Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1877-06-04
HOW DEACON BROWN CONVERT.
ED THE EDITOR OF THE WA.
TERLOO ssAvALANCHE.,,

was graduate OF the Charlottesville
University could write clever article
on subjects of which he was utterly ig-
norant; played stiff game of poker
and was essentially a fghting-man,
having, if report spoke truly, killed
three or four personal friends in the
course of a somewhat limited residence
in Texas.
When he arrived at Waterloo last
May, and announced his intention of
starting daily paper, everybody was
charmed.
Waterloo had no end of drinking
saloons and gambling-houses, two chur-
ches, and telegraph Office, but no pa
per. AS Gen. Slaughter stalked about
town in leather breeches and Wellington
boots, a Mexican sombrero on the top
of his head, and a bright red sash
around his waist, his silver spurs ring
ing at every step, he struck the whole
population of Waterloo as man singu-
larly fitted to adorn the editorial chair.
The General was in search of suita-
BILE building in which to start the Wa
terloo Avalanche.
Deacon Brown, the most important
and by far the richest man in Waterloo
owned row of brick stores on the west
side of Washington street, between
Myrtle and Spruce streets. One of
these Gen. Slaughter desired to rent
but the deacon declined to lease without
receiving quarters rent in advance.
"Sir-r-r!" said Slaughter. "Do you
know who am? Pay in advance, in
deed I never, in the whole course of
a somewhat checkered life, have been
asked to pay in advance, and l certainly
shall not begin now.''
The deacon, one of the mildest and
most gentle of men, felt very much en-
barrassed. and stammered out-for he
suffered from an impediment of speech
-"N-n-no ofense. I ho-ho-hope, Gen.
eral.''
But Gen. Jefferson Slaughter was one
of the men who -n-o- c.-,-A
forgave. The very first number of the
AvaIo''che contained scorching leader
devoted to the good deacon, and scarce
ly day passed but that holy man was
IN some manner vituperated in the COL !
umns of Waterloo's only paper. Now
Deacon Brown, a leading member of the |
church, was much respected and loved |
by his fellow-citizcns. He drove a |
thriving business as a wholesale and re- |
tail liquor dealer, on the corner of |
Washington and Myrtle streets. On
weekdays his store was fayorite re- |
sort for his brother church members,
and sort of club for the townspeople
generally.
Previous to the establishment of the |
AVata7che all the foreign and domestic |
news was disseminated among the inhab-
itants of Waterloo from this center.
The violent attacks on Deacon Brown |
daily printed by Gen. Slaughter were |
much commented on in Waterloo. |
Scarcely any one approved of them, and |
yet nobody dared to take such a des.
perado to task. Gen. Slaughter was
the only survivor of four brothers, who |
all "died in their boots" leaving bloody |
records behind them. The third. brother,
Col. Randolph Slaughter, it will be re-
membered, came to his death at the
hands of Maj.-Gen. Brown while en-
gagged In a ''quiet" game of cards, sum-
mer before last, at the Greenbrier White
Sulphur Springs, Virginia. The tragic
occurrence was much talked of at the
time. All this was well known at Wa
terloo.
The good deacon paid no attention
to the oalumnies in the -dnalGs,cbs,
u.h;oh :-------1 .---.-I----E
Roberts had endeavored to talk the mat
ter over with him in a friendly way,
hoping to induce the deacon to hold out
the olivebranch, and thus put an end to
the Generals attacks, which, it was
feared, might end in personal violence
on the part of Slaughter. But all he
could elicit from the deacon was this
1.-The G-g-general is ch-ch-child of
wrath, but [ do-do-don't consider him
da-da-dangerous man."
Thus matters stood till the beginning
of July, when Slaughter, in an editorial
on the religious revival of Moody and
Sankey, took occasion to speak as fol-
lows; 1--WE know no one more in need
of the religious ministrations of these
good men than that precious old scound-
rel Deacon Brown. Even whisky won't
revive him. He has tried that for the
last twenty-five years. If the whisky
he has drank during this period could
be collected together, it would form
lake sufficiently large to drown the en-
tire congregation who have been SO long
deluded, cheated, and gulled by this
precious deacon--this toddy-soaked old
hypocrite.
At about eleven o'clock of the day on
which this article appeared, Deacon
Brown walked into the Office of the
Avalanche, and asked the small boy in
nha.e.A ~uL al. - o.. cna-.AA-... - - |