The representative., 1895-10-23
ROBERT ECKFORD.

TIVE-SOME lNSIDG hlo4O UNI
RELUCTANTLY GIVEN.
A few days ago we received, at
Hastings, a telegram from The REP-
REsENTATIvE office, at Minneapolis,
telling us to come on the first train,
on account Of some highly important
matters. We found on our arrival.
that one Robert Eckford and man
named A. L. Stoughton. of st. Paul.
had called upon Mr.. Blethen, editor
If the Penny Press, to whom this pa
per was in debt for small amount,
and thrown him into great alarm by
~tatement that THE REPRESENTA-
TIVE owed them a considerable sum
OF money, and that they were about
to put it into the hands Of receiver,
or take possession of it. Eckford even
came into the office of this paper and
enquired who handled our mails,
which contained. the remittances from
subscribers and advertisers; he want
ed TO se.ze upon them! 1t will be seen
as we proceed what would become of
them.
We are patient, long-suffering per-
son, but there is limit even to our
endurance; and we propose to discuss
these worthless, and third reprobate
who has been busy assailing the edi-
tor of this paper, on all the street cor
ners Of Minneapolis. We do this in
no spirit Of spite or vengeance, but as
matter Of self-de fence. II we re-
main silent any longer the impudence
OF these creatures will increase with
immunity, and they will, do damage,
which it represents.
We shall consider, this week, Mr..
Robert Eckford. We shall try to re-
strain our just wrath; avoiding invec-
tive and dealing only in incontrovert-
ible facts. Next week we shall take
up A. L. Stoughton, of ST. Paul. 1t is
needless to say here that THE REPRE-
SENTATIVE does not owe either Of
these individuals dollar.
Mr.. Eckford was connected with
THE REPRESENTATIVE from the time
it was started, in April 1893, to Feb.
20, 1895, except during month or two
in the fall Of 1893, when he was a pa
tient in the Keeley Institute, in Min
neapolis, to be treated for chronic
drunkenness.
We felt kindly toward him, for what
he had been, and when he graduated
from that high-toned university, al
though we had had great trouble with
him, on account Of his besetting
weakness, we took him back upon the
paper, in his old capacity, as General
Manager. We thought he was cured.
We stood his friend when the Alliance
Hail Ins urance Company failed, and
also when the Alliance Fire Insurance
Company went to the wall. He was
Secretary of both companies and ran
the whole business of both; and
though friendship blinded US at the
time, we can see now that rum and
laziness ruined both. When however
we learned that he had seized upon
several thousand dollars worth Of
notes, given to the Hail Insurance
Company, and proposed to appropriate
them to pay an alleged claim for his
salary, to the exclusion of those who
had sustained losses; and that he had
put them in the hands of a collector,
we told the members of the company,
through The REPRESENTATIVE, not
to pay the notes, but TO defend them
and enforce an equal distribution Of
the assets; and we think most Of the
members followed our advice, so far at
least as not to pay their notes.
The failure Of these two companies
did great harm temporarily to the
Farmers Alliance. and even to the
Peoples Party. 1t is true that neith-
er the one nor the other had any legal
or definite connection with them; but
Eckford had used the name Of the AL
lance in his enterprises. as he or any
body else had the right to do. (for we
have no copyright on it, and many
were Of the opinion that the In
surance companies were part Of the
Alliance work; and when they failed
some of those who insured held the
Alliance, and even the Peoples Party.
responsible for their losses.
We had hoped and believed that the
Kelley Cure was permanent remedy
for dipsomania; but Eckford had not
been many months in his old position
before we had reason to suspect that
he had gone back to his wallow. He
denied it however most emphatically.
We lectured him and implored him
for the sake of his family and himself
to stand firm. We saw him for but
one day in each week, and hence we're
the more easily blinded. At length,
on the Goth of February, 1895, we came
to Minneapolis. on our weekly visit, to
find his table Uttered with a pile of
letters, Of several days accumulation,
from which drafts, postal orders and
cash had been taken. but no entries
made of them in the Day Book. We
had to go to work and enter them up,
but the money was gone. The books
we're in a horrible conditions; there
was not a single entry of money re-
ceived from subscribers in the Jour-
nal or Ledger: and the very writing
was, in many places almost illegible
from alcohol.
We heard Of Eckford in the saloons
ten dollar bills and spend
ing money like lord. From one ad-
he had collected $31. the very
day we reached Minneapolis: and that
also went into the vortex. We met
him ON the street. in fact we MIGHT