Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1886-11-20
THE COFFIN LETTER.

"the coffin letter." did not assume that
the letter was written by a Knight OF
Labor or an Irishman, as is asserted.
1t said:-''It would be unjust to attri-
butte such a course to the better element
in the knights of Labor or to any de-
cent Irishmen; but here it is; the let
ter bears upon it the impress of coming
from a vicious knight of Labor and
lrishman." That is, upon it's face it
bears that impress; a counterfeit coin
bears the impress of a dollar, and yet
it is a cheat and a fraud.
So far were we from intimating that
it soas written by any certain person of
any kind or description whatsoev ell,
that we recommended the Knights o:
Labor to ascertain, it possible, who
did write it, and to repudiate its senli-
ments. There Is nothing in all this
to excite Indignation in the mind of
any honest Knight or lrishman against
anyone except the writer of the letter.
The Intelligencer has been disposed
to be friendly to the Knights of Labor.
1t has even been derided for being their
friend. 1t has printed a great many
articles in behalf of labor; " one
against it But it would be derelict in its
duty as a public journal were it to cor
done wrong because it processes 10 ema-
nate from the ranks of a society which
may be more or less powerful. 1t is very
friendly to the Irish as a nationality,
for many reasons. 1t sympathizes with
their desire for home rule for their
country. 1t numbers among Its warm
eat friends men Of Irish birth and ex-
traction. But if it were even directly
an organ of the Knights Of Labor, or
edited by all lrishman, that would be
no reason why it should claim that
there are nc vicious knights Dr. bad
Irishmen. That would be nonsense.
There are bad men in all nationalities,
in all societies, ever in religious organ
Izations, not to speak of secular Ones.
We do not know who wrote the
threatening letter, but we do believe it
was v~iciously written by an unprin-
cipled scoundrel who would murder
the men he threatens if he did not fear
the penalties of the law.
City Marshal Jos. P. Owen, on last
Wednesday,, said, in response to our
inquiries:-
81 handed that letter to Mr.. Allen
for publication, without solicitation
from him or any other person on the
Intelligencer. l wanted the public to
see the methods which are resorted to.
I am a republican, and the effort to
make political capital out of the
matter will not do. 1 believe the letter
came from a Knight OF Labor, and that
several members of the orderin this city,
some ten or fifteen, know about it. think
d great many members of that order
disapprove of such things as this; in
deed know that the better men in the
order would not c%ountenance it. /
have nothing to say against the Irish;
many of them are my friends. l attri-
butte this trouble to the part which
Mr.. Frank SUIT took in the arrest of
the Wyandotte train wreckers. After
that time Knights of Labor in this
place made threats against his lie
l heard them make the threats. | re-
garded the threats as cowardly and
wrong. After that ! and Mr.. Jesse
Hamlet would go to the depot to meet
Tut and walk down town with him
when he came. to prevent any advan-
tage being taken of him, and / asserted
that he should be protected by me
against any unfair assaults. Out of
this action of mine grew threats against
me, which came to my ears, and the
luminosity against MIR. Hamlet, who
is himself a Knight of Labor. A little
while after Mr.. Hamlet joined the Or
der he was sick, and the knights flock.
to see him. Recently he was much
more ILL, but they neglected him en-
tirely, showing their feeling toward
him. l have no fear of any serious re-
suits from these threats, but they are
annoying and Gisagreeable. and 1 think
the feeling that lies behind them may
as we'll be understood now as any time.
If officers of the law are to be continu-
ally threatened with assassination for
simply doing their duty, there will be
but little encouragement for them"
1t will be seen by Mr. Owens state
ment that while he believes the threats
were made against him by Knights of
Labor he does not charge the order
with responsibility for the acts of in
dividual members.
An Afghan general sent 10 subdue
the Ghilzai rebels sent ten cart-loads of
their heads to Cabul as a token of the
victory his forces had won.