The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1865-08-21
AND MENDAC1oUs.
The following paragraph is from the
O~reyonianlo of Thursday:

Idaho City from taking the slayer's life. Tbese
: Democrats have been following out the line Of
conduct d.etated by their party press, A little
while ago they wanted the assassins of Mr.. L;proln
released, urging that these villains had :. ac,el
under a sense OF duty . in taking the good mans
life now, in the case Of another murarr un1ar
circumstances scarcely less aggravated. they dis
eaargR an assassin from custody because they
deem II no crime to kill an .Abolitiouist " II
Idaho, where . Democracy ;" dominates. this conrs,
OF things may be expected to prevail. In that
Territory the dregs and feculence. or rs C;cero
calls 1t in q similar case, theiseatiau or biloe-watcr
Of The whole country is collected. and to expect "a
hnd justice administered among this f" Demorra,ics
rahhle is as idle as the search for honesty in the
works OF the father Of lies.
A more atrocious and mendacious par
agraph has rarely ever been given utter
anee, even in the Oreyonian, than the
one above. The writer seiEes the oeea-
sion of Patterson's discharge to vent his
volume of venom and talsehood against
the Democracy.
Ferd. Patterson killed. Pinkham in a
difficulty provoked by the latter. in which
both parties exchanged shots. The act
of selfdefense is SO apparent in Patter-
sons case that a grand jury fails to find
a true bill against him for murder. Pat
@terson, as a matter of course, is discharged
from custody, There is nothing singular
or unusual in this action of the authorities
surely. If Patterson committed no muir
der, but : ok life in his Owl defense. he
ought to have been acquitted.
But it is not the aequittal of Patterson.
rs a man, that SO calls out the malice and
spleen of the 0regonian. 1t is because
he isa Democrat aud Pinkham was an
Abolitionist, that that paper SO raves in
It's fury. And it says this is the man.
ner in which the Demdcraey' admins
ter justice" 1t so happens that the
Court of Idaho is presided over by Abo-
htion Judges, John r. Mcbride. late
Representative of Oregon in Congress.
being Chief Justice. Thus. it could not
have been the : Democracy" who admin
istered justice in Patterson's ease. The
~slanderer further substantially saws: Had
Pinkham killed Patterson. the Democracy
of Idaho City would have taken his life.
What reason has the Oregonian for such
4 remark? When have the Democracy
of that city, or any other, taken life by
mob law, or without law executed a per
son charged with or guilty of murder ?
We defy the want9A falsifer to cite one
instance. But how stands the case ON its
own party side? There IS IN the upper
country. from Umatilla and Walla Walla
to 0wyhee and Beaver Head, an organized
mob, known as a Vigilance Committee.
who have taken life without law. perhaps
in some eases without reason. 1t is in
keeping with the teachings, the spirit
and practices Of the 0regonian's party, to
iawlessly and by mobs take life, and tram
3ple upon and defy the laws. Had Pat
terson been really guilty of murder, the
Democrats of Idaho City would have APP.
proved of his lawful conviction just as
readily as they approved of his acquittal
when lawfully declared not culpaBle. But
it is not in proof that they did approve
the action of the authorities.
The 0regonian basely falsifes when i;
says Democrats wanted the assassins OF
Mr. Lincoln released" 1t cannot show.
to corroborate it's atrocisus calumny, a
single line or word uttered by any Demo
crat, to that effect. Some Democrats
have said, and 50 we believe also, that
the hanging of Mrs. Surratt was a muir
der, and a disgrace to the country. But
they said this because they believed. as
we too, believe, that that poor lady was
entirely innocent of completely in, Mr..
Lincoln's death, as Payne and other OF
the executed men declared upon the gal
lows.
The tone and animus Of the 0regon:au
in reference to this Patterson affair is but
the reflex of its Abolition contemporaries
in the State. Patterson, two or three
years ago, killed Capt. Staples in Port
land, under such apparent provocation
that, Y before an ~pnfriendly Court,
tried by an Abolition jury, and prosecuted
by the strongest array of employed coun-
sekin the State, he was acquitted. Yet
these papers all continue to refer to him
as the murderer" of Capt. Staples
The reason is plain-Staples was an Abo-
litionist. Now, Pinkhani, who was a large.
!, powerful man, prone to abuse, given tc
bullying, a gambler Ike Patterson him.
self, but an Abolitionist, provokes the
latter to the act which costs him his life
Being as game q man as ever walked
earth, Patterson accepted the banter in.
simulated, and, being also evidently more
COLLECTED in manner and a better shot, he
kills his greatly larger assaiiant- He is
legally discharged from custody, but still
these papers call him " the assassin" o.
Pinkham. When two men exchange
shots at each other after due preparation
we do not think the dictionary meaning
of assassin" would apply to the ono
! who should kill the other.
It is a little remarkable that these pa
pers alluded to can see no 8 assassins" in
r the men of their own party who sneak W
behind Democrats, shoot them dead, and
This without any -prosocation whatever
Nor can they find any fault in the admin,