The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1874-05-14
G9e DigBlano Wehs.
HILLSBOROUGH. OHIO.
Thursday. = May "a, 1874
"Persecntion"! "

HS~O~S ~N--~
ence the Grand Jury of the coming Cour
in their action upon the charges pending
against him for illegal liquor selling.
1t may be that Mr. Dunn regards himself
as ''persecuted' because the Temperance
men have at length determined that if he
has been guilty of violating the law (a'
they believe) h, shall suffer the penalty
1t is quite possible, too, that even the no.
torious ''Boss Tweed" considers himself 6
victim of persecution, for
''No rogue e'er felt the halter draw
| With good opinion Of the law"
| But are there any real grounds for this
cry of Persecution" in Mr.. Dunn's easel
What are the facts?
| All that the Temperance people evel
asked of him was to submit to the same
reasonable restriction in the sale of Liquors
as the other druggists of the town-that is,
to sell only for strictly medicinal purposes,
on the written prescription of respectable
physician. This was certainly not an un.
reasonable request, but instead of grace.
fully aeceding to it, as we think he ought
to have done, he lost his temper, got out
an injunction to prevent the women from
singing and praying before his premises
and sued them and their husbands and faith
ers for damages.
From the very first, Mr.. Dunn has con
stantly asserted, and he and his friends
proclaimed it far and wide, that he has
never sold liquor unlawfully-neither to bt
drank on the premises, nor to minors, MOI
to persons intoxicated or in the habit ot
getting intoxicated. From the very first
too, the Temperance people have been il
possession of evidence which convinced
them that these loud professions of limo
cence were unfounded, and that, IN fact, Mr.
Dunn had been guilty of repeated and fla
grant violations of the law. But notwith
standing their knowledge of his guilt, they
were still willing to overlook his past of
fenses, if they could only induce him to
sign the druggists pledge and cease selling
except for medicinal purposes.
They continued their efforts to persuade him t.
desist, by kindness and moral suasion, even aftel
he had resorted to the law against them, and re
peatedly declared his intention never to yield Ou
readers viii remember the appeal made to hin
| by nearly 200 of the best citizens of our town
urging him in kindest terms, to sign the druggists
pledge, and stating that they had no desire to in
jure him, but were actuated solely by regard fo
I 81 ooff
published in our columns, with the names attached
and it will be remembered, that we also Published
Mr.. Dunn's contemptuous and insulting reply, mad
through his counsel utterly refusing to listen to tn
request of his fellow citizens, until the Temperance
people should first make acknowledgements to him
Here certainly was an exhibition of true Christian
kindness and forbearance on the part of the Tenn
| perance people, which can scarcely be paralleled
and which renders the fact apparent to every un
.preudiced mind, that no reasonable effort wa!
spared to come to an amicable arrangement Will
Mr. Dunn, before the arm of the law was invoked
against him.
Such is brief and true statement of the facts il
Mr. Dunns case, and yet in the face of these facts
the editor of the Hilsboro Gazette, in an article
published week before last, denounces the cours,
of the Temperance people Persecution, )" and a:
being actuated by "hatred and malice"! TIL,
charges brought against Dunn for illegal liquor
selling, and which sworn to by responsible par
ties, are pronounced trifing and unworthy of no
tce-"malicious, and not made to subserve the end.
of justice"i
In regard to the jackson case, the Gazette SAYS:
| ''Of course, if DR.. Dunn d id not know las proc
| showed he didn't know that jackson was in the
habit of getting intoxicated, he was not guilty."
The truth is, there PROOF Except Mr.
Dunn's own statement) that he did not know Jack
son was intoxicated or in the habit of getting in
toxicated. The fact is notorious that he is in thu
habit of getting intoxicated, and moreover it vii
be proved by reliable testimony, that Dunn himself
| some time before he made this sale to Jackson be
ing warned that he might be caught if he was no
careful replied that he was too sharp to sell liquo
to such fellows as Jackson" Besides it can b.
proved that jackson was intoxicated at the time h
bought the liquor referred to.
| -Four of the charges against Dunn, on which h,
was bound over by Esq. Doggett, were for selling
liquor mixed with soda water. In regard to thes
charges, his learned apologist and defender, tn,
editor of the Gazette, says:
''It is well known that druggists have q right t.
compound spirituous liquors with almost every ar
| tice OF the nldteriG medicG, castor oil ant
and soda water included. For dyspepsia or indi
gestion, whisky or apple brandy, in soda, is YER
| popular remedy. 1t is highly recommended by per
| sons outside of the profession who have used th
same 1t is prescribed by our best physicians ant
most careful druggists"
This is altogether ''too thin" piece of pettifog
ging to deceive anybody. Neither druggists" no
anybody else, have any right to Grade the law, b,
any such subterfuge as mixing whisky with sod
water and calling it "nedicine."
The real alinlus and motive of the whole articl
crops out in the following paragraph:
"No one will suppose the Grand Jury triU pa
any attntiOn to such malicious. silly and ridicoOu
| prosecutions, having once before thrown some o
| the same cases aside. They are evidently gotten u
to affect civil suits brought by DIR. Dunn and t
bring him to terms; or, in other words, to fore
| him by systematic series of inexcusabe prosecu
tions to surrender his lawful business to the peo
pie he has sued"
From the above it is evident that the article wa
designed, we said at the outset, to influence tn
action of the Grand Jury in regard to the charge
against Dunn /; but we have too much confidence ii
the Jury to believe that they can be swerved from
the discharge of their duty, by this barefaced at
tempt to intimidate them, and mark out for then
the course they are expected to pursue, under tn
penalty of ircurring Mr.. Dunn's high and might
displeasure.
The article closes as follows:
sWhen persons who bear high characters TO
truth and Christian virtues become SO infatuated ol
this question as to bring unfounded charge
against their best friends and nelghbors, this tac
furnishes additional evidence that it is high tim
for those afflicted with this wild fanaticism to halt
to pause, to consider ere our town, once noted TO
the intelligence of its citizens and for the mutua
courtesies exchanged with each other, becomes
bedlsm of hate, scandal and vituperation-"
We pronounce the above gross libel on the TEN
perance people of Hillsboro, among whom are in
cluded the great majority of most moral, intel
lgent and respectable citizens. 1t is not true, a
we have clearly shown, that they have manifested
spirit of 'shatred malice and persecution" toward
Mr.. Dunn or any one else engaged in the iquo
traffic. On the contrary, the whole spirit of tn
Temperance movement has been eminently that @
love and good will, even towards those who hav
been notorious violators of law. There has been
great reluctance on the part of both the Temper
ance men and women TO resort to legal measures
and the women are still adhering strictly to thei
original plan of "moral suasion," notwithstandin
their failure as yet, in some cases, to produce tn
desired effect.
The men, however, have come to the conclusion
that it is about time to try what virtue there is
the law, and they are alone responsible for the suit
, recently commenced against Dunn, Ward an
Bales.
; If to prosecute those who wilfully violate tn
law and whose vile business necessarily cause
SO much poverty, degradation and crime;-
seek to make them feel the penalties they hay
. Justly incurred by their own wrong-doing-f to d
this be persecution" then are the Temperate