless,” Maria Halpin affidavit (hereafter Halpin Affidavit), 28 October 1884, signed by Maria Halpin, notarized by Charles G. Banks.
64. “unbelievable and monstrous,” Jack London, The Road (New York: Macmillan Company, 1907), 97.
64. Disease was omnipresent: Smith, 275. For the depiction of Buffalo in the 1880s the author is also indebted to Michael N. Vogel, Ed Patton and Paul Redding, America’s Crossroads: Buffalo’s Canal Street (Buffalo: Western New York Heritage Institute, Canisius College, 1993), 65–68; and Marvin Rapp, The Port of Buffalo (unpublished doctoral thesis, Duke University, 1947.)
65. “What shall be done with these poor creatures,” Mark Goldman, High Hopes: The Rise and Decline of Buffalo, New York (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983), 83. Author’s note: Goldman’s book offers an excellent account of Buffalo’s history.
67. Buffalo was the preeminent inland port: Goldman, 121.
68. The busiest time of day at Flint & Kent: Flint & Kent records, Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society archives, MSS A. 70–62.
68. “proper hours,” Buffalo Times, 1 November 1932.
68. The founding partner, William Flint: Buffalo Courier, 12 November 1887.
69. “Send them to Barnum’s,” Buffalo Times, 1 November 1932.
70. “He sought my acquaintance: Halpin Affidavit.
A Secret Life: The Lies and Scandals of President Grover Cleveland Page 38
