The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1883-06-13
o,coNNEIL o K VS.. o'DoNNELL OK.
A Letter from the Disuillers of the O,Con-
nell o e.
CINCINNATI, Ohio, May l9, 1888

TT. s. Wetza, Fort Benton, III. L.
DEAR SIR.-Our attention has been
called to the antics of one J. M. ODon-
nell in your city with reference to our
celebrated brand of whisky, O'Connen
O K, and his impudent assertions IN
your papers that it is a counterfeit OF MS
so-called ODonnell 0 K. This man
O'Donnell is an arrant humbug, well
known in this city, where he once f1our-
| ished after d fashion, and left q RECORD
| behind him. As to his "claims" about
| the brand, it is only necessary to say
| that the O'Connell brand of whisky was
| distilled by our predecessors, oaml. n.
| Pike & Co., and had a wide reputation
before Mister O'Donnell left his native
boys in Ireland.
The following letter, received a few
wears ago from Mr.. Henry Pike, brother
| and p~artnerof Samuel n. Pike, WILL per-
haps be of interest to yourself and the
public generally in this connection:
NEW YORK, Sept. 4, 1878.
FRIEND JoHNsoN.-To my great as
tonishmentI saw by the papers that ).
M. O'Donnell had you arrested Ior III
fringement on the brand called y IL.
This is a piece of great outrage on you.
If you will look back over the Ola DOCKS
Of S. N. & III. Pike (Which | presume
YOU have) you will find that l estaoilsh-
ed the brand of O K O'Connell Bourbon
as far back as 1851 or '52, Tong bgore ~
DonneH euer thought Of gntng anto onss-
ness in this country. Ii | can serve you
in the matter you can my
services. Your old friend, ii. PIKE.
The "arrest" mentioned above ! n Mr..
Pixies letter was of a piece with O'Don-
nelps general character. The case was;
of course, dismissed, and had O'Donneil
any responsibility to make it worth oul
time. we should have made 1T quite IN
teresting for him. But he Was bomb
proof in that respect then, ana SO Tar as
we know is no better now like themaL
who began business on nothing ane
ended the same wayne holds his own.
A sufficient answer to this man o.
Donnell is that if he has any claims
we invite him to come to Cincinnati an6
test them in the courts. This he will
never do, of course, for obvious reasons
His O'Donnell brand has never troubled
us IN the least. 1t might be "O'Flaher
tvs O Kn for all we would care. Inpoin
of purity, quality and all that a Tin
whisky should possess to give it merl
before the public, it is absurd to consld
er the stuff he tries to sell as in any sens
comparable to the O'Connell OK; an
if we are not greatly mistaken his i
about the size Of it in Benton.
While we dislike notoriety, especial.
of the newspaper kind, and regard it a
humiliating to have to defend ourselve
after an honorable record OF many year
against such persons as O'Donnell, W
, would be pleased to have the contents 9
this letter given to the public througl
your press, after which we will, n 70
:, NAV also, treat this humbug with tn
contempt be deserves. Respectfuli
yovrs. w. w. JOHNSON q CB.,
Sole proprietors and distillers of the ce
l ebrated O'ConneIl O K Whisky.
P. S.-O'Donnell, w understand
e "claimsu to have a distillery If SO,
must be located in Spain or some otht
favored locality-it certainly is not
, Kentucky. We are of the opinion tn
+ if diligent search could be made anon
t the st. Louis recttyiag houses M
a O'DonnelIs "distillery" might be Gil
covered in a convenient corner OF one
J them. That is not the kind of a DIST
lery to expect much pure phasky troI
d no matter how much advertised, or hoy
y ever fancifully put up and branded,
:. by what name it may be called.
w. w. j. & Co.
--mp+ ~ a%a v,. Sn----