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Lunatic Asy1um, Utica, N. Y.,
Nov. 1, 1856

To The Hon. JAMES BUCHANAN, PRESIDENT ELECT. -- Sir, the present incumbent of the Presidential chair, in his inaugural address, promised protection to every and any American citizen who might be restrained or deprived of his liberty in any quarter of the globe. He has been presented with an ex parte statement of a case in which I am the party interested, and refuses to act or interpose his authority. As to what representations were made I have to depend wholly on the information of others, but they must have been partial and incorrect.

I submit to you a brief statement of facts.

About one year ago I was brought to this place by one P., a constable, having previously been for some time confined in the poor-house of the county, without authority of law.

My case is probably without a precedent in the annals of our race. I am and have been kept in total ignorance of charges against me, except so far as I can gather them from the conversation of others which is casually heard. I proceed so far as I can understand:

In the first place, I deny that I am or ever was a member of any secret society or association, where an oath or obligation of secrecy was taken. While post-master at R. I never broke open any letter, either for the purpose of gratifying idle curiosity to know its contents, or to abstract money therefrom. There are wills, extraordinary assumptions of power, threatenings to do evil, I understand, in existence, which are palpable forgeries.

I never committed the crime of arson, or contemplated the same. While a clerk in the employ of the State, or acting subordinate to others, the sums, not exceeding 50 or 60 dollars, over and above what was due to individual, were intended barely to cover expenses incurred for stationery, &c., which the State would not allow directly; at the same time I was paying $1 per month for the use of a room to transact the business for the State in. There is no act or transaction in which I have been engaged for the last ten years which is not cognizable by the courts of this State, and where I should have been required to meet my accusers. I am charged, I understand, with the crime of bigamy -- an offense of which I am innocent, in a moral point of view. It may be considered late for me to make any declaration in respect to myself or my conduct, but justice requires that the truth be known. Now, sir, I claim it as a right to be heard in my own defense against all charges of a criminal nature, and that they be made known to me.

During the time that I have been in this institution I have no complaints to make, except that I should not have been placed in any situation to create great or unnecessary expense. I was separated by one K. and the aforesaid P. from my wife, the solace and comfort of my declining years, a lovely boy, about 14 years old, and a mother-in-law, 80 years old, in the month of September, a year ago. I am doomed to a fate too horrible to relate, unless averted by an interposition of executive or some other great power. Perhaps an appeal of this sort should be made to the Governor of this State; but I am told that my case has been prejudged by him -- if so, no notice has ever been given me of the facts upon which his action was grunted. Now, sir, as to motives.

I was sub-clerk to Mr. S., on the Erie Canal, in the season of 1852, for half compensation, doing for some months nearly the whole business. Said S. was engaged in building a large store and house, the cost of which could not have been less than 8 or 10,000 dollars. The superintendent was purchasing farms and selling oak timber tothe State for 40 and 50 dollars per M., and taking receipts in others' names for the same. A mechanic, named H., was doing work for the State and charging 80 per cent. more for the same (as he had been in the practice of doing for years) than it was worth. The resentment of these was incurred by my broad and open denunciation of such extravagance in charges. Now, sir, I charge that the said S. and H. are the prominent actors in a conspiracy against me, aided and abetted by K. and one or two others. They bound me with chains to the floor of my house; I was prevented from attending to my ordinary business; possession was taken of my post-office, and I was prevented from settling my affairs with the Government or individuals. Horrible wills and other detestable productions were framed, and just shown to me, and then withdrawn immediately. These are facts, which my memory, strengthened and improved here, enable me to relate. I was also blinded, put in a box, and conveyed some distance, then brought back to my house. One of these productions stated that I was stone blind; another, that it was written with one eye open. Now, sir, I ask, in the name all that is dear and sacred, whether persons who are guilty of palming on others such detestable stuff be not ferreted out and punished in the most exemplary manner I wish well to everybody, and know that criminating others will not lessen my own guilt, when that guilt can be made manifest in the course which the laws prescribe.

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I am incapable of uttering a falsehood at this late day, and trust that the utmost credence will be given to the above statements and every particular connected with it. Be it known, then, that any assumptions of celestial or infernal powers, whenever written, are base and infamous forgeries.

In the agitated state of my mind, I commenced this appeal to you; but am told that it is too late; let others judge.

The great error of my life has been a tame and spiritless submission to wrongs and injuries, which others would promptly resent, otherwise prompt measures would have been taken to lay my case before some proper authority; but my intellect has been so impaired by excessive drinking, that it is only at intervals that I am roused up to a sense of my condition.

The handsome little property which I acquired by my industry and labor was left, and I know not what disposition has been made of it. There could not have been less than fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars, including improvements to the place. The fate of my wife and the dear little boy whom I had taken awaken the deepest interest. My wife was 38 years of age, the boy 14, and was brought home by my wife when 4 years old, or thereabouts, the son of one P., who is dead, and whose mother was a relative of her's, subsequently married to a Mr. D. There are two individuals who must know all about the three members of my family. My wife's mother was one of three sisters, all widows, whose united ages amounted to upwards of three hundred years, who, sixty years ago, stood at the grave of their mother.

Unfavorable inferences will be drawn, probably, from my long silence and occasional appeals. I pay no attention to the marching and counter-marching about we. The great object I have is, of course, my liberation from this place. Those who brought me here should be responsible. By the help of friends I hope yet to accomplish this object. I cannot complain but that I have been treated with indulgence and kindness.

I have been totally ignorant of the conduct and management of such a vast institution, I know that a feeble individual can do little in a warfare against public sentiment, if awakened against him; but still he has his rights. I can, as I know, offer but a feeble vindication in indulging my appetite for food, but mean to comply with all that is required of me. I forgot to mention about my having been drugged and operated upon before being brought here.

Perhaps my doom is irretrievably sealed. Personalities might be avoided: God grant that they may be needless. I offer my prayers for all. Nil desperandum est.

Your most obedient humble servant,
W. T. G.