Martinsburg weekly independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1873-1875, 1874-08-15

and w. Va, as Catholic Priest,
discharging the onerous duties Of
my office with the fidelity of one,
who is fully conscious Of the high
and awful responsibilities OF the
sacred ministry. Thus far have
claimed and received from all
good men Of every Christian de-
nomination the respect due to
pure minded and faithful minister
of God. But within the past few
days | have been attacked by a
most base and villainous SANDER.
No sooner had ! been informed Of
it, than | proceeded to Winchester
in search OF its author. / was not
long in getting upon his TRAIL
Before the first evenings sun had
set, he was confronted in his place
Of business in Martinsburg, and
the following letter placed in his
hands:
MARTINSBURG, w. VA,
August 9th, 1874.
Mr.. j. l.. Z. Combs, Sir:
You have
circulated reports in Winchester,
Va, excessively damaging to my
character as a gentleman, christ
ian and q priest. The nature Of
these reports were communicated
to me this morning by Messrs.
Reed and Manning, to whom you
spoke in this disparaging manner
of me. / have in my possession a
written statement of what you
told these gentlemen. | know not
sir why you should have thus viii
flied me. Remember that when
asked by Mr.. Manning ifyou were
sure Twas the man, you reiterated
your assertion that you were not
mistaken: that I certainly was
the one about whom these reports
were current iD this town of Mar
tinsburg. Are you prepared, sir,
to substantiate these grave charges
against my good name?
Under legal advice. [ call on you
before taking any further steps.
1t will not do to say you did not
speak slandcrously of me. Any
such denial en- your part will cause
me to institute legal proceedings
against you at once, as / am fully
prepared to prove by the above
named gentlemen, that you did.
I now demand a full retraction,
with the understanding that / am
at liberty to use it as [ choose. to
repair the injury which your SLAM
derous reports have done me.
Three points your statement
must cover. You must declare
these reports false, as far as you
know. You must deny that any
such crimes are imputed to me in
this communicated you must
apologize; otherwise, l will brand
you in a court of justice as an in
famous defamer. This note must
be replied to at once. | will toler-
ate no delay. If you do not make
an ample retractiOn Immediately /
must seek redress at once In court.
Respectfully,
JOHN j. KAHN,
Pastor of st. Peters Church,
Harper's Ferry, w. Va.
To this peremptory demand for
PREPARATION of SANDER, this declara-
ton, including all my require
ments,w promptly returned:
l, j. l.. E. Combs, declare that
the defamatory stories in refer
ence to Rev. j J. Kahn, Catholic
Priest at Harper's Ferry, are not
true, to the best of my knowledge;
that there are no such charge cir
culated in this community about
the Rev. Mr.. Kahn, that in report
ing such infamous tales, / have
done an incalculable injury to the
character of this Reverend gentle
men, whose reputation is pure
and blameless (; and 1 regret most
sincerely the harm which / have
done by circulating those base
ISLANDERS and l do freely and full
ly apologize for doing this injury
to the character of a christian,
gentlemen and a minister of God.
In witness whereof | hereby af-
fix my name and seal this fifth
day of August, 1874.
j. l.. e. COMBS, ( Seal.
Witness, l. A. MONTAGUE.
Perhaps, Messrs. Editors, there
was no malicious motive prompt
ing the said Combs to utter these
foul aspersions upon the character
of one, totally unknown to him.
But with his motives have moth
ing to do. Whatever may have
been his intention, the injury to
that which is to me dearer than
life itself, would be none the less,
if this SANDER bad not been thus
fully acknowledged, and repaired
as far as such an injury can be re-
paired. The moral atmosphere is
so completely charged with the