Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1859-02-26
IRON IN Ohio Stale Jourr.,
ADVENTURES OF AN OHIO GENTLEMAN
IN MISSOURI.
snEwINc THAT SOME THINGS CANNOT BE DONE so
WELL AS OTHERS.

I'll
-
snEwiNe THAT SOME THINGS CANNOT BE DONE so
WELL AS OTHERS.
Itis well known that when Mark Tapley visited
this eountry, in company with Mr.. Martin Chuz.
zlewit, he was not a little astonished to find that
liberty OF speech in a free republic, meant liberty
to speak the sentiments Of the majority. We can
understand how difficult il was for n mind still
warped by the balefrl influences Of European TYR
any, to appreciate such an extraordinary degree
of liberty but we have no doubt that had Mr..
Taplcy permanently located" himself at Eden"
he would have learned to value this privilege,
which is certainly a great deal better than not be,
ing allowed to speak at all. In Eden" which is
believed to be no other than the modern city Of
Cairo, this bard,headed Briton, would have had
frequent opportunities Of coming out jolly; and
under circumstances peculiarly favorable, he might
have been induced to 'locate," after a while in
Missouri, where he would have had reason to be
even more astonished and edited at our singular
notions of liberty, than in the city of New York.
In the year 1854, a gentleman from Ohio, of
whom, for his own sake, We suppress the name,
TeDONCu Win us lduliy W ~. OOSe ln s mo-, a
place more CURLY and ~vulgarly known as Saint 10.
We have not learned that in his private walk and
conversation this gentleman was given to the ut.
terance of seditious sentiment Tut it is certain
that he belonged to a literary society in Saint Jo,
which had for its object the improvement Of the
human mind, and the glory of the State of Mis-.
souri,. At q meeting of this society. the question
for debate was the morality and utility of slavery;
and the Ohio gentleman, in an evil moment, res.
pended to a call of the entire house, and spoke
warmly against the immaculate institution. In
the midst of his certainly iniemmatory observa
tons, he was interrupted by a prominent resident
of St. Jo., and commanded to change the subject
to Known othingism. The Ohio gentleman not be
ing Of that light and agile mind, that he could
leap from theme to theme, ''ere one can say.
WHAT'S this ?"-was naturally COMPOUNDED, end
appealed to the chairman, who decided that, as
the whole audience had desired to hear him on
slavery, it would be contrary to the rules of the
society, and the dictates Of common courtesy, to
make him speak on Know Nottingham. The
Ohio gentleman was therefore suffered to proceed,
grievously against the will Of "thc most influential
citizens" According to his own account, he real.
ly did pitch into, double up and polish of a great
deal of sophis.ry which had been advanced by
his opponents, and told more truth than the Saint.
10 es had ever heard before-our Southern brath.
rem using elOquence in the place of that virtue.
OF course the local press, whith everybody
knows is the palladium >f four liberties, came down
upon the gentleman of Ohio, who had SO vilely
abused the liberty of speech, and denounced him
as an abolitionist and improper person generally.
All which goes to show that there, will the press
the peoples right maintain against all bastard
plain speakers, unawed by influence, and unbrib'
ed by gain pledged but to truth. 10 liberty and
law, it was necessarily obliged to illuminate its
censures' against any one who should wantonly
lavish the first, abuse the second, or endangef the
third. The Ohio gentleman desired to reply, but
the assurance that his life would 10 endangered if
he attempted to do so, and the added certainty
that no paper would publish his defense, had such
weight with him that he forebore.
A short time afterwards, however, Stringfellow
addressed a meeting at Saint.Jo. and the Ohio
gentleman reported his border-rufian remarks for
the Ne,o York tribune, in which paper they were
printed and found their way back. He was sus'
pected Of the diabolic ~iniqui,y of writing for the
Tribune, and threatened with the infallible argu,
ment Of Southern logicians-tar and feathers but
unfortunately, the authorship could not be proven
and the Ohio gentleman remained sunken in his
heresies, His lettors, however, were opened by
the virtuous and vigilant postmaster, who, find
ing tina. he was sending money out of the State,
very properly appropriated whatever funds these
treasonous epistles contained. On account Of this,
the Ohio gentleman was obliged to send his letters
by private conveyance to St. Louis, there to be
mailed; which was q just punishment of his abuse
of the sacredness of private correspondence and
the liberty ofspeech.
Being one of three irreclaimable reprobates
whom no reason can convince, the Ohioan moved
out Of Missouri into Kansas, where, it will graft.
fy every patriot and friend Of freedom to learn,
his old neighbors burned his house down. and
destroyed nearly all he was worth. In addition to
this slight token of friendship, he was knocked
down for attempting to read a petition TO the Kan.
sas Legislature and in st. Joseph, hc was after.
wards beaten for some other literary offense.
Whether this gentleman's tribulation closed
with his own abuse of the liberty Of spaecb, we
do not know, but it is certain it has ceased ; for
he states in a letter to a friend iron which we
take these incidents) that he is now sight miles
from Saint Jo., where in q worldly sense he is
thriving. We trust that the remembrance Of his
past adventures will cause him to respect that re.
gard for the free opinion of the majority which
our Southern brethren 80 warmly cherish and
that this simple narration may convey a moral to
all. Perhaps the most significant fact connected
with the whole affair is that this gentleman went
to Missouri, an ardent believe in Democracy
and slavery. and an admirer of the Utopian state
of society which hourishes under the influence OF
the principles of the former, and the system OF
the latter.
From the Norther Independent.