Fergus County argus., 1894-02-01
THIRD CHAPTER N THE CEREAL"
marks to Make on the Subject Of
Milling.
JANUARY Goth, 1894.

JANUARY 26th. 1894.
EDITOR ARGUS: Our attention has
een called to an article in your issue
4 the 25th inst. in which the writer,
lnder an assumed name or part of
lis initial, which is practically the
anne, makes several slanderous
No honest man or q |
nan with thimble of brains will at
,empt to slander and vilify his neigh
Dor in this enlightened age unless he
has sufficient and positive evidence
that he can prove in court that his
are true, which the writer
Of the article knows full well that he
cannot do; therefore writes under an
assumed name. Now, Mr.. Editor, 1
wish to say that Mr.. James Fergus
has transacted as much business with
the Lewistown Milling Co. as the
writer of the article and we are will
ing and anxious for Mr.. Fergus to re-
ply as to his treatment by us, and on
his reply we are willing to stand or
fall. The writer very much regrets to
be called into q newspaper contro-
versy with his neighbors on a subject
where the honesty of an individual is
called into question, and l have held
aloof from the slanderous articles
that have been published against us
so long as the articles have been con-
fined to the Montana Democrat, but
now that my character has been at
tackled in so villainous a way through
a paper which believe lays claim to
some degree OF decency and fair deal
ing with humanity, there seems no
other recourse for one but to reply to
the villainous attack of the 25th inst.
The writer of the article well know
through the dealings l have had with
him since my sojourn in this COM
munity and if 1 had not positive
proof of the name of the gentleman it
would have been no great effort to
ferret out the writer, because l have
long known the character of the man
and know positively that he possesses
the very same traits of character OF
which he accuses us and the man is
none other than Peter C. Weydert.
Now. it is only fair to presume that he
has judged us, as well as Mr.. Fergus,
from his own lofty standpoint OF
honesty. Now, 1 want it understood
that don't plead ignorance of the
law, so that if we have practiced any
of the crookedness of which Mr.. Wey-
dert accuses us we are amenable to the
law and should be prosecuted to the
fullest extent, but right here l am
forced to say that Mr.. Weydert is
guilty of an even worse offense through
his transactions with our firm than
the charges he makes against us, which
charges are as follows:
Sometime over year ago Mr.. Wey-
dert came to us and stated that he
had a quantity OF whe 1T which he de-
sired to have ground into flour and
have the flour packed under our best
brand, stating that he wanted all the
flour out of the wheat possible. We
told him that it would be impossible
to put all of the flour from the wheat
into our best brand owing to the fact
that all the flour in wheat is not good
enough to go into patent flour. Every
body knows this to be so, but we
would run out a straight grade OF
flour and pack it in our Seafoam
brand OF sacks providing his wheat
was good sound wheat. This was not
altogether pleasing to hlm owing to
the fact that the Seafoam brand was
then selling for fifty cents per cwt. less
than our best brand and through his
avaricious disposition he cared not
how much he injured the reputation
OF the mill providing he gained pal
try halt dollar on the sale of his flour.
This covers the point wherein he ac-
cuses us of doing the same thing, which
is willful falsehood and we will pay
into the poor fund of the county $500
anytime that Mr.. Weydert or any
other man or set of men will prove be-
yond a reasonable doubt to fair
minded jurors that we have ever com.
mitted the act as charged, but 1 must
not diverge. Mr.. Weydert offered a
sample OF his wheat for our inspection
and the wheat proving to be a fairly
good milling wheat, we concluded a
bargain. He began to deliver his
wheat and we commenced to grind it.
After delivering two or three loads
which proved good, he went to a
neighbor who had a lot of badly
frosted wheat unfit for human food,
and which we had refused to receive
at any price, and bought it unknown
to us and mixing it with his wheat, he
brought it to the mill in this condi.
tion late in the day, it being dark be-
fore we had occasion to use it. We
ground a portion of it during the night
and the flour was mixed with the rest.
As soon as daylight came we discov-
cred the villainous trick Mr.. Weydert
had played on us and We refused to
grind the balance of the wheat into
flour. Right here we should have
prosecuted him for this injury to us,
but after notifying him by letter of
his rascality he came in and removed
his wheat from the mill and begged SO
hard for mercy that We overlooked
the matter and have not mentioned
it from that day to this. This is the
character of the man that sets him.
self up for a perfect man. He talks
about our being too avaricious to
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