Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-03-26
Reply to MIR. c. A. Coon.

Mr.. F. J. Wood wrote reply to Mr..
Coon's interview which appeared in the
Marshfield Times two weeks ago and
mailed it to the MarshfeId Times for
publication. For some unaccountable
reason his reply was not published
therefore we do SO that the public may
know the facts, as follows:
GRAND RAPIDS, WIS, March l., 1896.
Editor of the Times,
Marshfeld. Wis.
DEAR SIR-In your last issue YOU
| published what purports to be an inter
view with Chas. A. Coon, Esq, Governor
| Upham's Executive CLERK, headed
"A Denial" in which Mr.. Coon makes
statements concerning my action, which
| requires reply from me.
The gentleman says IN the interview
That the statement as submitted by
Mr.. Wood to the Reporter is untrue III
| every way so tdF Us meaning goes" Does
the gentleman now mean that he did
not mean what be said? Or does he
mean that be used language which was
susceptible Of two entirely different
meanings?
The writer understands the English
language and remembers distinctly what
was said. Briefly stated, the facts
which gave rise to Mr.. Coon's interview,
are these: Monday, February 24th,
1896, Mr.. Coon called at the Wood
County National Bank When asked
| what brought him here, he pretended
that his mission was to find out, if
possible, the source of rumor which
had come to him, or the Governor, that
set OF resolutions would be introduced
at the County Convention, called for
March llth, condemning the present
administration and the Governor He
asked me if | knew anything about it.
l told him that | had not seen any such
resolutions.
L have stated above that be pretended
his mission here was to find out about
the resolutions in question, but when
the proper time comes the true object
Will be made known if this becomes
necessary. :.
Other political matters were then
discussed between him and myself,
which finally led up to the question Of
the organization of ANEW county. On
this subject Mr.. Coon seemed to warm
up and was very earnest in his remarks,
especially when he spoke of the great
advantage it would be to, and for, his
individual interests, ''dollars and cents
| IN my pockets" | then told him that
1t did not come with very good
grace from him to talk to the business
men and tax payers, whose interests
were all important and should receive
consideration, and that no additional
burdens should be placed upon the tax
payers of the county, or useless burdens
OF taxation upon the people living IN
the territory proposed TO be taken for
new county, for erecting county build
lngs, unless majority desired it. This
nettled Mr.. Coon as will be seen by his
remark IN reply to the foregoing, which
was this II want to say that if Governor
Upham is reelected that every ln-
tiuence that he can bring to bear will
be brought that way"
| had letter tablet in my hand and
Immediately reached for pen and ink,
and wrote the above sentence, and
when [ had finished said to him, [ am
glad you made this statement. Then to
Impress 1t more forcibly on my mind.
he said, He would be a G. d fool if
| he didn't
| Please bear i'll mind that this was a
matter of Importance to me and for
that reason gave it very close attention,
| and | want to repeat thai the above
| language III quotation marks is the
exact language used by Mr. Coon to me,
and it had been written down at the
time it was uttered. At this time | was
called to the teller's window and Mr..
Coon departed, and as be did, invited
! him to call again. He did so a week
later, on Monday, March 2nd. Upon
entering the bank | noticed that he was
not in a pleasant frame of mind. He
| began at once to heap vile and oppro-
brious epithets upon me which together
with the offensive smell of his breath
caused me to invite Mr.. Coon TO retire,
which he did.
AS Mr. Coon says, II am content to
let the matter stand as it is, - unless it
should seem necessary and proper at
later date to put the first above quoted
sentence in proper form to be verified
under oath.
Respectfully submitted,
F. j. WooD.