Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1877-11-21

G many persons are Oh OPINION that
{ you did not write the article TO which
/ your name is appended. There is in.
/ trinsic evidence that certain parts Of
4 il were not produced by you for in.
/. stance the defence OF tho carpet
baggers, which certainly nobody but
q one of their number would make now,
: since the administration at Washing
/ ton has deserted them, and
{ From their ruined fortunes their familiar, slnk
, away"
r But you are made to appear us be-
lcvcr in the virtue of the knaves who
almost dcsolated Louisiana by their
cxactions, taxed property to point
that made it almost worthless, issued
innumerable millions OF fraudulent
bonds, reduced public securities TO Tor.
ty per cent, patronized larceny all
r over tho State and left the people TO
the protection Of no law but lynch
law The writer could not ignore
thcse enormities, for he manilestly had
read what you probably never took
the trouble to look at--the reports
made to Congress by Messrs. Potter,
Foster, Wheeler, Phelps and others,
which establish the facts incontestibly.
1t was sin and a shame TO make you
express admiration and respect for
these unmitigated seamps, and, facile
as you are, wonder that you submit
ted to it, They might have spared
you this degradation. Was il not
enough for you to have said that the
raseality of the returning board was
"the exercise Of a wise discretion p
You, or somebody for you, have un-
dertaken TO repeat the amazing argu-
ment that the returning board and the
electoral commission were right in
disregarding the popular vote and set
ting aside the election in Louisiana
free, full and fair though 1t was), be-
cause numerous murders had been com.
mitted in the State during the period
Of carpet. bag rule. 1t was alleged that
these murders had been going on stead
ily for years at the awful average of
about four every day, and though the
perpetrators of them were well known,
The public authorities had not taken
measures TO punish single one. No
body was hung, or tried, or even ar
rested. did not believe this story.
1t was denied on good authority and
supported by no credible evidence.
But insisted that if it was true the
people were right in turning out Off
GERS who suffered such state of things
to exist, and electing others who would
protect life by faithful execution of
the laws. 1t did seem TO me like new
species of moral insanity to say that
tho law.abiding and honest citizens Of
the State should be disiranchised be.
cause they had cast their votes against
officers who, besides being public plum.
derers, had taken away all security for
life by permitting four thousand muir
ders in thrco years to go entirely un-
punished.
Upon this you assert, or at least sign
your name TO an assertion and publish
it in a magazine as yours, that admit
ted the preparation OF the murders re.
fcrred to- that | justified them, alleg-
ing that the State Government icds too
,oedk to punish or prevent them. This
represents ne as the most inhuman
monster on earth. A man who would
Justify the unprovoked assassination
of four thousand peacoable and help.
less persons, including women and
children, on the mereground that tho
,,ovorn,,aps ,rao unoh 20 ,,rovant II
would not hesitate to commit murder
himself whenever he could do il with
lmpunity. This odious charge is press
ed upon me explicitly, and repeated in
many forms through several pages of
violent denunciation Now, mark my
answer well. The man who wrote
this part of the article which passes
for yours is a base imposter. Every
opinion, thought and sentiment ex-
pressed by me is precisely the rcrerse of
what he imputes to me- pronounced
the story Of the four thousand murders
what | did then, and do still believe il
to be, sheer fabrication, got up to
order for partisan purposes SO far
from iustiiying those murders, | de-
cared that if such outrages had really
been committed, the carpet-bag author.
tiles of the State had made themselves
infamous by their failure TO punish
them. Furthermore, ayerred as mat
ter Of fact, and showed il very conclu-
sively to be true, that the State Gov
ernment was armed with physical pow
or amply sufficient to enforce the law,
preserve tho peace and protect life.
All this | said, not in doubtful or OBJ
scure language, but so plainly that no
man with intelligence one degree above
that of an idiot could misunderstood
me.
The direct, straightforward menda.
city of this effort to doiame me is lit
orally wonderful. speak soberly and
without passion when say that !
think there is nothing like it on record.
No reader will be able to conceive tho
grossness oft without comparing your
article at pages 225.67, with minc at
pages 9.10-ll. Even then he will not
understand it unless he looks narrow.
ly at the passages which the writer
pretends to copy from me. They are
all trdudulcntly changed and altered. My
disbelief in the murder stories Of Sher.
ldan and Sherman, my destination of
those crimes II they were in truth com
mitted, aud of the Government which
could punish them, and did uot--my
unequivocal expression of these senti.
ments arc suppressed and cxscinded
from the passages quoted Disconnec-
ted sentences are picked out from dif.
icrent places, ,mutilatcd, transposed and
then joined together as il | had writ
ten them continuously 10 that order,
whereby the whole sense and mean
ing of my words is perverted am
made out TO be an apologist for mur.
der and mob violence, just as you
might prove from the Bible that there
is no God This is not an indictable
forgery, but many man has served
out his term at Sing Sing, who would
scorn an attempt to ruin his ncighbor
by tho fraudulent making or alteration
OF paper writing to the prejudice of
his character.
[Concludcd neat reck
A lady who consulted her physician
almost daily, about some imaginary
aimenl, and who liked to talk with
him on great many subjects, because
he was a witty and charming man, on
a. 4