The daily gazette., 1880-12-03
who, as editor of that paper, permitted

their plea, and Wy eS, dld 90 IL" JnaC IS
the next plea. I did do it, gentlemen,
did it for public good because there
was rumor about this institution in
the city of Wilmington that it was frau
dulent, because it was robbing the peo-
pie and it is a meritorious act." The
man who one moment hides behind The
criminal law of the State of Delaware
then gets up and flaps his wings and
says he did it for public good. Just in
this position have these people put
| themselves before the jury. L took the
risk when put VIM. T. Croasdale upon
that stand, Of placing him in manly,
honorable, hopest position before the
public. 1 gave him the opportunity
that any honest man would have taken
to have said "Yes" the very moment /
asked him "Are you the author of these
articles ?" took the peril of putting
him there like an honest man and his
saying, eyes, Mr.. Lore, am the au-
thor of those articles; am the editor of
that paper !; they went IN with my
knowledge and consent. l did it sir,
because as an editor of public journal,
one of the great powers of the country,
1t was my duty to warn people OF what
L believed to be fraud, L may have
been mis- AIKEN or may not, but from
all the information can get believe it
to he fraud, and was simply doing a
public duty" took that risk, and if
he had so done, he was my witness and
my mouth would have been shut, for l
could not have contradicted him.
| 1 took fearful risk but knew my
man. No slanderer, no libeller is ever
brave man, care not who he be;
mean morally, and when he is brought
face to face and front to front with his
own acts, with his own bastard children
he dare not own them. l knew my
man, | tried him and the test proved
just what he was. Am l speaking other
than words of truth other than words
that commend themselves to your own
good sense as men sitting there not to
! listen TO the vile ISLANDERS of anybody
but to probe this thing to the bottom
and hnd out whether 1t be true or un-
true, for you set there, not simply to
protect the public but to protect every
man in that box, and every man and in
stitution in this county from unjust, up-
fair attacks. The tongue of lntamy; OF
slander may attack the most sacred rela-
tions of human life. l have known men
who have stood at the very pinnicle OF
human ambition; have known men
who have lived pure lives and who have
stood jnst where every man in his IT,
most heart would long to be, and the
toogue of the vile slanderer sometimes
without one word of truth in 1t, has
tainted that character, and has gone with
that bonored name as blot all through
bis life and followed its memory among
all following generations. You stand
here as protectors OF the character ol
the business interests of the community.
Now the next plea is that 81 did it,
i am frank to say that the whole
current of these articles pretends to put
face upon them for public good.
gave him a chance TO say that and
he did not. "Out of their mouths shall
We condemn them," and it is out of his
mouth that he is condemned, because
an honest man need never be ashamed
of his good deeds. The only thing that
an honest, true and pure man need be
ashamed of is not his good deeds done
for the public, but it is those infirmities
of human life that follow the best OF
us, pure as we may be, desirous as we
may be of moulding our lives and fash
ioning our characters in the model which
divinity has set before us. There is no
human being but who has frailties, and
he is ashamed of his frailties, and he
ought to be. 1t shows aspirations for a
higher life and for better existence.
Has he justified himself when he says
''It was fraud and will prove it ?''
In dealing with this case this morning as
| I lo1o tI,o rarlp 7 mill houa N daol INIT \
it summarily; l cannot go through this
mass of testimony in my present physi-
cal condition, and therefore in going
over this point shall take it up not in
detail, but endeavor to compress it into
narrow compass. Do the facts drawn
out in this case justify this attack? The
charge is, it is a "rotten worthless fraud
Breathing all through these papers is a
desire to shut it up, gloryiRg In the pros
pect that other papers say 1t will shut
up, and apparently only mourning that
it could not shut it up. Does the condi-
ton of the company justify these at
tacks? Is it a ''rotten, worthless fraud?'
Let me say here, and let me draw this
distinction clear in your minds. Mr.
Bright, DR.. Tantum, John Wood, Mr.
Henry Evans, z. p. Johnson, of Will
mington, and other men who were con-
nected with it, had nothing to do with
the conduct of Mr.. Myers and Mr.. Hol-
lister and Mr.. Money and Mr.. Henry
be they what they may at Delaware
city {; they can take care of themselves
We have to do with them only so far as
we took their assets into our new COM
pany and became responsible for those
assets. They did reorganize; not 6
single member OF that company wa:
left except Mr.. Myers, the Secretary
| whom they kept for reasons which are
not apparent to you but probably be-
cause of his skill and whom, think
had a very unfortunate connection with
the company-I will say to you very
frankly. We commenced right there in
October, 1877. We took possession oi
it; we took the assets, aud SO far as We
took them we are responsible to that ex.
tent, but not for what was done By other
men when we had nothing to do with it.
| shall not, therefore, waste your time
by going to Delaware city. When Mr.
Henry and Mr.. Money and those men
are called upon to defend themselve;
then you may try them. The charge is
"it always was and now is fraud" aud
this court will tell you if they fail to
prove it "was a fraud and now Is, a
fraud in the hands of Bright and Tan
tum and these men who were managi ne
it in the city of Wilmington, at the time
these articles were published, they fail
utterly and hopelessly. Now was it a
| T,.,d L., tba hondo of ithaca man . Gan.