Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1872-08-22

scandal, we submit to your maturer re,
Election that your opinion of the merits Of
the case, and the character Of the witness.
es, was hastily and improperly given tc
the public. We deem it unnecessary to
make any defense for the defendants wit
nesses, except to say that not one of them
was successfully coEtradicted or impeash.
ed t; and We scrupulously refrain from ex-
pressing any opinion of the guilt or inno-
cence of the parties connected in the
scandal, or of the character of any of the
witnesses summoned for the prosecution.
Let the matter rest upon its intrinsic
merits-let the truth be manifested and
hailed wherever found, no difference
whom it may hurt. With no feeling zef
prejudice, resentment, or malevolence to-
ward any of the parties concerned or i'm
plicated, we ask for nothing but rigorous
truth and impartial justice. If the wit
nesses for the defense swore falsely, they
richly deserve to be punished in the Sc
verest manner provided by the law. Ev-
cry good citizen has a personal interest in
this.
You think the scandal was started and
kept on foot for the purpose of injuring
the character Of our mutual and distin>
guished friend. We have no knowledge
of such an infamous design. We annot
believe that such a conception ever sprang
in the minds Of the Republican party, or
in the mind of any individual belonging
to it. Moreover. we do not believe it
was the object of the prosecutor to do him
the least political injury although they
nre political enemies. The prosecution of
Mr.. Harm may have been unfortunate for
the parties connected with the scandal.
This was certainly not Our fault. The
prosecutor and his advisers, if any he had,
arc alone responsible for the investigation
of that disagreeable matter. They set
the matter on foot and gave it momentum.
As lawyers We were imperatively necessi-
tated to make the defense in the manner
We did. Under the Code it was our du-
ty TO justify the libel. However unpleas-
ant, we had no way to escape from the
responsibility of thorough investigation
without violating our oaths as Attorneys
If We had had the gift of prophecy and
have foreseen tho result of the sin
gle issue as to the authorship of the libel, |
then it might nave saved us much labor
and painful embarrassment to have pre-
Permitted as We would most gladly hayerE
done, the other brancn o. the case. As it
was, we had no alternative, and hence the
responsibility of the developments of that
branch of the case, and their effects upon
he community must, and shall rest frm-
y and unequivocally where it naturally
md l~egitimately belongs, namely with the
prosecution.
And now as We are again ~impelled by
duty to investigate the truth
n falsehood of the charges relative to an
improper Hais0n between those unhappi-
y implicated. and as we desire not only
o successfully defend our client if he be
ound innocent, but in any event to bring
o light the truth. and nothing but the
ruth, pure and simple and moreover, as
My a calm and unprejudieed and tho>
ough investigation can be of substantial
permanent satisfaction to the parties
oncerned, and can in nowise be obnox-
ous and ~prejudieial to the ianocent,
therefore, as counsel for one of the wit
esses whom you traduce, we respectfully
equest in the interest of public justice, 4,
Or the benefit of the innocent, and as due
D all parties in this unhappy calamity, i
hat nothing more be published in any
unjust or unfair to any one con-
erned till after a further and final inves-
shall have been had. And sure
= if those whose cause you champion be
and %sinless, you and they have {
luch to gain and nothing to lose by the !
purse suggested. And this is our apollo
y for this CARD. If no cause were pend I
lg requiring a re-examination of the
hole matter, we should have been more
ian content to let your statements pass I
'ithout correction or criticism. We sin :
erely regret that the miserable matter is {
i'll before the public, and must for some I
me yet remain a nuisance to the moral r
,nse of the community. The scandal =
happily gone into the eternity of y
lie past" and was fast fading from the +
nblic mind, and would have been forgot r
forever, but it has been resurrected in r
,gravated ugliness and offensiveness to i
re apprehension and disgust of all good Y
As it is, the best we can do =
best we can all dds to unite in the 4
lie determination to reach the TRUTHS u
FELIX A. REEVE, t,
A. b. WILSON, s.
j. q. DEADERICK, s.
JOHN ALLISON, JR. n
Counsel for Jas. G. Haynes, and late o