The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1863-09-10
.EEPORT or THE COMMITTEE on
ARBITRARY ARRESTS.
LET THE PEOPLE Reid!
DR.. Olds Convicted by his own Friends
of Discouraging Enlistments.

A resolution was last winter intro
duced into the Legislature of Ohio, and
defended by Dressed, Converse, Olds,
and tho rest of the Copperhcads, re-
quiring the Speaker to appoint Com
mittce, with powerto send for persons
and papers, the object of which was to
examine into the arrests made in the
State during the year 1862, by mill
t;ry authority. Under this resolution,
which was adopted, tho Committee
was appointed, with the Hon. VIM. II.
West, of Logan, as Chairman. We
append a portion of the Report of the
Committee upon the arrest Of DR.. Olds.
Our readers will see by the Report
that extracts werc taken from Dr.
Olds' speech as published in the Ohio
Eagle and reported by himself, to the
correctness of which one Slough made
affidavit. These extracts were submit
ted to number of witnesses from this
county, among whom WM. MITCHELL
Dr.. JAMES SHARP and Mr.. JOSEPH
SHARP swore that elf DR.. Olds made
such statements" they would sander
stand them as discowdging enlist.
mentS." The following is portion
of the Report
From these letters it is shown that
DIR. Olds was arrested on charge Of
"discouraging enlistmcnts."
g. "What grounds existed for this
charge y y
Upon this point, at the instance OF
DR.. Olds, the following witnesses, all
of whom are his personal and political
o. friends, were called before the commit
tee, viz: Joseph Sharp, Geo. w. Sec
James Miller, Samuel Ewing, Charles
Roland, Editor of the "Ohio Eagle, u
Wm. Mitchell, DR.. James Sharp, and
Tall Slough,
fa DR.. Olds also testified before the com
mittee.
From their testimony, it appears that
DIR. Olds addressed the Democracy in
different parts of Fairfield county, du.
ring the month of July, 1862, immedi-
ately after the call of the President fol
100000 volunteers. ..
.'N In the course of his testimony, DIR
Olds said that he delivered a speech to
the Democracy of Bernc township in
said county on the Goth ofJuly, and that
he had also delivered the same speech
at other places, That having been in,
formed that the sentiments uttered by
him in that speech had led to his ar
rest, he had carefully written it Out
confined in Fort Lafayette, and
procured it to be published after his
return in tho"Ohio Eagle,' printed al
Lancaster. u aa'''Il'''" -s.g
Thisspeech DR.. Olds submitted tc
so the committee. Being desirous to avoid
all conflict of testimony, the committee
Il here submit an analysis of this speech
81 as the evidence to support said charge
: of discouaging enlistments.
IidO The speech consists of series of ar.
% guments addressed to the passions and
M preiudices of the Democracy 1t be-
! gins with a series of charges intended
TO inflanie and exasperate them against
the Administration, and tho persons
charged with the duty of conducting
,isthelwar; It then denounces tho object
1 of the war; myand the purpose for which
20 il is.carried on, as being such that Dem
oerats should not volunteer or engage
i in itl q IL then alludes to the possbili
Iiity Of draft, predicts that it will be
traudulently executed, and suggests