Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1883-06-20
Chilly gress ana 9akotnian
ACQUISITION OF vEaAcIrY.

QUESTION Of VERAClTY.
Had the Canton Constitutional Executive
Committee Authority to Call the Huron
Convention. gs
TO tie Press aud Dakotaian.
In your issue of last Thursday, there
appeared lettere from Rev. Joseph Ward,
Rev. J. V. Hines, and Hugh J. Camp.
bell. ESQ.,, the import of which were that
your humble servant had willfully and
knwingly sent to the Pioneer Press false
statement instead of news.
While will readily admit the folly
of rushing into print to make personal
defense. and while I know you can
furnish for your paper matter more salts.
factory both to your readers and your
self than personal controversy, still I
will ask you to kindly give me the same
courtesy that you extended to the gentle.
men above named.
And first, let me say that the matter
has been made q tempest in teapot.
From the letter OF Messrs. Campbell and
Hines, Mr.. Ward endorsing the latter.
the public might be justified in consider.
ing me the champion liar of the times
shall undertake to show that the objec.
tionable letter was substantially correct
and truthful. In passing let me say first
that the merits of the Huron convention
and the movement for statehood are not
part Of the question under discussion
and, secondly. while am not in sympa.
thy with the plan of setting up state
government Independent OF congress,
am in favor of division and admission at
the earliest practicable moment.
That it may clearly appear whether OF
not have made false statements. let me
briefly summarize the points in that letter
which caused Mr.. Campbell to take the
first train. out of Yankton to visit Mr.
Hines to help the latter see the necessity
of defending himself against the imagin
ary slurs and insinuations of my letter.
The following are the
| POINTS OF THE LETTER.
That the call had been, as rule, fav-
orably commented upon by the papers
though at first there was some suspicion
caused by the public denial of three
members of the Canton committee.
That these three had denied that they
were consulted or informed about tht
call or had any knowledge of it unit
after publication; and that it was not
authorized by the executive committee
That they objected to making the
style of criticism that characterized the
the call, and to an abandonment of th.
issues of the Canton convention.
That it afterward turned out that Mr.
Campbell prepared, the call, possibly a
the suggestion of Mr.. Ward and MI
Whitfield, two members of the commit
tee.
That one of the ohjectors said to M
that no man, led by personal ambition
or otherwise, had the right to sign the
names Of Others without the least sem
blance of authority to do so, especial,
when the original object to be accon,
lplished had been cast aside.
II That the call was vague, indefinite
visionary and misleading in its criti
cisms.
That while there was no great interes
taken in the matter, at the time the cal
was issued. MIR. Campbell by newspape
interviews and sharp maneuvering
different sections had worked up muc
interest in the convention, which woul
be largely attended by Representative
men.
That Mr.. Campbell had spent muc
time in looking up precedents and ha
= printed series Of letters aiming to sho
that it was the privilege aud duty of IL
people of Dakota to proceed immediat
ly to manage their own affairs by settin
up state government, if necessary, il
dependent of congressional action.
That thus Mr.. Campbell seemed t
/. place himself in tie political arena
an active candidate for the electi,
}. honors of the future state.
, That the plan of calling the Hure
convention originated here and that Il
leading spirit of the movement, and pr
badly the only person who had mat
any special effort in its favor, was N
. Campbell.
That last winter, both as a citizt
OF Yankton and rs attorney for
Northwestern railroad, he work,
strongly against the removal OF the ca
ital.
The above, think, is faithful sync
sis of those parts Of the letter to viii
objection has been made, and which
10 Campbell. declares to be wholly and vi
fully false.
desire to say that even if the poll
made in my letter were false, they hs
'o been printed before, and my Offer
as na therefore, at the most, could only be
as repeating what has become current; q
this was justified in doing since the
itor of the Pioneer Press, in his instr,
!. tions to his correspondents, mentie
especially that political movemel
should be carefully watched.
Several papers have been severe
criticisinR this call. bat the only on
| have at hand is the Rapid City Journ
~ an able advocate Of the one state plar
shall Gull few sentences from the iss
of May 18th and 25th, and June sth: