Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1870-12-16

After considerable delay ard
some trouble we are finally in pos
session of the Marshall Times of
the lst inst, containing the affidavits
Fl ON Mrs. Hanson and her sisters,
to which allusion has been made by
a portion of the press AS containing
refutation of certain statements
originally made in the BULLETIN
and the Dubuque Herald, concern
ing Mrs. Hanson's life previous to
the tragedy which made her name
and fame public property. These
aflidavits are prefaccd in the Mar
shalltown paper by a gross and
wanton attack upon ourselves by
the editor. In view of the nature
of the subject, and the fact that
neither ourselves nor our paper are
named in the affidavits, we might
not have felt called upon to make
further mention of the subject. But
the abusive and cowar,lly preface
of the Times, in which our brief
sketch of the career Of Elizabeth
Hanson given in connection with
the account of the tragedy in which
she was the central figure, is char
acterized as q "dcvilish, mali grant,
dastardly and outrageous attack up
on an innocent woman" leaves us no
choice.
The affidavits arc from Mrs. Han
son and two of her sisters, and are
designed to relieve her father from
the charge of having led her astray
from the paths of virtue; a charge
Of which she and only she was the
originator. Mrs. Hanson's affidavit
is rs follows:
Elizabeth Hanson being duly sworn, on oath
i
sou, diseased. and daughter of stephen Hart, of
Usage Iowa: that she is the person referred to as
Libby Hanson aud Mrs. Hanson, in an arti-
Gle appearing in the Dubuque Herald Of date Nov.
11th tiiis month. and headed The Iowa Tragedy
Brief Sketch of the Murdercss;' that deponent
has read said article. and with care that ali state
meuts therein of any such correspondence with
her sister absolutely false; that she never made
any confession statement or intimation, to her
sister nr to6nY by teer or ofhef7rtse. that her
father had sednced her or been guilty Of any
lustfn or improper conduct toward her whatever:
that said parent had never in fact been guilty of
any such conduct toward her. that al! statements
to the cOntray, emenatin" from whatever sOur>e,
are wickedly and lyingly false; that she makes
this statement under oath and consents to its pub
LEGATION because it is due in truth to the character
of parent who has ever treated her with kindness
and respect. ELIZABETH HANSON"
Now we do not hesitate to make
the broad assertion, and we are pre-
pared to substantiate it by compc-
tent testimony, that that portion of
the above affidavit which we have
placed in italics, IS n .talsehood. The
revelations which Mrs. Hanson de-
MES having made "to her sister or
to any one" arere made to a number
of persons now residing in Mitchell
county, proof of which fact has been
voluntarily rendered to us since our
first article was published. 1t is
barely possible that they were not
made to her sister, but that is imma-
terial. The significant point is, that
the charge that her father seduced
her was originated by Mrs. Hanson
herself, and that the well known
character Of her father as 4 libcr-
tine, did and does give it weight
with those who know all the par
ties.
This is not an agreeable subject
to ourselves or our readers, and we
have again made allusion to it, only
because our silence under the scurri-
lous assault of the Marshall Times
might be misconStruci into an ac-
acknowledgement of the justice OF its
criticisms. We are ignorent of the
motive of the editor of that paper in
pcnning the venomous article. 1t
surely is not personal motive; for
we have never had personal or
professional controversy with Mr..
Chaplin. Indeed we had always
supposed our relations with him
cordial and friendly. In the alb
scnce Of known animus for the at
tack, we must look for one in the
character Of the article itself, and
that of its author. ~" air Of gush
ing abandon with which Chaplin
champions the cause ofthe" suffering
and injured woman" coupled with
some of his own personal character
tics, leaves little room to doubt that
he is trying to ingratiate himself
into the affections Of the widow of
the dead Hanson. We are aware
thatsChapin is already married, but
his present intcntions-supposing
our estimate of his motive correct
are not of a matrimonial character.
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Cevanue ke2OrE,.