The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-04-28
A DEFENSE OF FLORIDA.
THE PRESIDENTS INFORMATION
SHOWN TO BE FALSE.

Officers of the United States Court
Openly Boasting that it Was to be
Run to Persecute Democrats-The
Packing of the Federal Grand Jury.
Obstruction Denied.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA, April 27.-The fol-
lowing open letter has been addressed to
President Harrison by the editor of the
Times Union in reply to the statements
contained in bis letter to Attorney General
Miller.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA, April q, 1900.
To Benjdmtn Harrison, President Of the United
States:
SIR-It is with surprise and with deep sense
of injury that the people of Florida read this
morning your letter OF April "a addressed 70
Attorney General Miller, and containing state-
ments with ref ference to them which, they are
convinced, must have been based upon mis-
td0 ot affairs as the eon true sSnS
Madison and jefferson counties. Under ordi-
nary circumstances 1t would be highly pre-
sumptuous in me, and repugnant to MY sense
of proprieties. to thus intrude upon your atten-
ton. Yet the fact that the Times Union, the
leading daily newspaper of this state, occupies
an Intermediary position with reference 10 the
people of Florida and the public, whose good
opinion they hold in high esteem, makes
me feel sure that prompt word
of defense and explanation from this
quarter will, at least, be appreciated by them,
and may prove not wholly distasteful to YOU
nor appear to have been uncalled for under the
circumstances. IL il shall serve to enlighten
you, even in the smallest particular, upon the
true conditions prevalent in those four coun-
ties, i shall feel more than repaid for the risk
of adverse criticism incurred by taking this
step.
PERSECUTION PLANNED.
You say that in the four counties named
Constructions are offered to the execution of
processes of the courts of the United States,
and that officers of the United States are not
suffered freely to exercise their lawful func-
tions." There, the source of your information
is doubtless the official channels of the depart
ment of justice based upon the allegations of
the officers OF the court FOR this district How
worthy of credence these are you can
best judge by the following crcum-
of Charles Swayue as district Judge
an iunder officer of his court openly boasted
that its policy was to be one of persecution of
democrats to tbs bitter end, threat which
naturally put them on the defensive, and pro-
voked widespread suspiconof Judge Swayne's
tribunal. On July g. last, the judge ap-
pointed jury commission In open and fragrant
violation of the United States statute, and an
other officer of his court has only recently been
charged with the admission that this act was
unlawful, but done to make the conviction of
the democrats sure, charge which he has
never publicly denied.
TIE PACKED JURY.
The marshal of this court ordered his deputy
to select for jurors only "true and tried repub-
lcans," another open violation of the statute.
which directs that the selection shall be made
without regard TO party affiliations. Under this
arrangement the grand jury contained twenty
two republicans in total of twenty three
members. Indictments against democrats for
political offenses were then found by Wholesale,
In many instances upon the most un-
reliable testimony, and the people gener-
ally were aroused to high pitch
of indignation and fears. In the cases
that came to trial the rulings of the court were
often partisan, unjust and still the packed grand
jury kept grinding out indictments.
Do you wonder then at the citizens of Leon,
Gadsden, Jefferson and Madison counties, where
a large number of indictments have been found
against men known TO be innocent OF any
wrong doing, shrank from appearing for trial
before a court thus constituted to convict the
guilty and innocent alike?
HELPLESS PEOPLE.
Many of these men were poor, living among
neighbors similarly conditioned in life, little
known outside of their immediate communities
and confronted with serious difficulty in secur-
ing bail. Do you wonder that they evaded
arrest that innocent men preferred privations
and hardships in concealment to facing court
constituted to convict and holding open
the doors Of the penetentary for
them' In some instances nSa men have
stances. Can you wonder at III The condi-
tion in these counties has been truly deplorable.
Wives, mothers and children have lived in
constant terror. They have feared that at any
day or hour their loved ones might be dragged
from their homes hundreds Of miles away for
trial before partisan court and be made to
suffer punishment, innocent or guilty. They
have had the sympathy of their own people
and the state in general They ask you to con-
slider these things.
NO OBSTRUCTION OFFERED.
The people of the counties are not offering
distractions to the execution Of court proc
esses. They object to being held responsible
for isolated individual acts They are not law
less, nor do they seek to ''set the law at def
ance." They are an industrious, God-fearing
and law-respecting people. They have
been grossly misrepresented. They are
not inhospitable to officers of the United tates
court. In the town Of Madison, where it had
been charged that marshals posse was re-
fused accommodations, an investigation proved
the contrary have in my possession state
ment signed by eleven of the posse TO the effect
that they were treated like gentlemen." You
are charged with the responsibility of execut-
lug the laws. The people Of these -four counties
do not desire to offer any distractions
or any resistance to such execution; it
is their wish to aid you in bringing wrong
doers to punishment but know that | voice
their sentiments when assure you that they
cam Il respect the United States court for this
district if it is 20 continue its policy of the past
nine months. If it is purified. If it is ceansed
of all suspicion of partisanship, of designed
oppression. Of injustice, its officers will en-
counter no resistance, no obstruction, no eva
sion in Leon, Gadsden, jefferson and
Madison counties. Constitute the district
court to mete out justice, not injustice, and the
people OF Florida will hold IL In as high respect
as do the people Of any state in the union. Very
respectfully, f. w. HAWTHORNE.
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