The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-10-31


given elsewhere in this issua
/, will be seen that Mr.. David Burke. OF
Ballard. who knew Mr.. Van de Vsnter mp
to The time when he went 20 la Grange.
and Nr. w. r Burke, of Ballard, who was
. schoolmats of Mr. Van de Vanter, bear
testimony to his splendid reputation at
his early Rome. Judge Cavanaugh, OF
Kent. tells how Mr.. Van de Vanter re-
sponded to the appeals Of tbs insolvens
firms creditors. Messrs. j. Z Wig
ton and Henry Z. Kimmsl. of
Sumner. Democrats both Of them,
who were in business sc La
Grange ST the time Of the failure and for
years a.terward, and who knew all the
circumstances. show that Mr.. Van de
Vanter's conduct Was thoroughly honor
able.
The facts are that Van de Vanter Ber-
ger undertook business in which they
were inexperienced; that they began with
some capital and prospered for time;
that they were loaded down with wagons
and implements. in many cases rather an
tiquaied and unstable, By the imporsu-
nate drummers for various wholesale
houses; that Berger fell into dissoluts
habits. thereby injuring the firms stand
ing and business; that hard times
came and they became insolveut;
that they paid every debt they owed
in La Grange and gave q mortgage of
part of their stock to . wealthy and prom
inent citizen who had loaned them money
TO put into their business: that they gave
second mortgage to an outside firm,
which covered goods of the value of
several thousand dollars; that Mr.. Van
de vsnter did not fee or escape. but on
November went TO his home in Sturgis,
Mich. only twelve miles distant from
La Grange. in open day and without
any intent of or effort at conceal
ment, and subsequently came West;
that two years afterward he went back
on a visit TO La Grange. met his old ae-
quaintances freely. conversed with the
sheriff and prosecuting attorney, and
never heard or dreamed OF any indict-
ment; that If the indictment was found as
alleged. IL Was done at the vengeful insti-
CATION OF q foreign creditor, was founded
on an absurd allegation and was never
intended to be prosecuted; that during his
residence at Kent, which was we'll known at
La Grange, he has paid large number
of the debts of the firm. even though they
were outlawed and not collectible by any
legal process, the sums so voluntarily
paid aggregating several thousand dollars;
Al h. hll>
ings his conduc. has been open and above
board. straightforward and upright.
The fi,msiness of the alleged indictment
(of which Mr.. Van de Vanier never even
heard) and of the Telegsaph's malicious
charges of fleeing from justice, is shown
by the fact that the charge asserted to be
made therein is (ses Revised Statutes Of
Indiana, 1881, Sec. 2, 1861 only Q INSIDE
meanor.
1t appears to the PosT-INTELIIaENcKR
that not one intelligent citizen of King
county, studying this matter with a view
to arrive only at the truth, will fail to see
clearly that there is no smirch upon
Mr.. Van de Vanter's honor, that he
has been villainously lied about by
the Telegraph, and that the assault
upon him is but another of the sensational
and mendacious attempts by that sheet to
bolster up a losing cause and to divert I'M
wary voters from the support of the best
candidates before the people. That
so base an effort will succeed
need not be feared. The infamous
attack upon Mr.. Van de Vanter's
integrity will but react upon the desperate
and discredited crowd of conspirators who
are seeking. by dishonorable means. to
mongrel ticket on election day.