The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-09-06
A WORD WITH COL. BRADBURY.

g6nlleIn0H whom O16TlII CTdIn dSkeu 10
furnish proof of the open sale of liquor
in this city. The reason the Colonel did
not furnish it he gave in an address in
Falmouth last Thursday night in these
words:
I don't think Col. Bradbury. for S1oo or
$1,000, is going to undertake to do Mr.. Grams
business and constitute himself one of the most
contemplate creatures on the face of the earth,
spat upon by all honest men in every country
a paid informer.
This was a lofty sentiment and of
course there was great applause. But
there were some things in his speech
| which incline one to the opinion that it
is not SO much the giving of information
about the liquor traffic and about people
engaged in it that Col. Bradbury is OPP
posed to, as the giving of that informa-
ton to Mr.. Cram. For instance we find
tho Colonel saying in this same speech
this:
tell you, my friends, that the bottlers in
Portland are getting, one OF them rs half bar
rels every morning by steamer, and another
1856; they have been bottling day and night,
Sundays and week days, and men coming there
by the score.
There are only two bottlers in Port
land so that there can be no mistake
whom Col. Bradbury implicated. The
mention of their names would really
have added nothing. Again in this same
speech he used this language:
tell you that, within the shadow of the
Statue OF Peace on the Soldiers Monument in
Portland whiskey is being sold at the rate of q
barrel week. retail6d hints and half D1ntSk
This information is not quite so def
mite as that concerning the bottlers, for
there are three or four establishments
within the shadow of the 'Statue of
Peace" whose business is of character
that is sometimes attended with the sale
Of liquor. What Colonel Bradbury did
in this case was to give information to
the people of Falmouth that will put
three OF four persons under suspicion of
habitually violating the laws of the
State.
Now is it any more reputable to go out
to Falmouth and in a public address
charge two men about whose identity
there could be no question with selling
beer than it would be to go to
the sheriff and make the same charges?
Is it any more reputable to go out to
Falmouth and in a public address impli-
cate three or four people in the sale of
whiskey, and locate them so definitely
that everybody must know who they are,
than it would be to go to the sheriff and
| 4o11 L u. Oh, ae 20,
men is engaged in the sale of whiskey?
What was the purpose of this in
formation given to the people of Fall
mouth? Had it been given to the Sher-
iff its purpose would have been mani
testify the laudable one of stopping the
sale of liquor. Col. Bradbury will not
assert that that was his purpose in Civ
ing it to the people of Falmouth. We
are not left in doubt, however, upon the
point. The speech shows what it was.
Here it is in this paragraph from the
same speech:
A good many people say that they want to
vote for Mr.. Cram, and they say that they will
vote for HIM because he is a faithful officer
that he has stood up against the abuse, not
only of the Democratic party, but also of his
own party; that they urged him to pursue a diff
ferent policy, but that he has stood, monu-
ment Of virtue and integrity, and could not be
moved by all those waves that have surged
against him. tel you, my friends, that this Is
not so; this idol has been oUertor1aed from the
pedestal on acl,icIo 1t stood.
Here we have it. Col. Bradbury could
not become an informer to shut up a
rum shop; but to discredit an officer
who the public believed had faithfully
done his duty he had not the slightest
hesitation in duplicating in most pub
lie manner half dozen persons, and so
definitely that when the people of Port
land read his words they will know in
two of the cases exactly whom he refers
to, and in the other will have only three
or four persons to select from. Is it
more reputable to become an informer
for this purpose and in this way, than
for the purpose and in the way that Mr..
Cram invited him to? But to discredit
faithful officer was not his only pur-
pose. There was another, which was
disclosed in these concluding sentences
of his address:
Mr.. George L. SWEET stands before his fellow
citizens and challenges their scrutiny. From
his boyhood he has held positions OF trust, both
public and private. and no man has ever dared
to cast shadow of SANDER on his good name,
and aOhe,s yo@ gtve him yoatr yotes yoat are cot
ina for an honest man, true frie,,d and for q
man aUI,o has the interests of the citizens Of
Cumberland county at heart.
Here is the other purpose-to elect
Mr.. George i. SWEET to the sheriff
office.
To suppress liquor selling Col. Brad
bury is not willing to become an inform
or, but to discredit and defeat man who
is believed to be, and is, faithful officer,
and elect man TO the sheriffs office
who has habitually and completely ig-
nored one of his duties as city marshal
the very duty which Col. Bradbury was
arraigning Mr.. Cram for not performing
to the extent of the complete suppress