William Henry Hurlbert

[lynn cates]

Hello All. This thread is a continuation of some of the last posts in the "Dear Boss" thread. After spending a few days in research, I decided Hurlbert deserved a thread of his own. However, since there is no allegation of wielding a knife, but only of forgery, I thought he should come under "General Discussion" and not "Suspects."

Since the question before us concerns forgery, it seems appropriate to concentrate on his claim that the Gladys Evelyn letters were not written by him but by his amanuensis, Wilfred Murray. Murray is supposed to have a handwriting almost identical to Hurlbert's.

I provide a link to one one Hurlbert's tomes, an appendix of which (last 14 pages) is Katherine Hurlbert's (Mrs. William H. Hurlbert's) side of the story.

Cheers.
LC

http://books.google.com/books?id=UyxYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA505&lpg=PA505&dq=william+henry+hurlbert+gladys+evelyn+trial&source=bl&ots=P8oXYESWeA&sig=7VVUmavfEnVZLgeKqEXOQQtYBjs&hl=en&ei=Axe9Tv3_KerE2wX4lb2kBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false

[lynn cates]

addendum

Hello All. If anyone can direct me to the transcript of the Hurlbert-Evelyn trial it would be much appreciated.

I am keen on understanding how Gladys Evelyn discovered the identity of WHH on October 12, 1888, but not before. After all, she became pregnant as a result of a tryst with him the previous year.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

Red Jim

Hello All. here is a link to the "Red Jim McDermott" thread. Please note Chris Phillips' excellent post #13 where Red Jim denied involvement in the Hurlbert-Evelyn business.

Cheers.
LC

http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?t=4859&page=2

[lynn cates]

temper, temper

Hello All. Here is another link to a thread--this time about the CNA. Note post #25 by Trade Name. At bottom is a curious description of Hurlbert and his temper.

Cheers.
LC

http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?t=4288&page=3

[Simon Wood]

Hi Lynn,

Some grist for your mill.

Although the name sounds like a 1950s Mayfair coiffeur, "Raimond" was a pseudonym used by William Henry Hurlburt.

George Augustus Sala, who was with Henry Labouchere at the time of Richard Pigott's forgery confession, was a good friend of Hurlburt.

From Volume II of his Life and Adventures -

"The friendship which I conceived for William Henry Hurlburt remains undiminished to this day. I am not one of those who desert old friends when they are under a cloud. He was defendant in an action for breach of promise of marriage, and the jury returned a verdict in his favour; but there were some mysterious features in the case which have never been, and probably never will be, cleared up; and I am wholly at a loss to understand the acharnement with which Hurlburt has been pursued. I was subpoenaed as a witness, to testify as to his handwriting in certain letters which were submitted to me; but I told the plaintiff's counsel, Mr. Candy, Q.C., that I could not possibly swear that the calligraphy of this correspondence was Hurlburt's: inasmuch as I had not received a letter from him for full twenty years; that I had to read, every year, thousands of communications from all sorts of people from all parts of the world; and, finally, that I was more than half blind. So the learned counsel affably told me to begone."

Regards,

Simon

[lynn cates]

dramatis personae

Hello Simon. Thanks for that.

Seems that the same players keep turning up.

Cheers.
LC

[TradeName]

Account of an Aubrey Wilfred Murray who had worked for Hurlbert found in New Orleans in 1892:

Evening Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), September 05, 1892, Page 2



Another account of Hurlbert's claim to have seen an incriminating letter from Parnell:

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956), 16 August 1890, Page 4

SOCIAL GOSSIP FROM HOME.

(FROM A LONDON CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON. JULY 11

Here, among the crowd, was William Henry Hurlbert, the American genius and journalist, the best invited diner out in London, whose vogue is entirely founded on the narrative that he once saw in Sheridan's hands a letter which he thinks was, or was a repetition of, the famous "Parnell letter" During the past 20 months London society bestowed many favours on him and his for the sake of hearing him tell that anecdote, He has much else, too, to say that is worth hearing, for he is a most witty, well informed, and travelled man, with a twinkling eye, and a droll smile which never leaves his genial features.

[lynn cates]

indebted

Hello Trade. Once again, I am in your debt.

So, there really WAS a Wilfred Murray? What a story!

Cheers.
LC

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

The Illustrated American, 2nd May 1891 -

"THE STRANGE CASE OF WILFRID MURRAY AND WILLIAM HENRY HURLBERT.

In the halcyon days of New York journalism, before its editors fell to calling each other Judas and Ananias, there was no more popular member of their fraternity than Mr. William Henry Hurlbert. He conducted the New York World in antePulitzer times, and being by nature an aristocrat, and by political choice a monarchist, he naturally conducted his paper as a democratic organ. He was witty, brilliant, scholarly, and he loved a lord better than Tom Moore himself.

"It was the fashion of that epoch to make fun of him. The New York Times used to twit him about a pair of scarlet silk trousers which he "conveyed" from the Khedive of Egypt. His little dinners, his collection of Old Masters, his feminine intrigues, and particularly his watch, which chimed the hours, were all discussed with hilarity in the press of the period. Still he went on editing his paper, and banqueting his lords, until Mr. Pulitzer bought his paper from Mr. Jay Gould, who owned it ; and Mr. Hurlbert, settling down into an affluent marriage, went to London to live among the peerage, and to be happy.

"Here comes the strange part of the story-.

"One night an actress of uncertain age, blue-eyed, goldenhaired, rejoicing in the romantic name of Gladys Evelyn, alighted from an omnibus, followed by an elderly gentleman, who accosted her, told her that his name was Wilfrid Murray, and begged the honor of her acquaintance. Being corpulent, bald, and decidedly over sixty, he would not have succeeded in capturing the fair Gladys if he had not possessed a watch which chimed the hours. This gewgaw so fascinated Miss Evelyn that she accepted the friendly overtures of Mr. Murray, who forthwith escorted her to resorts on the Continent, wrote her letters of extravagant affection, and finally promised to marry her and settle a portion ot his property upon her, including the watch which chimed the hours. Having thus built up the hopes of Gladys, Mr. Wilfrid Murray disappeared, and Miss Evelyn was subsequently amazed to hear that the owner of the watch which chimed the hours was Mr. Hurlbert the journalist, and, calling on Mr. Hurlbert, to discover that he was, in every respect, the counterpart of Mr. Wilfrid Murray.

"Mr. Hurlbert admitted that he had known Mr. Murray; that he had employed Mr. Murray; and that he had not the least idea who Mr. Murray really was. He believed that Mr. Murray had been known by a score of names—as "Red Jim" MacDermott in New York, as General Boulanger in France, as Arabi Pacha in Egypt—taking a new name wherever he abode. His handwriting was that of Mr. Hurlbert; his style—that flowingly jocose style which had formerly celebrated the "elbows of the Mincio"—was Mr. Hurlbert's; his fondness for little dinners and Old Masters, and his passion for a lord, were peculiarities that he shared with Mr. Hurlbert; he was the image of Mr. Hurlbert in personal appearance; and, more than all, Mr. Hurlbert and he were both the happy possessors of a watch that chimed the hours. Very often she drives to some quiet spot, and has an alfresco tea, which is one of her majesty's greatest pleasures, or she goes to shop, especially about Christmas time, when endless things are wanted in the way of gilts.

"Can we wonder that Miss Evelyn sued Mr. Hurlbert for the misdeeds of Mr. Murray? Can we wonder that the British peerage was thrilled by the peril in which the amiable Mr. Hurlbert was placed? And ought we not to draw this moral from the story—that a desire to outshine one's fellows, even by the possession of a watch which chimes the hours, may sometimes bring a brilliant editor into the law-courts, mulct him in damages, and deprive him of the friendship of the entire British peerage?"

Regards,

Simon

[lynn cates]

female trouble

Hello Simon. Thank you so much. Looks like he had "female trouble" before Gladys.

I note that, in this version, she discovers his identity a bit sooner than she conveyed in her allegations.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

depiction

Hello All. Thought I'd better repost this article containing his likeness. If he had side whiskers, he'd be me.

(Publishing information on previous post, different thread.)

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

Professor Crofts

Hello All. Here is a link to one of Professor Crofts articles on Hurlbert. (Note the depiction of WHH with--side whiskers!)

Cheers.
LC

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/29/henry-hurlbert-and-the-diary-of-a-public-man/

[lynn cates]

Lord Randolph

Hello All. If you are heading for Cambridge . . .

http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0012%2FMS%20Add.9248

Cheers.
LC

[TradeName]

Here's an affidavit describing the Wilfred Murray Hurlbert knew in New York. He wrote articles for the World about the Land League and the Clan-na-Gael, and proposed an expedition to find Captain Kidd's treasure. He was recommended to Hurlbert by Lord Lonsdale.

This is from the link LC posted earlier.

England under Coercion (Genoa: 1893), Pages 512-514
by William Henry Hurlbert

Affidavit of Michael Paul Tyner, originally made to Mr. Clarence A. Seward in New York in Jauuary 1892, and sworn to and verified before E. D. O'Brien, Notary Public of the County of New York on October 28th 1895.

Michael Paul Tyner being duly sworn deposes and says.

During the last three years of Mr. William Henry Hurlbert's Editorship of the New-York "World." from July 1880 to May 1883, I was employed on the staff of that newspaper, much of the time as Mr. Hurlbert's private Secretary, and was frequently, almost daily with him in his rooms at the University Building in Washington Place. Sometime in the Autumn 1881, or early spring of 1882, as nearly as I can recollect, I was employed in transcribing from Mr. Hurlbert's dictation certain translations from Spanish papers and documents relating to the Chili-Peruvian war, and the disputes in regard to the French and American Guano claims growing out of it. Soon after the visit of the late Earl of Lonsdale, whom I met with Dr. Kingsley at Mr. Hurlbert's rooms, I was relieved of this work and it was taken up by a man whom I understood had been recommended to Mr. Hurlbert by Lord Lonsdale as a competent Spanish translator. I saw him frequently at work with Mr. Hurlbert, and though I do not recollect that I was ever introduced to him, I understood that his name was Wilfred Murray.

In personal appearance, as nearly as I can recollect, he was a man of about forty years of age, of slight build, with hair parted in the middle, with mutton chop side whiskers just turning grey. His complexion was fair almost florid, and his eyes blue or a light grey, with a peculiarly active and bright look, as of intense but subdued excitement in them. His features were regular and the nose prominent, almost aquiline, while the mouth and chin were peculiarly clear cut and firm.

I carried much of Mr. Wilfred Murray's manuscript to the "World" Office from Mr. Hurlbert's rooms, and was led, in comparing it with the proofs of the articles, to remark a striking resemblance between Mr. Hurlbert's handwriting and that of Murray. This fact is impressed on my memory by the circumstance that at the time it reminded me of the fact of a similar resemblance between the handwriting of the Earl of Dufferin, then Governor General of Canada, and of his secretary Mr. William Campbell, an old friend of mine, which had been much remarked about the same-time by me and discussed between us as a useful qualification for a private secretary. I remember that Murray's handwriting was often so like Mr. Hurlbert's that the night editor and the proof readers in the "World" office insisted that it was really his, although they had been familiar with Mr. Hurlbert's writing for years.

I remember that Wilfred Murray spoke French and Spanish fluently. During the weeks before the Irish Convention of 1882 (which I reported for the "World") I remember that Wilfred Murray was frequently in consultation with Mr. Hurlbert, and I understood that he wrote several articles on the Irish question for the paper, and furnished much information as to the nature and plans of the two wings of the Irish organization in America, which formed the basis of the instructions given to me personally by Mr. Hurlbert It was remarked at the time if I recollect rightly, that the articles in the "World" written by Murray, showed unusual familiarity with the history of the Land League agitation and with the plans of the Clan-na-Gael and the personality of its leader. It was even suspected that the writer of the articles was a member of the Irish Revolutionary Society in this country and was betraying its secrets. On this account as I understood, much mystery was observed as to the identity of the writer, and he was not known at the "World" office. Secrecy was observed not only as to his authorship of the articles, but as to his identity, his place of residence, his compensation, etc.

In the early part of Wilfred Murray's acquaintance with Mr. Hurlbert, I learned that he had proposed an expedition to the Central America coast to search for treasure supposed to have been buried in Honduras, I think it was by the pirate captain Kidd. During the then recent cruise of the late Lord Lonsdale's yacht in the West Indies, Murray said he had collected much data in regard to the matter, and he was confident that a properly equipped expedition would be successful in resurrecting the treasure, which he estimated to be worth several millions of dollars. Dr. F. C. Valentine, who had then recently returned from along residence in Central America, was enlisted in this enterprize by Mr. Hurlbert. The project as I understood, fell through because of the failure of efforts to secure the financial backing of Mr. Jay Gould, through whom it was hoped to secure the charter of a Pacific mail steamer for the purpose. If I remember rightly, the late Mr. W. H. Vanderbilt, who furnished the money to bring the Alexandrian obelisk to New-York, at Mr. Huribert's instance, was interested in this project.

I made this statement in writing originally in January 1892, and I now verify it at the request of the parties interested in it.

Signed, Michael Paul Tyner before E. D. O'Brien notary public of the county of New-York October 28th 1895.

--end

Articles about Lord Lonsdale:

New York Times, March 26, 18881, link

Lord Lonsdale's Yacht Arrives


New York Times, February 27, 1882, link

Lord Lonsdale [Obituary]


Not sure how Murray would have become acquainted with Lonsdale.

[TradeName]

Tyner, the fellow whose affidavit is in the previous post, made claims in his 1887 divorce that were rejected as untrue by the judge in the case.

New York Times, February 23, 1887, link

Romance in Divorce


New York Times, August 6, 1887, link

The Story a Falsehood

Judge Donohue's Final Opinion in the Tyner Divorce Case