System Number: 00805
Date: 19 January [1868][1]
Author: JW
Place: London
Recipient: Captain Hunter Davidson[2]
Place: Annapolis
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler D11
Document Type: MsLc
2 Lindsey Row
Old Chelsea.
January 19th
My dear Captain Davidson,
I am sure you will excuse my appealing to you in a matter in which a person, of whom you doubtless care never to hear again, has attempted to do me much injury. The man Doty[3] since my arrival in London has after much machination brought before a Club a series of absurd and irrelevant charges against me one of its Members - And the hearing granted to him rested upon the position he pretended to hold in Society as formally a Capt in the Confederate States Army and more lately Post Captain of Frigate in the Chilian [sic] Navy and commanding the important expedition, in which you are supposed to have taken a subordinate part.
It is intended to do me damage by means of strange assertions with reference to the Mrs Doty[4] with whom he left Valparaiso and has since lived with.
Knowing that you yourself have been annoyed by presumption on the part of this man, and have suffered from attempted fraud, while you have had means of knowing thoroughly the falsity of Mr Doty's [p. 2] assumed position, I think that you will willingly assist me with such knowledge in refuting the calumnies against me he has circulated, all of which would of necessity fall to the ground were the calibre of the person known. The affair in question is a réchaufé of the old story he hawked about the streets, and in the Cafés in Valparaiso; and is now offered in revenge by Doty because of my having struck him for his insolence in speaking to me on my arrival in London.
- - - - - - - - - - - -[5]
Believe me, dear Capt Davidson with many kind remembrances
Sincerely Yours
J. A. McN Whistler
Captain Hunter Davidson
Annapolis, Maryland
U. S
[pp. 3 and 4, letter from Capt. Davidson to JW, 7 February 1868[6]]
[p. 5, cover sheet:] Extract from Letter of Captain Hunter Davidson
February 7th 1868.
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. 19 January [1868]
This is one of two drafts (#00802, #00803) and two copies (#00805, #13271) of a letter to Davidson, the latter being dated 7 February 1868. See #00802 for full annotation. A pencil tick has been placed in the left margin next to the three main paragraphs of this letter copy.
2. Captain Hunter Davidson
Captain Hunter Davidson (1827-1913), Senate of the General Assembly of Maryland [more]. A hand-written pamphlet contains this letter and Davidson's reply, dated 7 February 1868, #00804. Copies of the complete pamphlet were sent to the Vittorio Emanuelle Taparelli (1816-1890), Marquis D'Azeglio, Sardinian Ambassador and collector [more], on 6 January 1868 (see #00449), and to Ralph Nicholson Wornum (1812-1877), history painter [more], for the BFAC committee on 10 July 1868, #12977.
3. Doty
Captain Horace H. Doty (b. 1824 or 1825), officer of marines, specialist in signal lights and lighthouse illumination [more].
4. - - - - -
Dotted line across page, indicating where paragraphs have been omitted.
5. Mrs Doty
Astive Doty (b. 1840 or 1841), née Froidure, wife of H. H. Doty [more].