Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1888-01-27
THE CLAMOR.
The Tribune Gives New Feature
Of the Case and Rises
to Remark.
Griffin in the Hands Of the Court
and the Public in
Suspense.
Indignant Citizens Should Keep
Their Distance and Deal in
Common Sense.
THE CLAMOR.
The Tribune's Course.

The Tribune's Course.
From Wednesdays Daily.]
Never in the history of Bismarck has
there been more heated condition of af-
fairs, and never has society been more
completely shaken.
AT an early hour yesterday morning the
TRIBUNE Office was visited by delegation
Of Indignant citizens and the delegations
continued to arrive until the only repre-
sentative Of the paper present-the modest
and speechless Leslie-was white in the
mustache and thin of hair. A wild Mani
toba blizzard of groundless rage and un-
provoked denunciation poured into the
business Office and the gentlemen who
know how newspaper should be con-
Quoted had carnival of satisfaction.
And why were they indignant? Be-
cause they assumed that the TRIBUNE
favored L. N. Griffin in the statement of
the assault made Sunday morning on w. P.
Noffet. They expected the TRIBUNE to
form itself into court of justice, convict
Griffin and sentence him in one small
article.
The TRIBUNE desires to repeat what it
said yesterday morning, that ''the assault
was cruel and inhuman and the guilty man
should suffer the penalty of the law" AS
to who the guilty man is, remains for the
court to decide. That the community be-
lieves that Mr.. Griffin made the assault
needs no publication, for it is published on
every street corner, wherever group of
men gather to converse. 1t is on every lip
and believed by nearly every citizen in the
community.
This is a fact, and yet the TRIBUNE be-
lieves that every man should be heard and
that every citizen enjoying American lib
erty has the right to hearing in the press
as well as in the courts.
One statement which the TRIBUNE omit
ted yesterday morning and which is legiti-
mately part of the case is that of o. Fl.
Whitaker, who says that shortly after the
assault on Moffet he met Tom Clark and
asked him what he knew aboutthe beating
of Moffet. Clark asked sWhat beating?"
OF words to that effect. Whitaker then
told him that it had been reported that
Griffin had assaulted Moffet. Clark le-
piled that he knew nothing aboutit. About
an hour later Whitaker met Clark, who
accOsted him with the query "What did
you mean when you asked me about that
AFFAIR."" referring to the Moffet beating.
Having received reply to the effect that
Mr.. Whitaker's natural curiosity led to the
remark, Clark announced that he was the
man who assaulted Moffet This is sub
stantially the statement made by Mr.. Whit
aker, and it is claimed that Clark, who
pleaded guilty to the assault, actually
knew nothing of it until he had been told
by Whitaker.
This statement simply adds to the belief
that Mr.. Griffin committed the assault, but
until the fact is proven in court, no one
can state absolutely. When asked to sign
their names to statement that L. N. Grif-
fin assaulted Moffet, those who brought
large loads of indignation into the TRIBUNE
office yesterday morning refused, and yet
they were in white and furious rage be-.
cause the press did not take the RESPONSE
bility of the statement. With the denial of
Griffin, the acknowledgment Of Clark and
the accusation of Moffet all at variance,
the courts must decide.
That the beating of Moffet, who is a mere
boy, was brutal affair has already been
stated in these columns; that the guilty
person should be severely punished has
also been declared, and that society de-
mands protection against occurrences of
this nature no intelligent person can dis
pute. The days when brute force ruled
have long since passed and every citizen
owes it to himself to condemn and oppose
personal assaults, whether they be by re-
vOlver, cudgel, hOrseWhip or knife. They
are horrible and barbarOus.
But there is more to be considered. The
publication Of villainOus ISLANDERS on citi-
zens should not be tolerated unless the
proof is given with the statements and
then they cease to be slander: To vaguely
intimate that man is q murderer or a per-
jurer In q manner which makes himself
and family the subject of contempt or de-
risi0n Is as cruel and brutal in journalism
as the cudgel and revolver is in physical
battle. To continually gr0pe in the mold
cred past to find some indefinite and un-
supported suspicion with which to en-
barass citizen and sting his wife and
children Is most c0wardly and cOntempti-
ble, and some of the men who are now so
loud in support Of this course toward Mr..
Griffin forget how fearfully unwelcOme
would be the publication Of their early
Bismarck careers and exploits in their
present allOw-tailed society.
So much for the causes which led to the
assault. 5s, s., 81 &
Now then, II MI. Gridin is the guilty