Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-09-26
to 0. w. Lyman asking.him to pay j..
A. Monks e. Son their bill? Ans.-I

w ". W. 10y uuHi AShius suitA " puy y
A. Monks e. Son their bill? Ans,
did.
Int. 57.-Didyou not ask him to pa,
the other bills when lie got his none,
3 for the sale of the liquors? Ans
don't recollect.
But forbear quoting moro from
this deposition, as this communica-
, ton will occupy too much space il
your paper. ask the public TO com
pare what have quoted with thu
affidavit of Edmonds as printed by
Mr.. CASTOR.
To show now how utterly worth
less Edmonds is man, and what lit
tie reliance can be placed in him as ,
witness, let me state that in July
1874, took the dispositions of A. O
Priest, Peleg Peckham, w. j. Shaw
E. w. Gatz, Nicholas Leonard, C. p
Stewart, and Barnett II. Engelke, all
of St. Louis, Mo-, and they each testify
that the reputation of Edmonds fol
truth and veracity is bad, and that his
moral character is bad. Barnett FL
Engelke says: II consider his reputa-
ton for truth and vcraclty very bad, y
and he says of his general moral char.
acter. at is of the lowest order"
| Mr.. CASTOR knew of these deposit
lions when he wrote the article for
the Courier, and he certainly does not
stand in very fair light in the COM
munity in trying to convict me by the
evidence Of liar like Edmonds.
Mr.. CASTOR introduces in his article
two letters purporting to be from
Byron Clark. Now if Mr.. CASTOR had
desired to be fair towards mo he
would have said that Byron Clark
denied ever having written those let
tiers, that they were forgeries gotten
up by Edmonds or some other per-
sons; he would have said that Byron
Clark not only denied having written
the letters, but he would also have
said that he so testified upon two
different occasionssin court of jus
tice.
Ihave no means ofknowing whe TIL
er these letters are genuine or not ex !.
cept what Mr.. Clark says, and | have
no reason to doubt his word. Nor
can I see how I am answerablc for
anything Mr.. Clark may have written,
and l now say as I have repeatedly
said that know nothing of any ar.
rangement between Edmonds, Clark
and Lyman, and l may add that do
not believe any such arrangement
ever existed.
In regard to those forged lcttc,s 1
may say that the first one does not re.
fer to me in the remotest degree, and
tho second one quite clearly shows
that | had nothing to do with any
transaction between Clark and Ed.
monds, for the letter very clearly
states, "Dock does not espcct any,
thing out of it," How il could be
true that l was in conspiracy to de-
fraud gentleman III st. Lonis, and at
the Same time not expect to make
anything out of it, | leave for that
learnedand astute lawyer, Mr.. CASTOR.
The next charge Mr.. CASTOR makes
against mo is that recommended O.
w. Lyman Il Co. to the business men
Of st. Louis. This charge like all the
others is false, or rather is true only
III qualified sense. did receive as
stated in my deposition several letters
from business men in st. Louis in re-
gard to O. w. Lyman & Co. Other
gentlemen in the city received the
same kind ofletters.
In answer to those letters l never
recommended the house, but I told
them how far 1 would be willing to
trust them; or that regarded them
for small bills.
Mr.. CASTOR or any other man cans
not produce letter from me to any
business house in st. Louis recon-
mending O. w. Lyman & Co in any
other way than that above stated.
And OF that time do not believe that
there was q business man in the city
of Ottumwa but who would have
recommended the firm as did, and /
suppose that the firm was recon-
mended by other gentlemen in this
city, Inv stronger terms than used.
1t is common practice for business
men in Chicago or st. Louis to write
to business men here in regard to the
lsolvcncy Of their debtors. This conf
dence | have never violated, l have
always been extremely careful, more
SO than l need to have been in an,
swering such letters.
If Mr.. CASTOR says that l wretc a
single false recommendation, and that
received for SO doing pay in the
shape of liquors from o. w. Lyman,
he states what is utterly and infa-
mously false, and is no more worthy Of
credit than his tool Edmonds. Mr..
CASTOR charges me with having pur-
chased some liquors of o. w. Lyman
& Co. This is true. I did purchase
about fifteen barrels Of liquors from
him. No secret was made of this: it
was placed up on his books ofaccount;
1t was. placed upon the government
books according to Mr.. CASTOR show
ing; it was not done in the night time
nor in secret, but openly and publicly
like any other business operation.
For these liquors now state as have
repeatedly said Ipaid O. w. Lyman &
Co. in full. That is all there was OF
that transaction. Mr.. CASTOR gives
what he says is the substance of a let.
ter No. Is, but in this like almost
every other statement which he has
made, he allows his malice to cloud
his memory, or else he utters q wilful
! and deliberate falsehOod. saw the
letter to which he refers about the
, time Mr.. Lynam's deposition was Ia
ken, and l am willing to state upon
, my solemn oath that my name was
!, not mentioned in any manner what
ever.
Ihave now answered oil the charges
and insinuations brought by Mr.. Gas
ton against nlc, aud now again re
peat that his entire charge is false ant
!, without foundation to sustain It
With those who know me it will have
no effect, those who do not personally
know me deemed it but my duty ia
, make this denial. The voters o.
!. Wapello county do not want me OF
any other man defeated by falsehood
they desire fair honorable contest
and may the best man win.
now have done with Mr.. CASTOR
have given him more notoriety THAI
he deserves. He claims to be +:
Christian gentleman, and yet he bear