The Arkansas advocate., 1830-08-18

s---- i>A@ sss <1Aits SN ht'StEdCL xxtlT1!b " hen the Foil Book of alnut township was opened, we discovered that t was in formal and illegal in this, that the Judges and Clerks of the election, had not.been sworn, aud only two of the .Iudres had af- fsass stiiieiT signatures to 1t. This being the case, submitted the question to the ,. two justices, to decide whetherit should be received, and one decided in the affirma- tive, tine other in the negative. 1t then deyoiyed solely upon myself, and l reject ed It, but ln doing so, did not change the result of the election In any one instance. A short tune after the returns were made out, fir. Wm, f. Moore, respectable ci- ] tl1en of Philips county, came to my office, and Informed me that John Burress. anoth- CT clti2en ct the same county, was going l on to Little Rock, on business for SYIyanus Philips, and aked me to let him carry the election returns, as 1t would enable him to pay his expenses there and back, which consented to. This was the first time that had heard that Phillips intended to con- test Hanks election to the Legislature.
 When Burress returned from Little Rock, he brought with him letter from Vim E Woodruff to Edwin T. Clark, of this place, endorsed upon the face, < fay'd. l by Capt. john Burress." Burress handed 1t to It's proper owner, who brought 1t the next day, or the day following, to my office, to wit; tAe O6iee of fhe C3erbsoftb tue Circuit l Court, and holding 1t in his hand observed famlliarly to me, that he had received letter from Woodruff by Burress, contain Ing some political information; he then read a few passages from II to me, and with an air of carelessness threw it down upon the table where l was seated writing, where It remained for several days un- sefed alsd fa,tiy ftitieIi- tally glancing my eye towards 1t, ! was struck with the words Coalition of Crit tenden, Searcy S1 Co., and the ssPoH Books of Walnut township" and little farther, discovered that he was abusing me, charging me with an official derelietion of duty in rejecting them, and dislonestly and dlshonorably pledging himself to gain for a candidate, only a few days before defeated by the expressed will of the votes of Phil- 1 lips county, seat in the Legislatnre.- When ] saw this, felt an honest indigna- ton at the foul aspersion cast upon me, and immediately took hasty and not precise copy of the letter, not with view howev- CT of making 1t public, but for the use might have for 1t Tn answering the writer, individually, which ] intended to do, to re- pei the charge, and to rehuke him for the asssssin-Iike manner in which he had made it. But cooler reflection convinced me that
 | Insults are innocent,
 VI hen men are worthless.s3 .s3
 And declined taking any farther notice of himself or his letter. l then handed the copy to Henry |. Biscoe, Esq., told him how, when and where had taken if, and have never had 1t in my possession since. in the afternoon of the same day, that had given 1t to Mr. B., he came to the of ice Tn company with some other gentle men, and with the assistance of Nm. ID. Ferguson, Esq. of Crittenden county, cor rected the errors had made. and left the original on the table where they found it. Shortly afterwards, Mir. Clark came to the office, went direct where he had laid the letter, and taking 1t in his hand, asked me If 1t had been copied. answered simply i yes he then asked me who had the copy: l told him NIT. Biscoe he then observed to me that if I wanted it | could have the ori- ginal; then replied to him tat I did Ii not care about it, that copy would suffice.- l ihIs was the only conversation that ever had with MT. Clark on the subject, and it is given, as near as l can remember, in our very words used, and this was the only agency that I ever had in this, what Mr. Woodruff Is pleased to call, 's nefarious transaction" The extract made by La os, Tn the Advocate, was not obtained from me, nor do l know who writes over that signature but justice to a high flnc- tionary of the Territory, with whom have no personal acquaintance, forces me to say that believe the allusion made to him in Woodruff's letter, was entirely gratuitous nY ha If of fao 5rfk | then--I think SC now
 Woodruff has called this q nefarious transaction," here he has accidentally stumbled upon the truth. On the part of some Of his friends, 1t was foul and wick ed transaction, as the sequel will show.
 Some time during the last winter, res ceived a communication from the General Post-offiee Department, stating simply that charges had been made against me for st copying letter uohich had been deposited an neg o1ice," meaning the Post-office at Helena, of which l was Postmaster ] but it neither gave names, dates, or circumstan- ces so that was completely at a loss to know what the charge could have originat- ed from; and never having been guilty of the charge alleged against me, simply con- tradicted the fact, but before that contra ldietion could by any possibility have reached Washington, an appointment was made out and sent on to Mir. K endrick, to whom l delivered up the office. Some short time afterw ards, in conversation with Mir. Moore, the gentleman before al- iuded to, he informed me that these charges were made by Edwin Y. Clark, and sworn to ii the form of an affidavit, before Judge Bates, during the session of the Legisla- tare, in his fMoore's) presence, and that at IClark,s request he had said nnthing ahnIlt