The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1892-12-10
a Brutal Assault.

tofy manner, why he 5, had asked him
What the latter had paid for license to
put up lightning rods The question
had been asked at least month be
fore. Sandoz hesitated a moment. see
ing the offensive manner in which tile
question was propounded, and before
\ ne began to answer, w. spoke saying.
II suppose you want to publish more
OF your lies ahoat the old man r, mean
ing 1. 5. Fontenot, our sheriff, fWai
iior is his son. in law as we'll as his de
! 'pnty). sandoz replied. asking him
What 90 yon mean by speaking to
me In such a manner ?' and added
i that he had no such intention There
| upon, w. caught him by the beard and
began to punched him with all his
might in the face. Sandoz, unarm ed.
made all the fight he could, being an
older and more feeble man than his as
sailant. Wallior pounded him unmer
clfnllys nor did he desist until DR.. Ber-
cier coming up, inteferred, and pre-
| vented further inhumanity. During the
encounter, a. negro man (said to be
IN the employ of Walior) stood by
making no effort to keep W from com
pleting his outrage, and who, on being
asked why he did not stop it aud take
w. of, said mo, let them fight it ont. f"
Mr.. S returned to his home bruised
and badly disfiguEed. In a few min
utes, two others of the sheriff's deputies
| (peace officers y were in the vicinity,
WITH Winchester rifles to do other pacific
work on the cruelty beaten man if by
them deemed necessary. After an half
hour of delay, deputies Read and an
| other went back to the sheriff's office
abreast, with their arms in their hands,
at port arms, followed by three other
deputies and the sheriff himself In a
little time, other guns were speedily
| taken to the sheriff's office, all we sup
pose (P) for the purpose of preserving
the peace.
Such, fellow citizens of st. Landry,
is the laws executive peace officers.
T We believe the foregoing to be fair
| version of the occurrences, and we leave
the reader to his own opinions We
have ours.
In the articles that have appeared
lin the Democrat and this paper, no
mention has ever been made of Mr..
Wallior Nor has he ever been allud-
Led to, In asking him the question
about the lightning rod license, Mr..
Sandoz sought information for young
man who had been thinking of going
into the business = Sandoz did not
know what the license cost, aud lie de-
sired to be able to tell the young man.
Hence the question. Mr. Wallior was,
or has bebn engaged in the business
and hence Mr.. Sandoz concluded he
could give the necessary information
Mr.. Wallior's brutal and anprovoked
attack was evidently premeditated. He
had no excuse for making it, as there
had never been the slightest reason for
enmity to Sandoz. His being the SON
in-law of Sheriff Fontenot, gave him no
legal or moralsright to Aattack Sansloz,
and if he thought by it to terrify the
Editor, aud to force him to cease from
pointing ont what the records of the
parish show to be facts i'm his official
career, he must understand once for
all, that il cannot be done. We and
the editor of the Democrat do not pro-
pose, nor have We ever attempted to-
speak of Mr.. Fontenot as Il private in
dividual. a,All we have ever said of
him, has been said of his doings AS an.
officer, or as inaliciously attempting to
ininre Us in orr business, and this we
will continue to do whenever .s joar-
nalists we think the public is interest
ed. Mr. WaHiorswillfnd that no dis,
play of brutal pugnacity upon an un
armed editor can silence the Press
foucling such matters us the public is
concerned ii knowing There is no
desire to attack the Notifications of the
Sheriff aud his chivalrous deputies 10
the Court house. nor elsewhere, bnt
their hostile demonstrations must fail
TO so intimidate the Press here as to
make it silent when We see official
wrongs done, or when we know that
an officer wanton1y aud rna!iciously at
pursuit of oar legitimate calling Of
Mr.. Fontenot, sheriff, we have tile right
to speak as often as his actious are
prompted by desire to hurt US. If he
will content himself with being the
efficient executive officer of the Court
and not avail himself of his official po-
sition to impoverisb us aud our fami
lilies, be will find that we VIII leave
him unnoticed, but until he does that,
he will find both the Democrat and
COURIER ready to speak of him truth
fully, Mr.. Walliorao the contrary not
WithstandiDg.
Since writing tile above, we are 10
formed that Wallior claims that he has
not been acting as deputy sheriff for
several months, although we have it
from reliable sources that he has been
wearing the badge, and has been seen
with it on within the last few days.
The Farmers Alliance should now
confess the folly of trying to control the
government through the medium of a
secret political organization, throw the
demagogues and adventurers overheard
and reorganige the Alliance on nom
partisan basis. The farmers may OBJ
tain some real benefit from an associa-
ton meant to promote their material
interest and to afford opportunity for
q mutual interchange Of views upon
matters of farm industry and farm
economy. Such organizations should
be made up of farmers exclusively,
and should offer no refuge whatever to
political agitators. Diversified crops,
good roads andssach other topics are Of
far more Importance to the farmers Of
Texas than the free coinage OF silver
and some OF the political heresies ad-
vocated BY the Third party. Houston
Post. 81 = ~