The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1878-07-30
A BURNED REAPER.
grom Post and Tribune.
Ia the last number OF the Pontiac
H..atta oooutroI tbtc ,,arauronh.

Ia the last number OF the Pontiac
Gazette occurred this paragraph:
A reaper belonging 10 VIM Johnson was
burned on the farm OF G. w Perkins. Eco
Bear this city. on the l7th, about twelve
O'Clock midnight U appears the dastardly
act Of burning this poor mans property was
solely for the purposc "a destroying labor
taying machine Pieces of old rails aud eut
" heat were piled on the machine and a strong
DIRE made. To make the destruction sure. the
machine was demolished by thr aid Of large
stone. How do the advocates Of the princi-
pie, of the National Greonback party Ike
such practical demonstrations Of it teach
ings?
A reporter Of the Post and Tribune
was handed the above slip on Saturday
morning with instructions nj once 10
proceed to the seat Of Oakland County
and ascertain all the particulars il rel
erence To the affair. He arrived there
shortly after noon by way of the ID. a
NJ. Railway, and at once made pill
grimage To the farm ~ Mr.. q. w
Perkins which lies just outside the
eastern limits of the little city. II,
fonnd Mr.. Perkins. who il one IL ths
most respected and substantial farmer
Il the country, at home. and tte scribe
slated ,he mission which had brpnghi
him there. Mr. Perkins at once sug
gested that the reporter should acs0m
pany him t. the harvest .ield wber,
Mr. Johnson was then at work drawing
"a wheat. aud hear the story from th,
poor mau who, by the cowsrdly act
had lost about Mi the property he wa
possessed of. IL answer To the report
er's questions Mr.. William johnson
made statement - the following ef
feet, names being omitted, for obyiou-
reasons:
Last Tuesday night, inst before
dusk, blacksmith came over into The
ield where ] was at work reaping the
wheat. He followed me aronnd "A few
times, talking of tue weather. aD'
nh"nt nothing ia particular ua.i! u.
hItched. left the reaper standing u.
about the center Of the field. While
was unlocking the horses he went oi
over 10 one Of the binders, a cOloref
man. talked with him moment su-
hen left the field. While we were GO
ing 10 the barn tie latter told me that
The blacksmith said: 'fhey burn a.
of those Id machines down in Ohio.
| thought nothing Of that, however. bui
that same evening. two hours later,
Vas down town and on returning HON
I saw the same man and four or fv,
ether men standing on the sidewalk i.
front of saloon. As / passed, one ~
them, i think it was he, said: 'Ther.
goes that man that owns the reape'
that / was over TO see tonight BE
said this in n low voice, but / over
beard it and thought it very strange. ]
forgot all about the matter though be
fore / got home, but the next morning
| remembered 1t quite distinctly, anc
chen / discovered that nv machin,
was destroyed felt as though I coulo
nut INV hand on the man that burpe'
u. Thursday night my son wss com
ing along in front Of the post-office an6
there was a crowd Of roughs there talk
iog about the burning of my machine
he heard ole of them say. Did ut
get out of that nice?'
Above we have given Mr.. Johnson's
statement in his own language. Tht
machine was burned few minutes af
ter midnight on Tuesday. A neigh
boring woman heard her dog barking
about midnight and got MP and called
him in. She saw a man IN his shirt
sleeves walking across the wheat
ferd N the direction of the machine
mt thinking it was Mr.. Perkins oI
-oule OF his hired men, gave the mat
~ no further attention. The Detroi,
K Milwaukee Railway track rms clos
w the field and the engineer Of th,
trsir which goes through Pontiac a
y. 20 saw the IRE and blew several loul
blasts with the whistle.
Notwithstanding the fact that
strong fire was made with rails, sheayes
r wheat, etc, the woodwork of NJ
machine was not all destroyed. Til
ire seems ca have been made on th'
but tend of the tongue and under ~,
.eat. The tongue was burned off, thu
eat destroyed. and the platform under
he seat burned to ashes. A portion g
he dropuer was burned, and then :
make the work of destruction m"r
'pmpl-te the incendisry or incendisriot
tpok large stone aud broke the -pJk
vt Of one OF the wheels aud shatter,o
he covering of the pitman. The ms
shine was Bnckeye Combined Move
nd Reaper with IA dropper. and Mr.
Johnson says 1t cost him 600 tw
Years ago.
Mr.. Johnson is n poor hard-workinc
honest man, and bears that reputation
throughout all the region. He work
farm belonging 10 Mr.. Perkins o
White Lake, but beyond the reape
and a span Of horses has no esrthl,
possessions. He did whatever work Ia,
could get with his mower aud reaper,
md expected to make some money will
IL this summer.
johnson told the reporter that b,
had no enemies that he knew of-non,
that could possibly have burned ia,
machine.
A number OF prominent citizen
vent up to see the machine as il stood
after the iucendiary's work. at mad,
nv blood boil, said one OF them, ''t,
see the old man standing there over
the ruins of the machine which brough
MIN his bread aud which had been de.
st.oyed for pure devilishness and for
no other reason than because il was .
labor.saving machine"
In the course of his explorations thf
reporter strolled into respectable
looking grocery store and engaged in
conversation with the proprietor,
very gentlemanly appearing man. VIII"
surprised the reporter with his senti-
ments.
Reporter--"I see by the Gazette tha
a farmer near by has had his reaper
burned.
Business man.-"Well, d--n EN-
they ought To be burned. A farmei
has no right to buy such machiner,
when there are thousands OF idle men.
men who want work. There are hon.
est men among the tramps, men who
want work; they can't get it and they
get desperate. You cant blame
man for destroying piece Of iron or
wood which stands between him and
bread aud butter. We have got I,
have a change, and it looks as thougl
we we're going 10 have II, too. CHI
last referring the National party and
limiting at It's possible success). Here's
one Of our richest farmers, he's
purchased one Of these self-binders;
now don't doubt but what they
burn that up some night. OF course
dc not uphold anyone in destroying
another mans property, but what car
you expect Of men who are hungry and
/ desperate. He could easily have
/ a