St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-03-05

as had been suggested but complained
of not being we'll and requested that l
should come to his house that afternoon.
| consented to do so, and | took my
record and went up at the appointed
time. We talked over the matter for
two hours. He at first denied that he
had made any attack upon me, or upon
the agency since it had been conducted
by me. We disagreed very materially
upon this point. No conclusion was
reached other than that Mr.. Locke sug-
gested that the matter should be left to
the selectmen, and that there should be
one or two others present at the hear
ing-whom he named-and that the
selectmen should decide between US.
1 assented and urged that the hearing
should be at once, that very evening, as
/ knew one of the men he had selected
to be present was to leave town on the
morrow to be absent for several days.
Mr.. Locke wanted delay, said he was
about sick, and had also, if he was able
to attend, a two days meeting at West
Concord, and then after having tried to
convince me that 1 had not been at
tackled, changed his tactics and added
that he was not quite ready-that he
had one affidavit in his pocket and ex-
pected to get others, and he himself
suggested as an inducement for delay
that he would refrain from having any
further controversy in the newspapers
until the attempt should be made to
settle our matters of difference between
ourselves. He did not inform me what
the affidavit was which he had, nor
what he expected to prove by others.
had no desire or occasion to suppress
anything. 1 had courted an investiga-
ton of my conduct as agent. | had
publicly called upon Mr.. Locke for the
proof of his allegations. 1 still seek and
ask for such investigation, and am vii
ling that all candid men should judge
between US.
| did not seek or arrange for the in
terview. did not desire him to sup,
press any evidence he could obtain. In
our interview there was not one word
said about putting off the settlement
until after the election. The truth is
| tried to have the Rev. Mr.. Locke sci
the time and he said he could not at
tend to it for few days, but | did
think that he would be able to attend
to it by Friday or Saturday of that
week, but have not been able to see
the gentleman since, although within
one-half hour after l left his house he
was in private consultation with Geo
B. Walker in the st. Johnsbury House
thus proving that he was not SO serious.
ly i'll as he represented himself to be.
l had no motive for delay had de.
cided that l would not continue to hold
the office, and that too before this diff.
ficulty arose. | had said this to severa
individuals. The compensation wa:
too little inducement to subject one.
self to the annoyance incident to the
position, and the hostility engendered
by refusal in cases where duty requir,
ed a refusal to be given. There is nc
matter with reference to my ad-
ministration of the anaIrs of the agency
which desire to be kept from the pub
MI i..h | m
informed Mr.. Locke relies upon, have
been current talk uPou the street ever
since this controversy began, and when
correctly stated are of too frivolous a
nature to cause me the slightest appre-
hension.
And right here, want to state Just
what these proofs relate to, so that il
may he seen how much more effective
the threat of some astounding disclos-
ure, as yet withheld out of sympathy
for me, would be upon the coming vote
of Tuesday.
| During the recent musical convention
the conductor of that convention called
upon me for some ale. declined to
let him have it upon the ground that
we did not sell to strangers. Later a
reputable citizen of this town, a tenn
perance man, upon his own order pro-
cured some ale for the gentleman had
refused.
After the prosecutions in this town
last fall, at three different times men
saying they were staying at the Avenue
House came for liquor, each claiming
to want it for medicinal purposes. One
wanted alcohol for lame horse. re-
fused them all. One of these men told
me he had asked the proprietor of the
Avenue House to give him an order
upon me, and that Mr.. Howe said, "we
have had good deal of trouble here
and don't suppose they would honor
my order"
A few days after, CHANGING to meet
Mr.. Howe said to him, if you or any
of your family are sick, or any of your
guests, don't want you to think that
l should not respect your order just as
much as that of any other good citizen ;
and from this it is alleged that have
canvassed for orders for the sale of IL
quOr.
But suppose it was all just as Mr..
Locke has represented in his card. If
he had promised me even at my request
that he would not publish affidavits or
additional facts, has he not by his card
violated the spirit of this promise if not
the very letter of it? Would it be