The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1879-09-04
LETTER FROM PORTLAND.

] To THE EDITOR or THE NEW NORTHWEST:
l have been a reader Of your paper
about one year. At first, cared very
little about il; but, as weeks rolled by,
began to imbibe its spirit and investi-
gate its truths, and the NEW NORTH
WEST has become a welcome visitor in
our family.
/ followed Mrs. Duniway in her wind
ing tour through Southern Oregon, and
was startled when / heard that
drunken mob had beaten her with eggs
aud burned her in efiigy. But was re-
joiced TO see the pluck, nerve and en-
ergy that she possessed in daring to face
The mob, aud stand up boldly for the
principle Of equal suffrage for both
sexes. I was astounded when I saw
that paper like the West Shore, OF this
city, would In a driveliug editorial, get
right down ON its marrOw-bones and
pander to the mob at Jacksonville for
patronage. But am glad to know that
it is about the only paper in the State
that has sunk so low in the filth and
mire Of selfshness as to eulogize mob
and insult Mrs. Duniway, as the editor
did, by telling her that he "had right
to command that her paper be edited
with a little more decency than would
be expected Of pot-hOuse politician 20
During the year that the NEW NORTH
WEST has been a regular visitor in my
. naaN a
in the family, and we all fail to see ia it
one word that any pure minded person
cannot read with benefit. But you did
shake the little chap Of the West Shore
right hard, and may it DO him good
Permit me TO say that the principles
for which you are so nobly battling are
growing stronger every day. A- the
people read aud study, intelligent men
aud women will everywhere embrace
the truth; aud drunken demagogues
will continue to fight the right, just as
they did in the days OF slavery. That
disgraceful scene at Jacksonville will
live in history, and those very eggs that
were thrown At the defender Of woman's
rights will be the nest eggs from which
will spring into life principle that will
save the people from drunkenness aud
) its twin companion, prostitution.
remember, when a small boy my
father lived in Indiana), that old Ben
Wade came through our State lecturing
on abolitionism. He did not come to
our to Sn, but an honest old Quaker by
the name Of Jesse Jones came and made
the first aBti-slavery speech the people
had heard, aud they threw eggs at him
and threatened his life; but he went on
preaching against oppression, in spite OF
. mobs. And remember that, after the
. passage Of the fugitive slave law, poor
slave was fleeing from the bondage Of
the free United States to seek home in
! Canada, and, being hard pressed, came
TO my fathers house. Three slave
catchers in the neighborhood were on
= his track, and he hid in my fathers
, cellar, under our log cabin. Ny father
told those man-hunters that his chill.
dren would live to see slavery abolished
in this nation, and thank God It is true.
; believe that Mrs. Duniway is bat
! tling for principle stronger than the
emancipation Of negro slaves; and be-
, lieve that Oregon will be among the
first Of the States 10 wheel to the front
: in this great movement. Success to the
NEW NORTHWEST and the cause it ad-
vocates. J. L. SMITH.
Portland, September ?, 1879.