The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1874-07-29
BETSY WARD AND THE CRU
SADERS.


| FROM JOHN AIITCHEL's OLD RETREAT
HIS DEPARTURE FOR IRELAND
OPPOSED TO DRINKING WHISKY AND
PROTEST AGAINST w1PINa IT OUT
AS PROPOSED By THE CRUSADERS
OF GREENEvMLE.
TUCKALEECHA Cove, July Is. 1874.
To the Editor Of the Morristown Gazette:
] am a subscriber for the GAZETTE,
and look forward to its weekly ap-
pearance with more pleasure than
that Of any paper / receive. You
doubtless remember that some TWEEN
ty years since, that sterling patriot,
John Mitchell, was, for time, an In.
habitant of our mountain fastness-
whence he sent forth from his tren-
chantpen,as graceful as it was caustic,
diatribes against tyrany, which ex-
cited the wonder of his frieads, and
challenged the admiration of his en-
emies. En- parenthasis-I see that
Mr.. Mitchell is again to set foot up
on his native heath, with a certainty
Of entering Parliament. We here,
his old neighbors, will watch his ca
reer with much interest. 1t may be
that whilst among us we imbibed
something Of his spirit of opposition
to injustice and intolerance.
So much as preliminary to the SUBJ
iect of this communication.
1t is useless to say to you that /
am opposed, as heartily as yourself,
to dram shops. have seen and felt
their i'll effects-I see them every
day. had hoped, however, as |
had recently seen nothing of it in
the papers, that the crusade at
Greenville, against Mrs. Betsy Ward,
had ceased. / see from a paper this
morning that it is still waged.
Now who is Mrs. Betsy Ward. and
what law has she violated? | un-
derstand that Mrs. Ward is the wife
of q disabled husband, and the moth
er of a helpless family of children.
[ am further informed that q short
twelve month since, when pestilence
stalked at noon day through the
streets of GreeneYille, and drove the
timid and faint-hearted from tue
town, Mrs. Ward stood at her post,
with a heroism that should have
shamed those Of the sterner sex who
fed, and faithfully did her duty, min
isteriug as q guardian angel to the
wants of ''the sick and afflicted, the
poor and the needy, the widow and
the orphan" Where then were these
blatant crusaders, who proclaim to
the world, {" we are better than thou
art? Mrs. Ward is pursuing le-
gitimate business, recognized by the
laws of the land, Federal and State.
First, the Federal Government raises
revenue by the taxation of ardent
spirits; she takes the first toll in the
form of seventy cent tax upon eV-
cry gallon of whisky produced. Then
comes the State and levies q tax up
on The privilege of selling; then the
county, and lastly, the municipal
corporation. All these taxes have
been paid by Mrs. Ward, and in the
eye of the law. she is guilty Of no
offence. You are thus made q part
ner in her business, and SO am /.
The crusaders themselves are bene-
ficiaries, and SO is every tax payer
in the United States a party in in
terest.
Did It ever occur to you that this
war upon Mrs. Ward had degener-
ated into vindictive hate? It looks
so to me. do not know the fact
to be science, make no charge.
Still, il the truth can be got at, | be-
lieve at the head of the movement
will be found q strong minded fe-
male from the land of steady habits,
and of "the higher law" 1t cannot
be otherwise. Our people, left to
themselves, love justice and despise
persecution. Let them pause and
reflect what they are doing. The poo
pie who are at the bottom of this re-
lentless war, belong to class who
come among us from what they ir-
revcrently call "God's country" and
are eyerlastingly raising a row, and
going off on some new issue. They
have commenced in this case. upon
the wrong point of attack. 1t is the
law that is vulnerable, not those who
live up to its requirements. / will
go as far as the farthest, in lawful
way, to repeal these laws. But as
long as they are laws, let US obey
them.