The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1896-06-12
A MALICIOUS PROSECUTION.

ioices i'm another evidence Of the
malignant hatred of the boodlers,
bribe-givers, and cOrruptlonists of
this town and county, even though
it take the form of an indictment for
giving money to corrupt the recent
municipal election! For such is the
charge which, through conspiracy
of habitual election criminals, has
been made against the editor of the
HERALD.
We here and now pronounce this
accusation utterly, totally and UNI
qualifiedly false in every word,
syllable and letter, and we shall
meet it and the professional hood
lers that are behind it without Civ
ing or asking for quarter.
This charge is not made in the in
terest of the public morals, bat in
the interest of public debauchery.
1t does not proceed from men who
wish to purify elections, but from
those who habitually wallow in the
mire of corruption. 1t is not in
tended to check corrupt practices
by Furnishing a bribe-giver, but to
defame and discredit one who has
been constant in his support of
purity in the public service and un-
sparing in his opposition to those
whose practice it is to debaueh the
franchise.
1t is a singular fact that of all the
thousands and tens of thousands of
dollars cOrruptly spent for election
purposes in this town and county,
and of all the hundreds of men who
have habitually engaged in so
/ spending it, the grand jury should
only have found one man alleged to
have spent the stupendous sum of
81 to debauch the franchise, and that
man one who publicly and privately
has opposed such evils with all the
influence and ability he could COM
mand. But when we learn that the
boss boodlers themselves were the
first and only ones into the secret
before the ink on the Indictment
was dry, it is not difficult to under
stand that the grand jury was made
a victim of malignant conspiracy
The editor of the HERALD here
asserts, as he is willing to assert and
intends to assert upon his oath, thai
he did not give Mr.. John Lochridge
81 or any other sum for the purpose
of buying votes or for any othel
purpose. He asserts and will assert
on his oath that he did not give tC
any person, any sum at any time tt
!. be used in that election for any pur.
: pose. He did not in that election
$ directly or indirectly contribute one
; single cent in money. He printed
free the ballots for the reform tickle
and gave them the free use of hi
: newspaper columns; that was all.
: And that is the crime for which
: the professional election criminal
are trying to prosecute him now
1t is not Mr.. Lander in his persona
capacity but Mr.. Lander as edito
: of the HERALD they are after; the
/. paper that was the instigator of tn,
uprising; that was the organ ant
/. mouthpiece of the reform move
ment; the paper that was poten
factor in that great victory for gOoC
: government and good morals.
Do these people imagine that thei
malice can for one moment alter tn
f policy of this paper or swerve
It from it's course? Do they believ
t that we can be browbeaten or in
Inundated by their hostility? If s.
they are yet to learn how grievously
|, they are mistaken. The blow the,
n have dealt at the cause of reform il
e the person of one of it's humblest bu
most earnest advocates will be pai
them back with interest they thin
: eXorbitant and usurious. From thi
I time on we shall lay the scourge t
II the bare backs of the whole fraterni
ty of corruptionists, whether they b
found in the gambling hell, benin
the bar or in the peoples offices
9 and there will be more blood G
i theirs on our lash than there wi
d be of ours on their cowardly dag
i gers.
The people as Il body are slow
act, but public sentiment is formin
- and the outlook for cleaner men /
public offices begin to look brighter