The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-11-23
TIIRASHER'S CHALLENGE
ISSUED YESTERDAY TO REV. DR. F.
 P. PARKER OF HARTFORD.

Wants to Meet Minister in Public Discus sion of the Question Whether the Meth ods of the Law and order League Agents Are Hlegitlmate or Dlsbonorable.
 S. P. Thrasher, secretary of the State Law and Order league, yesterday made public the following open letter:
 New Haven, Nov. 22, 1895, To the Rev Edwin P. Parker, D. D., Hartford, Conn;
 Reverend and, Dear Slr-Tn your re- marks at the recent Congregational conference, also in your letter in the Hartford Courant, this morning, you publicly accuse the Law and Order league of using illegitmate and dis honorable methods, This has been the cry from the camp of anarchy during our three years war against lawless- ness, and to receive a shot of the same kind from our own camp has a two- fold effect:
 That of encouraging laW-breakers and of discouaging those who are trying to suppress vice and crime On this account I think your accusation should receive attention. It Is matter of great importance to the people of the state.
 If the league, its general manager, or any of it's agents, are using illegitimate or dishonorable methods it ought to be fully understood by everybody, I can not believe that the eminent gentle men who comprise our board of direc- | tors would sanction illegitimate meth ods for one moment Yet I have tried to keep them posted in regard to all that has been done. Again and again I have sent papers to them containing | adverse criticism and gross misrepre- sentations concerning our work. None of them have even limited that our ac- tions were open to censure. If they are, they and I want to know it, and the public ought to know it. Now, therefore, I respectfully request you to meet me in your city, at time and place to be agreed upon for the purpose Fof holding a public discussion upon this question. The only condition which I shall require will be that we confine ourselves to facts, not theories or news paper reports. Believing that your i'm terest in the public welfare will prompt you to comply with this request, I am, yours respectfully,
 s. P. THRASHER, Secretary State Law and Order league.
 DIR. PARKER's REPLY.
 Dr. Parker was shown the above open letter by a Hartford Times re- porter. The doctor did not desire to be interviewed on MT. Thrasher's letter, but at once penned the following open letter to the secretary of the Law and Order league:
 Hartford, Nov. 22, 1895. To MT. s. P. Thrasher, Secretary of State Law and Order League:
 Dear Sir-In reply to your open let | ter, addressed, to me, I have only to say that neither in my remarks at the conference, nor in my letter to the Couranf, nor in any other expressions made by me, have I made any such accusation against the Law and Order league as the opening sentence of your epistle alleges; nor have I made any ac- cusation whatever against it or you
 
 and widely alleged that the Law and Order league, by some of it's agents or 1 officers, has used means and instru- ments of doubtful propriety in the pros ecution of it's work. This allegation is credited by many law-abiding and or | der-loving people. We found this to be the case in Waterbury, Now, as to whether or no this allegation is we'll founded and true, I say nothing, and have said nothing. But the gen. eral conference was not the body to try that allegation, nor was it wise for the conference, under the circum- stances of the case, to give an unquali- fled indorsement of the league that would inevitably be understood as commenting it in all those respects wherof the public mind is in some con- siderable degree of doubt. Wherefore we strove, some of us, to keep back the conference from adjudicating case which it was not competent to try, and the facts concerning which were not be. fore it, and to qualify indorsement o1 the league by general terms of unob iectionable import and eminent pro priety.
 As for the rest of your letter, perml me to respectfully decline your reques for a meeting and public discussion with you. I wish you and your society all success in your efforts, by all legiti mate means and instruments, to SC cura- the enforcement of law and thu suppression of vice and crime.
 Very truly yours,
 EDWIN P. PARKER.