The Brookhaven leader., 1891-07-09
ret him into n libel suit.

Il
not having seen Supt. Smith, | drop
ped him a POSTAL card to call at my
office the first time he was in town, as
| wished to see him on important bus
mess. 1t was Saturday, and he re-
ccived it and called that afternoon.
When he came in | told him want
ed to see him about the same subject
| had been talking to him about be-
fore. told him that the matter was
getting in pretty serious shape for
him: that DIR. Watts, who was the
man who had made the charges, was
prepared to prove them, and that !
had asked him to call to talk it over.
| He reiterated rather vchemcntly his
former denial of having made any
such proposition as the one in question
and SAID he defed Watts or any body
else to prove it. Said /, ED, | am
going to be candid and talk plain with
you about this matter. 1t is no use
for you to deny this charge any
longer. | have seen the letters you
wrote myself. | know your hand
writing and know they were written
by you and there can't be any mis-
take"
With this he broke down and re-
piled, Eyes, see had just as well
own up. | have lied to you about
this thing, and realize that | am in
an awful fix with no one to blame for
it but myself"
| then went on and told him that
under the circumstances that he ought
to give up all thought of offering as a
candidate for reelection. | told him
to do SO was to invite exposure of this
correspondence and criticisms that
would not only be very embarrassing
and humiliating to him, but also to
his father, relatives and friends. l
also assured him that | believed if he
would pursue this course, it would be
better for him both now and hereaf-
ter, and that if he would promise not
to be q candidate, thought l could
get Watts to agree not to expose him.
"Now," | added, "this brings me to
another point. have been actuated
in this whole matter by spirit of
friendship toward you, and a desire to
save you from criticism and mortifi-
cation, as far as could without sacri-
flee to the public interest; but want
to say to you, that as the publisher of
a newspaper, | owe responsibility to
the people cannot ignore, and if you
pursue your candidacy, much as |
would regret it on account of our per-
sonal friendship and other relations,
much as | would desire to save you
and your relatives and friends the
modification of exposure, | would
feel impelled by sense of duty to the
public to waive all these considera-
tions and publish the facts"
He replied that he realized my posi-
ton and the exceedingly embarrassing
position he was in himself, and finally
said if would go and see Watts and
Watts would promise to suppress the
letters and quit talking about
it, he would withdraw and give up all
idea of becoming q candidate.
l left Supt. Smith in my Office and
went down at once to hunt DR.. Watts
up and found him in his dental office.
stated to him my business and what
Smith had agreed to do. AT first he
was not disposed to consent and want
ed it stipulated that Supt. Smiths
father was also to be included and
agree not to become a candidate for
reelection as County Treasurer.
replied that this was entirely unreas-
enable and unfair; that Treasurer AL
len Smith was not responsible for the
acts of his son and that Ed. was not
responsible for the acts of his father,
and that every tub ought to be left to
stand on its own bottom. He finally
accepted the agreement as l had at
first proposed, saying that Ed. was
not the main fellow he was after any
way, and l returned to my Office,
where Supt. Smith still awaited me,
and told him the result.
He said that he had told several
friends that he expected to be a can
didate for reelection, and the ques-
ton arose as to how was the best way
to correct this impression. 1t was
at length solved by his requesting me
to say in the next issue of the LEAD
Err that he had decided not to run
again, which did in paragraph that
will be found in the LEADER of May
It'll.
l thought this ended the matter,
but | soon found DR.. Watts was still
talking it around, and he rarely ever
failed when an opportunity presented
itself, to say something about it to
me. At one time it was about Smiths
refusal to issue his daughter pay
warrant for teaching at another time
it was favors shown by Smith to GER