The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-16
THE PURsE-wELDoN ISSUE.
Mr.. Purse Has Something to Say in
Reply to Mr. Weld on's Card.

The statement in Capt D. G. Purses letter,
! published this morning, that permitted him 10
| accept DR.. William Duncan as the author or m
spirer of the article complained Of ana which
| appeared in Thursdays Times. is most absO-
lutely and unquallhedly without toundauon.
FRANK WELDON.
Sarannah, Jan S, 1888.
To get an explanation for its appearance
it is necessary to go back 10 the savannah
| Dddy Times of Jan. ;, and read this local
| that graced its columns on that date:
! GRAvEYARDs AND POLrT1Cs-vIGORoUs TALK BY
ONE WHO LIVES NEAR THE OLD CEMETERY.
The Old cemetery question grows rapidly into
! a very 1--we issue. gentleman or eNctNehI
| talents, but unfortunate initials, has written Il
| very pretty story on the subject. llr Walter
! c. Charlton was congratulated this morning by
! Times representative on the authorship, ana
| on his liberality in taking position in fiction
! which did not comport with his real views. The
! congratuation dI not apparently please the
! gentleman, who Is so well distinguished for his
| literary attainments. Mr.. Charlton COurteously
but with great frmness denied the justice of the
| compliment Another gentleman who resides OPP
| poste the cemetery links citizens are very par
! tlcular now in not desecrating graveyard. Ihey
! We're not, he said, 80 faStdious in deSecra-
| ting the strangers cemetery some few years
! back. That rs now not in existence The mon
uments and mOundsare lcyellcd.N This burylng
ground is described in the city ordinances as
lying jG5 yards south Of the South Broad street
| graveyard, and 455X250 feet in dimensions
! Nor said he, was the President of the Tybee
road particular about cutting through the col
Ored cemetery near Deptford plantation. though
he now opposes the Dissertation Of the South
Broad street tract
did not see the article until after
o'clock that evening, just as | was starting
TO attend a Masonic meeting, and, after its
adjournment, penned the first reply made
to il, and which will be found in your paper
of Jan. g. | hurried to put my denuncia
ton of its closing sentence-which read
Nor was the President Of the Tybee road par
ticular about cutting through the colored GENE
terry near Deptford plantation, though he now
opposed the dissertation of the South Broad
street tract
Immediately on record, because the mis-
Chievous and diaboliCal tendency of the COM
parson that vitazed it fully impressed me
upon its first perusal and, in the official
character in which was attacked, l trem-
bled at the sacrifice of life that might be in
volved in its consequences, if permitted to go
one hour unchallenged and unrefuted. In
this reply the utmost scrutiny will fail to
yield the laintest suspicion, on my part, OF
the author or lnspirer of the sentence Tor, at
first, my mind was too absorbed in appre-
tensions for the fruit it might bear to give
thought to its paternity.
The attack is against me officially, though
my opposition to any diversion of the old
cemetery from its present and solennly
dedicated purposes was purely and entirely
personal, and not in the remotest degree
official.
On the morning of the 9th instant, when
| could more carefully re-read the entire
article, CaphOned as it was, "Graveyards
and Politics. - Strangers Cemetery, which,
If | mistake not, was just opposite the
Savannah Hospital, the seeming official
exactness in Lying 565 yards
south of the South Broad street
graveyard" and as "455 by $50 feet
in dimensions" taken in connection with
another gentleman who resides opposite the
cemetery" referring of course to South
Broad street cemetery carried my suspicion
of the authorship to the gentleman upon
whom i was permitted to charge it so I'M
justly.
Thus gathering suspicious l went to the
Times office to seek its confirmation or
dissipation. l went there knowing the
obligation of public journal to shield its
infOrmantS, and anonymous correspondents
from exposure unless personal otfense Is
taken by party aggrieved to information
| furnished or an anonymous article
written for which personal redress
| is to be demanded out of
the offenders person or through a suit in
| the courts for damages sustained. The SEN
| tence in the local article of the 9TH inst. that
so disturbed me, being against me officially,
! though intended to be personal and only
| consequential not direct or immediate i'll
any damages to result, did rot feel that
| II
| demand, the authors name, but sought by
| indirection to accomplish the same end. |
| talked first with Mr. Hartridge. | was I'M
| der intense excitement which | endeavored
| to suppress, and therefore cannot attempt
! TO repeat verbatim what occurred. | do
| remember this, that, to throw Mr.. Hart
| ridge of of his guard, | said: ~ GU need
not tell me, for | know the author" and
| then turning around and talking with Mr..
| Weldon | said, among other things: "When
| have dragged the gentleman through OneOf
| DR.. Falligauts sewers, etc, and other like
remarks that should have shown unmistak
| ably to one possessed of the newspaper
astuteness of Mr.. Weldon, upon whom
| my suspicious rested Then it was that, al
| though had said | knew the author, as |
! have since been told by tine gentleman him
| self that he had said when he gave the in
! formation of which had complained, that
they could give me his name, that his name
should have then been given me that |
might not, under the circumstances, leave
the Office of the Times with doubt as to the
true offender 1t was not true journalistic
c urtesy to have permitted this, and about
| this there can be no doubt now with this
letter and the results that have flowed from
it.
| left the Times Office to return to my
own TO pom the article that crystallized my
suspicious, and two hours afterward | had
placed the manuscript in the hands of an
attache of the Times, with the request that
it be handed to Mr.. Weldon or Mr. Ear-
fridge for publication Later ! returned to
read the proof but it was not ready, and as
it was my dinner hour | said to Mr. lIar-
fridge if he would read it over for me |
would dismiss it from my mind and
go home. He assured me he would, and |
left his Office.
The day after, when the gentleman whom
| had charged with the authorship.
dlsclamed it and very properly demanded
that. because of his innocence of any CON
nection with the matter, | should, through
tho same medium, set him right, MIR. Wei
don admitted in my Office, when | recalled
the conversation between us on the previous
day, that he ought certainly to have seen to
whom | was referring, though | called no
name, and, anyhow, that
was on the wrong track as TO
the true author. Thus it is that say that
Mr.. Weldon permitted me to accept a gen
tleman rs the author who was in nowise
| involved. In this conversation gave Mr.
Weldon credit for the same astuteness that
he afterward admitted should have made
clear to him upon whom my suspicious
rested, when | was conversing with him.
But suppose now that all | have said to
warrant my assertion that Mr.. Weldon per
mitted me to accept as his informant one
| innocent of the otfense, it became unavoida-