Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1874-07-10
REV. DR.. WILSON IN PRINT,

hhv. LIN. WILDUN LIN FKlNI,
HIS STATEMENT OF THE CAsE-THE DIS
PUTED IDENTITY OF THE MANUSCRIPT
AND OVERWHELMINGLY OF THE IN
vEsTIGATING CLERGYMEN,
&C., &C., &c.
The Richmond papers contain the follow
ing statement about the Danville Female
College address from the pen of DR.. VIII
son himself. We give it in full:
My name has been frequently mentioned
for several weeks past in competition with
certain charges, which, because of their
indefiniteness, took shape and grew, both
in number and gravity, as they passed from
mouth to mouth. My preference would be
to bear Misrepresentation in silence, and
trust for my vindicatiOn to time and calm
reflection; but the matter has assumed
such . phase that it is due to myself and
to the public that I should now speak. A
full presentation of the whole case, quot
ing at length all documents hitherto pub
lished, would be too tiresome for any
reader.
/ therefore submit briefly the following
OUTLINE OF FACTS.
On the evening Of June 18th l delivered
an address at the commencement OF Roa-
noke Female College. Leaving Danvllle
at 5 A. M. next day returned to Rich
mond. The Danville Chimes" of the Goth !,
as copied by the Richmond "Whig" of the
2lst, in connection with letter from it's
own correspondent, contained a violent as
sault on my address.
At our regular pastors meeting on Mon
day morning submitted my manuscript
to the ministers assembled, simply to show
them that had been either misunderstood
OF misinterpreted. OF their own motion,
and against my judgment, they prepared
ly denying.the charges.
To this card the Chimes" replied in it's
issue of the 9th, retracted nothing, but
bolstered its former statements by a cer-
| tifcate signed bv some of the persons who
heard the address, and added an insinua-
| ton that | had read here an address differ
| emit from the one there delivered There
upon two well known gentlemen took my
manuscript to Danville to ascertain the
truth OF falsity OF this covert charge. They
on the I'd of July called together a num-
Der of the citizens of Danville, including
| as many signers Of the aforementioned
certificate as would attend, and after full
conference in open meeting returned with
certificates and a report which will be
presently introduced.
| THE MAIN CHARGE
has never been distinctly presented, but is
| involved in such phrases as the following
| from the Danville "Times' of the goth
and 9th:
ssThe address, filled al it was with indeli-
cate illusions and double entendres, cast a
damper," &c. "His whole speech, being
filed from beginning to end with smutty
remarks, preclldes, - &c. IAN address X
\ which should cause the ladies' Of Dan
vile to hang their heads in shame and
shock the sensibilitieS Of every man in the
hall"
| These criticisms (?) were sustained on
| the 9th by certificate of some Of the
persons who heard the address. who Care
| of the opinion that the statements with
regard to it made by the editor Of the
sTimes,'' in it's issue of the Goth, are just
| and true"
That some might take words used, and
develop obscene interpretations is not i'm.
possible that it has been done I exceed.
| ingly regret; but that any expression OF
mine was so intended emphatically deny
The charge is comprehensive. To estab-
| Iish it, the specifications must be clear and
numerous. Not one have yet seen. But
waving this right, here introduce sen-
| tence from the card of Drs. J. L. Burrows
J. B. Jeter, and eight other ministers
"Resolred, That having carefully con-
| sidered the contents OF the address, we are
unanimously of the opinion that it con-
tains no expression obscene or indicate. y
I leave the public to decide whether per.
sons who heard the address but once, amid
the excitement Of the occasion, are more
competent and reliable for the point at is
sue than the Christian gentlemen and
scholars who examined it sentence by sell.
| tence. The card Of these ministers was
drawn up on their own motion, by one of
themselves, signed, and published without
any solicitation on my part.
OF the counter card the editor of the
Chimes says: {" We haze taken the pains tG
procure the signatures of large number oi
persons &C., [italics mine]. Who wrote
this certificate, and by what representa-
lions, or other ''pains,' were signatures
obtained ?
But the Chimes itself 'shas great con-
fidence in the purity and integrity Of the
ministers who signed the document above
quoted. and ''cannot believe it is their in
tention to whitewash Dr. Wilson,
1t is, therefore, driven to a
| A SECOND CHARGE.
This thnurh cnnaifio opOI1pb ia, nra