The Sweetwater enterprise. (Sweetwater, Tenn.) 1869-187?, 1870-05-19
The BlOunt County Trouble, Again.

The BlCUut county affair when reduced
to its Legitimate character, is, in all con-
science bad enough without adding to it
a train of facts which time has fully de-
monstrated never had any connection
with it, whatever. We do not stop to
blamo any ono for a wiLful evaporation of
the matter. We can we'll imagine how
many Of the wild report5 which we have
heard obtained credence, There had
been but short time before, q most trag-
ic event ia the same section, and brought
about, perhaps, by ZONE Of the same par
ty who excluded the Rev. Mr.. Bays from
the church. The Rev. Jacob Smith, q
harmless and devoted christian N mister,
had been almost beaten to death with
cIUbs and sticks, and, when found near
t e scene Of his misfoItunes, was SO
far gone as to despsirof his recovery. The
he1dish set did not even heed his piteous
appeals, nor his hcart-reudipg groans and
} agonies. With these startling iaG.s still
fresh in the memory of the country, and
nov a part of the docket of cur courts, it
is, by no means strange, that we should
have some crude and undigested reports
Of the case of Mr.. BAYS.
We now hespeak the patience Of the
reader while We endeayor to 60 to the
bottom of the affair, and to give it to the
public Just as it is. Meantime our own
comments shall follow.
First, then, our authority. Mr.. Alex
audor Kennedy is the man. He is an old
citizen of Blount, is a member, we think,
of the Southern Methodist Church, en-
tertainod Mr.. Bays the night before the
day Of preaching, took him and family to
church, and was present and witnessed
everything that occurred. What does he
cav / He states that when he arrived al
the church, be was met by William God.
dard who informed him quietly, that he
could not preach there; that such was thc
decision Of the Trustee; that Mr.. Bay.
modestly ard quietly acquiesced; tba'
some conversation then passed between
them Of no great Importance; that there
were no threats made; that there were n,
g.. oaths sworn; that there were no soizing o
the brides Of the horses, and that thu
! minister retired from the spot unmolest
| ed by a single person. These are tn,
: facts as communicated to us by Mr.. Ken
. nedy. So that we arrive at the conclu
sion that the gist of the offence consisted
10 closing the doors, which, as Mr.. Ken
neAy saye, we're barricaded
Z NSw for our comments, which shall b,
: sharp, decisive, and t. the point. We ar
not fighting a real fact-not an imaginar.
: ,one. The shutting Of that door againS
! that preacher, was an act Of b~arbarity
: We say to our Northern Methodist friend
s of BIouut county, and elsewhere, who ma,
a countenance such barbarism, that the SUI
, has gotten up a little too high in the beay
: ems for such unworthy conduct to be wink
8 ed at. This is a cultivated age, and, a
8 such, they must understand that their cor
Z duet, in this regard, will be rebukec
o Had Mr.. Bays been q bad man, then
, would have been right and proper to ba
. the doors against him, but, then he wa
"a respectable minister and was dull
), ac redited by a great church. Tho spit'
j., however, was against the church, and nc
8 him. Why was thisl Was her hone
p, ever furnished; her purity ever stained
and her aims ever prostituted to ignobI
ends Never! Why, then, wreak sue
s vengeance upon her Do they not kno
that sho has withstood the shocks OF I'm;
d lovolenee, that her honor has been asSai
ed that her ministers have peer persecr
e ted, rode on rails, beaten with many crt
Ell stripes, and driven from charlottesville
thew aud their faLhera have worshlppe