The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1880-09-10
hon ths Jaeksoavins TslspAona. tlna., sspG u
Winlamsm WMekam hicks.

Of newspaper, who pnhlisbea tie idiesao
uttersncea of every political mounteDank
Of his political way 81 thinking. with his
endorsement, and without inquiring into
the truth or falsity of the statements made.
10 utterly unfit for the position he occu-
pies. except for purposes of political pros
titution.
If . journal desires to publish the truth
concerning political or other public mat
tars, there is no difficulty Whatever in as
certaiping it, and while the truth may be
sometimes unpleasant to hear or read, yet
it has one great advantage--it can never
be successfully refuted.
If the editor of the Rockland, (Me.,
Fles Ress had one spark Of political hon.
esty in his composition, he would have
hesitated before publishing the statements
made to him by one William Watkin
Hicks, formerly . resident Of St Johns
county, and At present in the employment
of the National Republican Committee rs
stump orator.
An utter stranger. for the time being
calls himself Republican, enters the State
of Maine in the capacity of q campaign
speaker, he harangues the people, and in
the course of his remarks he publicly states
that seventy persons have been murdered
on account of the political opinions of the
victims, land this, too, in one Of the most
important counties in Florida, county
with Republican majority and without
troubling himself about the particulars,
but simply upon the bare statement of q
paid stump speaker.
A fair-minded man, engaged in conduct
ing the editorial columns of an ordinary
partisan paper, would have instituted some
inquiry into the facts, and he would have
found, upon information satisfactory to
him,
LIST. That from the close of the war up
to the present day there has not been q
single political murder committed within
the limits of the county of ST. Johns,
where Mr.. Hicks has resided since the
Democrats obtained control of the State
in 1876.
Cd That the nriyhbors of MIR. Hicks
are nearly all Southern men and ex-rebels
like himself, men who have manifested
their kindness in q substantial manner not
only in the sunshine Of life, but in the
dark hour of affection and sorrow, and
this, too, when Mr. Hicks was engaged in
opposing these very people.
Sd. He would have found that the prop
erty which was destroyed by FIRE, and
which Mr. Hicks alleges was the work of
an incendiary, was covered by an insur-
ance to the amount of four times its value,
and was in charge of colored man who
does not share in Mr.. Hicks opinions rs
to the cause of the FIRE.
4th. He would have found that the al
legged valuable contents" of the house
was supposed to be theological library"
upon which Mr.. Hicks had an Insurance
of 81 900, which library was contained in
q space of about Z by feet, and although
the insurance adjuster made . careful ex-
animation of the premises after the FIRE,
he failed to discover among the debris q
single work on theology, or a valuable
book of any kind, but he did find the
charred remains of such valuable works as
agricultural reports, Lakeside Library
volumes, reports of Ku-Klux committees.
and other works of equal value.
5th. He would have found it exceeding
~ difficult, without the aid of very pow
erfnl microscope, to discover the I" marks -
of political violence upon the person of
Mr.. Hicks
9th. He would have found that in 1870
Mr.. Hicks was one Of the most violent Sc
cessionists in the South, and expressed
himself rather freely upon the subject Of
Yankees, in his official capacity as editor
of magazine called the NSaefeeatA Ces-
t,wy published at Charleston, S e., ex-
tracts of which can be furnished on APP
plication.
That in 1874 Mr.. Hicks, then minister
Of the Southern Methodist Church, was
elected IS q Democrat . member Of the
Florida Legislature, and that he acted
with the Democrats until be sold out,
body and soul, TO the Republicans for the
appointment of State Superintendent Of
Public Instruction, and from thenceforth
became the most bitter partisan in the
State Of Florida.
All these things he would have discov-
cred, not from the testimony Of Southern
Democrats. bat from the unimpeachable
evidence Of Republicans from the State Of
Maine and other New England States,
who have resided here since the war, and
whose fnnerals Mr.. Hicks has not a. yet
had the pleasure Of attending in his vivid
Imagination.
| f Mr.. Hicks did not make the state
ment attributed 20 him, the editor Of the
Ffcs Press has done him great injustice
Ito some extent-but If he did, be u
| gailty Of . great crime against the whole
ccmmuaity community amoag whom
he has lived and prosPered for years.