The Van Buren press., 1870-01-25
An Echo.

sounding false notes, has AT length given ECHO
to note as true as holy writ the unftness
of Van Buren, for the holding OF the Y. >.
Court, and the injustice ofhaving held 1t there
SO long.
We have often referred to this subject be-
fore, and have fully and freely expressed our
opinion and given the facts to show that Fort
Smith was the place, the only place where the
United States Court should be holden on this
border, SO long as held outside the Indian Ter
ritory. There was only one obstacle in the
way. and only one : it had no suitable public
buildings Van Buren, had, We had no jail
accommodations. and Van Buren had. Green
wood must have the county seat and county
buildings Fort Smith was not the place and
so, when years ago the question of locating
the place for the United States Court came up.
Van Buren,, Crawford County, tenders court
room and the offer Is accepted.
Now, we, with all other advantages, to the
vast number OF witnesses and parties to suits.
and to the Indians. will also have these. and
mean TO see where the court should be held.
where it will be most convenientto to most peo-
Pile concerned, ond the removal would be con-
ducive to the greatest good to the greatest
number; and all this we will give soon, even
at the risk Of stirring up our friend Dunham
who would call the removal an unfortunate
occurrence" and without the least wish to
injure any one of our numerous friends AT
Van Buren,, most of whom are willing to ad-
nit that Fort Smith is the place where the
United States Court rhould have been estab-
lished long years ago.--Fort Smith Herald.
The above article is from the Fort
Smith Herald of the 22d, endorsing the
scurrious, unwarranted and uncalcd for
attack on the citizens and city Of Van
Buren,. Uncalled for, for if there were
any good and tangible cause for the re-
moval Of the United Estates Court, it
would not require such arguments, with
the "powers that be" to have it done.
We did not expect that the editors of
the Herald, who know our people so we'll,
would resort to any such means to furth-
er an object that they SO much desire
accomplished But the "cloven foo"
protrudes.
We ask every reasonable, candid man,
to look at the reasons the Herald gives,
why the United States Court, Tas not
located at Fort Smith at frst, and to dill
ligently inquire if erery one of the rca-
sons, then existing for the Court not be-
ing located there, does not exist nor
For Smith had no " suitable building"
for the Court Mcn-and has NONE NOW
Van Buren, had.
Fort Smith chad no Jail accommoda-
tions,' Men---and has NONE NOW! Van
Buren had
Fort Smith was not the place" Van
Buren, was.
Not one Of the objections offered for
the Federal Court not being located at
Fort Smith at the start, but what still ex-
lists. 1t is true, they taM Of building a
Court Room at Fort Smith, But was
there ever people on Gods foot stool
that talked more and done less
If it is thought, by the U. S. Govern
mnet, after the facts are honestly present
ed to it, that it is for the best interests Of
all having business with the Federal
Court to have it removed to Fort Smith,
we shall not have a word to say But we
do not propose to sit idly by, and see the
good name Of our city and the hospitali-
ty of its citizens wilfully traduced, by
any one, and more particularly by those
who have been recipients Of its bounty,
without lifting our feeble voice in remon-
STRANGE.
1t comes with poor grace, from the
HerdM editors, to thus throw their arms
around the sinking carcass of the Echo
and pronounce its low filings at q people
that are as far above its editors, as the
Heavens are above the earth, as Gospel
truths.
Not even the editor of the New Era,
who makes no loud prctentions Of friend
ship for Southern people, would not
touch the Echo article with a ten-foot
poll, but it was left to the Herald, to re-
echo the stale charge that "with few
glorious exceptions, the inhabitants of
our city are disloyal to the CORE
That our citizens may see and know,
the "swect morsel" the Herald editors
" are rolling under their tongs," we will
copy the Echo article entire; and as the
Herald has assumed championship will
contlne the controversy to it,
UNITED STATES Courts At VAN buren,
From the time wherein the memory of man
runneth not to the contrary the United
States District Court for the Western District
of Arkansas, has been held at Van Buren,,
The primary reason for fixing upon that
place, as one suitable for dispensing justice,
has never tran.pired, and 1t is at least charit-
able to suppose that no man who had ever
visited the place, had any hand in thus i'm
posing upon on our much imposed upon
people. An cntcrprising place would have
made some slight effort to retain so important
a Court rs the u. :. Court, by putting up q
hotel or otherwise extending accommoda'
tions to the hundreds of persons who are
compelled thrice a year to make the place
their horne for weeks Mt n time. Instead of
this 1t Is growing worse. The place is as in
nocent of producing square meal for u
stranger as Its people are of hospitality
while its stables. barns and hay stacks afford
the only shelter for many who attend upon
the Court, driven thither by the cXorbitant
charges made by those who chance to possess
spare beds. These outrageous features Of the
pleace have been trumpted throughout the
land, and the town and its people have more
than once been likened to Sodom. Gomorah.
New York and even Chicago.