Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-07-16
A Card from Col. Baxter.

1
my habit and 1 will not depart from it in
this instance. There are more ways than
one Of lying. Ii may be done as well by in.
direction as by the direct and positive as
sertion of q falsehood. The capacity to dc
this is possessed in a very high degree by
| Mr.. Fleming, editor of the Press and Her.
aid. Heis in this respect peculiarly gifted
and adroit.
In May, 1870, a minister of the Gospel
was mobbed in Blount county. 1t was a
most dastardly and unprovoked out
| rage. The Press and Herald pub
lished what / have reason to believe, the
editors then thought to be a true statement
of the facts. Their published statement
represented Mr.. William Goddard as a
leader or one of the leaders of the mob.
To this extent subsequent developments
showed their statement unjust and errone-
Gus. Mr.. Goddard and his friends sought,
through the CHRONICLE, to have the
Press and Herald correct its statement.
Had its proprietors been actuated by a love
of truth and justice they would have read
lily complied with Mr.. Goddard's reasona-
bic demand. But they made no correction.
The SANDER as it stood against q leading
Republican, Subserved party ends, and was
permitted by them to remain uncorrected
and unexplained. In this, if not in the
original publication, the Press and Herald
proprietors were guilty of gross and in
excusable wrong. Failing to induce them
voluntarily to accord to him the justice
which he had right to demand, Mr.. God
dard appealed to the law and applied to At
torney General Thornburgh to Indict them
for libel. Accordingly an indictment was
sent and found by the grand jury. was not
consulted in relation to itby the prosecutor
or by the Attorney General-kneW moth
N 70 of
of the bill. Mr.. Goddard had full conf
dence in Attorney General. Thornburgh
capacity to prosecute the case successfully,
and was willing to leave its management
entirely to him. But the Legislature, for
reasons well understood in this communi-
ty, legislated Col. Thornburgh out of his
office, and in futherance of the object of
this legislation, Mr.. Fleming, one of the
defendants, was appointed to his place.
This necessitated the appointment
of special Attorney General to
was by the Court assigned to this
public duty. After investigating he dis
covered, as he thought, defect in the in
dictment, and with the view of dividing
the responsibility, he requested Mr.. God
dard to employ me to assist him. 1t was
in consequence of this suggestion that /
was but recently retained. When consult
ed and my attention was called to the va
rance between the libel alleged and the Ii
bel published, expressed the opinion that
the defect was fatal, and at the next inter-
view so told my client, the prosecutor. And
when The point was carried by defen-
dapt's counsel on the trial I frankly
stated to the court that the objection taken
was fatal and consented to an acquittal
and accordingly verdict of not guilty -
was rendered.
Yet Fleming, with knowledge of most
If not all the foregoing facts, published in
his next issue an editorial in which he
artfully and disingeniously sought to make
the impression on his readers that the suit
had been originally ipstigdted by nay NAL
ice, and that he and his cO-defendants
tUere acquitted on the merits. Both of
these impressions, which he endeayored
to make, he knew to be false. His
object was two-fold, first, to bolster up
himself and his confederates; and second
ly, to misrepresent me. Any man capable
OF so prOstituting a newspaper under his
control for the qualification of his personal
malice. would, in my judgment, SUear
lie, or beg contributions for the poor and
keep them for himset.
''He who falters,
Twists and alters
Little atoms when he speaks,
May deceive me,
utbelieve me,
To himself he is a sneak
Newspapers are in theory conservators
of the public morals. They are establish
ed and sustained as useful agencies for the
advancement ofthe public good. SO long
as they keep within their legiti-
mate spheres, they are entitled to
consideration and respect. But when
for money or for the qualification
of personal malice, as the Press and
Herald has done under Mr.. Fleming's ed
itorial management, they prostitute their
columns to the defamation of an individ- |
Ual by persistent course of falsehood, |
simply because he has the courage to do
his duty to himself and to his country by
fraud and corruption, they de-
serve the severest apprehension at the |
hands of an enlightened and honest public |
graded, as Fleming is, it is a point |
Of some difficulty to determine what |
ought to do-the men with whom he is |
allied, through the use of money and poll
teal combination, have in measure |
closed the public press of the State against |
me. Under the same influences, the Leg |
stature and Executive powers of the State |
have been eXerted in the passage of spe- |
cic! statute to hinder and delay suits |
Wnicn am prosecuting, on the trial of |
which the injustice which the vile and |
prostituted press of the State have done
me, and the motives which impelled |
them to do it, will be fully exposed |
If L were to take vengeance in my own |
hands, l would violate the law and COM |
nit an indiscretion into which these con-
;pirators have been endeavoring to pro-
woke me; and it would be said, and is be- |
ing said, that, in castigating Fleming, the |
agent principally used by them, I had as
sailed an invalid physically unable to de-
lend himself. Hence, upon the whole, the |
course which have heretofore pursued is, |
think, the better one. In the confidence |
Of my uniform uprightness in all my bust |
ness and social relations with this CON-
nunity, will patiently wait until, by due
course Of taa0, can have the statute, en-
acted as aforesaid in the interest of cor
'uption and to provide a defense to pri-
Vate suits otherwise indefensible, declared |
and void. This result will |
De reached at the ensuing term of the Su-