Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-06-29
The Franklin Case.

I
! Some one has said that "truth lies at the
| bottom of awell, and is often hard TO dis.
cover''-a saying that is verified by the daily
| experience of every journalist. When the
grave charges against John Franklin were
| made public, the REGISTER hesitated to be-
| lieye them, and it was only after diigent
| inquiry into the matter and the assurance
that Mr.. Franklin had admitted his guilt to
several citizens that the article referred to
below was published. That article, so far a
Mr.. Franklin is concerned, was based upon
his own admissions, but it is fair to state that
he claims to have been the victim of con-
spiracy, one part of which was to get him
drunk in order that he might be induced to
make damaging confessions, and the other
part, to extort money from him on the
strength of those unguarded admissions
But the article was incorrect as it regarded
the character of the girl and her step-father.
There is now no doubt that the girl was an
inmate of the st. Louis House Of Refuge, a
reformatory institution for Juvenile culprits,
and that Mr.. Franklin took her from there.
There is also little doubt that Frank Peters,
the step-father and prosecutor of the case, is
n scoundrel: for facts have since come to
light showing that he agreed to suppress all
criminal proceedings If Franklin would give
him ten acres of land, and the compromise
would probably have been effected if Peters
had not been told by a lawyer that if he did
SO he would himself be prosecuted for COM
pounding felony. Finding that he could
get nothing out of Franklin for the alleged
ruin of his step-daughter, he preferred the
charges heretofore detailed. It was money
that Peters was after, and not the vindication
Of law and justice.
But the bad character Of Peters and the
girl does not help Mr.. Franklin's case par
ticle. If he is guilty, he should be punished
in proportion to the enormity of the crime;
but if he can prove to the satisfaction of a
jury of his fellow citizens that, notwith-
standing his admissions, he is entirely inno-
cent of the charge, no one will more heartily
rejoice than the editor of the REGISTER.
Below we publish
A CARD FROM MR.. FRANKLIN.
Mr.. Editor-Your article of the 18th inst,
concerning the charge brought against me
nv Frank Peters, is doing me great injus-
tice, and is untrue as well in the main charge
as in the particulars.
In the first place, DENY that there is any
truth whatever in the odious charge upon
which / was arrested. Then, again, the
statement that the girl was taken from an
orphan asylum is not correct, but she was III
the ST. Louis House OF Refuge, the character
and antecedents of whose inmates are well
known to be of the lowest type. Again, the
man Peters, far from being wcl!-to-d do
German, is an impecunious, thriftlcss fellow.
who was willing to drop the complaint il
would make him deed to u portion Of my
farm.
The untruth of the girls statements must
be apparent when it is known that she never
breathed 4 word of complaint to any person
whomsoever, not even to her mother, who
stopped at my house two days, when she
took the girl away, and not until after she
had for ten days been under the tutilagc OF
that mother who allowed her to be put in
the House of Refuge, was this story con-
cocted. Whilst ut Ircnton, the man Peters
publicly, and in the presence OF the mother
and child, Dragged on his superior qualifica-
tons as a disheliever in God and Heaven, all
of which he declared TO be humbug.
The assertion of Peters and his wife, that
the charge is corroborated by medical ex-
animation, is too thin: for, if such an exam
inatiou was made and it proved that the girl
was defiled, this Is far from proving that
zenfacedness Of the mother and father, who,
for the sake Of blackmail, are willing to bring
the fair name Of the child into public disre-
pute.
In conclusion, will state that have lived
in Iron county for over twenty-five years,
and in its immediate neighbOrhood since
1916; that am an old man, over sixty -four
years of age, and, as you say, have always
borne a fair reputation, and 1 simply ask the
puhic to suspend their Judgment in this
case until Il fair trial the truth may be
made to appear. JOHN FRANKLIN.