Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-02-23
4 Card,

hESSRS EDITORS: Some gentlemen have
been surprised at the Developments made
IN Major Brooks application to strike Mr.
tlemlng from the roll of attorneys. Their
surprise is not at all surprising The recI-
leSSness of denying an oath in q judicial
proceeding, a fact susceptible of such easy
proof by written evidence from his own
hand, is enough to shock the credulity OF
almost any man. But with me the sur
prise was not so great. He not only stated
a falsehOod in his answer on oath, but he
has permitted 1t to remain uncOrrected for
nearly four years. In the summer of 1870,
had occasion to examine him as q wit
ness before a Legislative Committee, the
substance of which he soon afterwards re-
ported and published in the Press and
Herald as follows:
"a SOCKDOLEGER.-I was first asked
what was my pecuniary condition when
| became member of the General AS
sembly?
ITO this [ replied that Twas then as now,
poor man, that my circumstances might
have been much better, if the professional
affairs of Baxter and Fleming had been
fully and fairly settled up"
He did not, as the reader will pTeceive,
assert in direct terms that he had been
unable to obtain q :" full and fair" settle
ment of 1.-The professional affairs of BaX-
ter and Fleming" but he evidently in
tended to make this impression on the
minds of the Committee. He did this
upon oath and afterwards published it to
injuriously effect me. He artfully lugged
it into the case, did it deliberately and
with a malicious intent, knowing at the
time that he was thereby making a false
impression to my prejudice; and knowing
too, that at the time, had in my posses
ion written contract of dissolution
signed by him, in which he acknOwl-
edged a full settlement of the affairs of
Baxter and Fleming and furthermore
acknowledging that at the time of said
settlement he owed me about sixteen hun
dred dollars for advances which | had pre-
vinusly made to him.
Such are the dGspicable creatures with
which an hOnesr discharge of professional
duty occasionally forces me to contend.
About 1867, Mr.. StOkely, fOrmerlya Sen
atOr from Cooke county, i'll the Legislature,
applied to me to prosecute Fleming for a
fraudulent breach of trust, and to have him
stricken from the roll of attorneys. FyCn1-
ing 'aUds guilty. The punishment pre-
scribed 10y law for such Otfenses was then
and is yet imprisonment in the peniten-
tiary. Yet from mistaken motives of pity
dissuaded StOkely from his purpose, and
left the poor wretch in a condition to ply
lIIS AlliJ NOCdOiOIl ttild llDtl IISi1 W1lUS6
usefulness and good conduct were a con-
slant and burning reprOach to his drunken
and worthless career.
In 1864, when oppressed poverty was
calling for help in this community, he got
himself put on a committee to solicit con-
tributions for the poor. In this character
he collected several hundred dollars from
our benevolent citizens and appropriated
the same to his OlUR use, and yet he has the
effrontery to claim the sympathy of this
community, on the ground that he has
never peJpctr0tod crime or done on act
mUOJUjng moral tUgpitude.
Now | am aware Ofwhat l have written,
and have written it deliberately and adj
visedly. If untrue in any particular, l
am amenable in the civil and criminal tri-
bunals of the country, and [ here defy
Mr.. Fleming, " OF any other man" to put
me to the proof
Begging your pardon. and the pardon of
your readers for intruding this personal
matter OH their and your consideration,
am respectfully, &C.,
JNO. BANTER.
p. S.-If Mr.. Fleming desires it, l will
add the foregoing to Major Brooks speci-
ticatiOn and sustain the same by proof on
the hearing of the motion to strike him
from the roll Of DraCticinr ATTORNEYS