Then I knew why I had come to Washington.

I gathered the principal facts of his life at the Capitol, stated them to Dr.
Snodgrass, a prominent Washington correspondent, whose anti-slavery paper had been suppressed in Baltimore by a mob, to Joshua R.Giddings and Gamaliel Bailey.

They assured me of the truth of what had been told me, but advised me to keep quiet, as other people had done.

I took the whole question into careful consideration; wrote a paragraph in a letter to the _Visiter_, stating the facts briefly, strongly; and went to read it to my friend, Mrs.George W.Julian.
I found her and her husband together, and read the letter to them.

They sat dumb for a moment, then he exclaimed: "You must not publish that!" "Is it true ?" "Oh, yes! It is true! But none the less you must not publish it!" "Can I prove it ?" "No one will dare deny it.