Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-08-26
yOX PoPULI.
False Statements Arraignsd Regarding a
Recent Free-Gfass Petition and
the Signatures Thereof
slanderous Insinuations Concerning Re.
cent Fence Cutting-Some Reasons
for Being free-Grass Men.

come In the name of the GOOD
people Of this locality to beg space IN
your most valued and widely circu
lated journal, to defend them against
the continued, unprovoked and slam
derou. attack OF the Lamar and Red
River counties press.
will make the defense under three
heads. tc-wit: False statements regard
ing our free-grass petition and the
signers thereof; slanderous insinua.
tions concerning the recent fence.cut.
ting 10 this section; our reasons for
being free-grass men.
In the Standard of the sth inst. Col.
Charles De Morse has two articles on
our free.grass "doccument, to use his
own correct phraseology) which are
positively untrue In every particular.
He stated that the said document WAS
gotten up by an agent OF your paper
sent In here for the special purpose of
"artfully deceiving" the people and
that many OF the poor ''deluded"
wretches signed, but were immediate
~ "andeceived, In some mysterious
manner not specified, and sought dill
igently TO find the deceiver and have
their names erased some succeed
ed but others. among them Nathan
and John Grant, failed TO find him
aud have their names removed.
Well, ] am the boy who drafted
the petition, and presented the same
to the people for their signatures, and
| will let Nathan and John Grant and
Iilman Woodland speak for me and
themselves. Here Is what they have
to say:
the two articles on our free-grass
paper, in the standard of the Sth OF
August, are untrue In every particular.
We are well acquainted with the
young farmer who wrote and present
ed the free.grass paper for our sigma
lures. We afterward voted the
anti-lease ticket. Furthermore we
would respectfully inform Col. De-
Morse that we knew what we were
doing, and propose To do 1t again in
November. In conclusion, we beg
the colonel to tell us where lie rot the
information that made things plain
We are waiting to know.
Signed GILMAN WooDhRD,
Formerly Twenty-ninth Texas Cav.
airy.
John GRANT,
Deputy Sheriff Red River County.
NATHAN GRANT.n
hope the above will prove satisfac-
tory TO all concerned. The articles
alluded to were couple of the
most ridiculous rigmaroles conceiva-
BILE, in which u most insultingly low
estimate is placed on the intelligence
OF the people. The colonel undertakes
TO say that there are not six free.grass
men In his county who are not luna.
ties. IL l. reported that ON the morn.
Ing after the election he found "a few
punches Of free grass swinging over his
oiiice door, wheroat he plucked his
beard and swore most wraihfulIy. and
wanted to clean out the corporation.
The fiery and venomous rlpnaroles he
publishes every week are producing
their legitimate effect on the minds
not only OF the people In general, but
of his best friends, which IL, In short,
that the elevation Of his position ON
the land commission has proven too
much for his mental equilibrium.
Hence, he now imagines that all the
unoccupied land IN the state belonps
To himself and the land board. Int
mostly To himself.
49," w wan Authlt lnt NATURAL fes
suit" OF free grass or fence-cuttinp. |
will give an extract from an article
first published in the great North
Texan OF he 18th and afteTward copied
by its doughty little friend, tho
standard, and perhaps other paper
of the same stripe.
THE NATURAL RESULT
I'VE learned that the fence cutters
turned loose In the Deeport settlement,
TINS county Lamar last Sunday
night, ana made n number of fences
fairly iiy, among the number those of
Col d. III Parker, a. M. Dawson and
Mr.. Terrell. We learn that there Is
a iree'gr'iss element in that place, but
those whom we know TO bs In SYM
pathy with this policy are not of the
ience'cuttine sort, and one or two of
the sufferers are free-grass men them
selves, ana signed free grass commu-
nication published In the Fort Worth
GAZETTE few days ago. 1t seems
thnt These worthy gentlemen have had
a little too much OF the free-grass pol.
ley, ana We do not look for another
irree-grass proclamation soon, from
that section, In the columns OF THn
GAZETTE, demanding that the grass
ANA water ON all uniuclosed lands Of
every description, school. asylum,
university, railroad, public ana pri.
vnte In the state of Texas, be free to
ALL
Well, ! am not going To say | was
surprised when l read the above yarn,
coming IA II does from the veracious
columns OF the great North Texan.
In the ilrst place, there never was a
fence cut down In the above named
settlement.
Second, every man In that place Is
IA free.grass Democrat.
Third, there never was fence cut
on Blossom Prairie. or In Lamar coun.
~ by free-grass men, or for che purpose
of robbing the owner of his grass.
Fourth, the specified cutting was done
before the election and some Of IL before
the petition WAS gotten up, and Col.
De Morse ought to have known of 1t,
and II Is my opinion that he did know
Of II, but at the same time knowing
that the absurd lease ticket would be
sat down upon by the honest yeo-
many OF Red River county, he saved
the whole thing for q bit of spiteful,
vengeful political clap trap.
Firth. noneof the supporter signed
the petition, probably because they
never saw II. Terrell IL a determined
free-grass man, aud one of the largest
land owners la these parts. He knows
that no free-grass man cut his fence.
His pasture Is seven or eight miles
from Deeport, away down on Sulphur,
a notorionsly bad place. sion'l mean
the people living there are bad--but
that bad characters rendezvous down
In the swanps.