The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-07-03

had not been preveted by other matters
what Mr.. Burton has acknowledged to be
true | don't find much to be SAD a, on = tne !,
be some facts that have not been told you
and some of the statements to which you
have listened may not be altogether true.
| am not convinced Of the truth Of some
of the statements which you mention.
told Mr.. Burton that l would say what
could in reference to his business connec-
ton with our ,,:np company II reqaesI@ed, @ and sael
called upon to enlist in an attempt to vim
dicate his character. whatever accusation
he may bring against. others. shall
fore believe all he has accused Mr.. Bulen
of. and when the truth of those allegations
is established | am not sure that they
help his, Burton's. character. There is
some proof to be had, | understand, out
sideSof Burtons admissions, and some that
IS inconsistent with the statements when
he now makes. If Mr.. Burton has con-
vinced you that he is an innocent and
much abused man he had better leave the
case where it is.
Yours respectfully,
ELIJAH S. COWLES.
After this the correspondence was
brisk. The next letter was:-
Jersey City Heights. Feb. 3, '97.
Dear Mr.. Cowles-Yo our last letter was
very great surprise to me and | thought /
l, made it clear that we seemed to have
thing his accuser may have done. He
asserts these facts,-First, that his sin
antedates his marriage and hasn't been
repeated since that time; second that he
has repented of it. l asserted that from
careful questioning he appears to me to
have lived correctly for seven years. II,
according to every principle of Chris
tianity, man under those circumstances
should not be forgiven, I certainly have
failed to understand what Christianity is
them false, and for one shall have moth
ing more to say. If they are true, for a
rm to punish man for anelen5 nd mist
as anything which has lately come to my
notice. Your position as Christian man
seems to me SO Incredible that am not
sure understand you. If we are to be
treated in this fashion by God, who of us
do not bring this forward as an argument,
but only as an aside. what am I to think
of firm or company which allows a
young man to be discharged, as, accord
Mr.. Burton was discharged? According
to Mr.. Bulens words Mr.. Burton was en-
trapped into confession by trickery and
falsehood meant to be triekery and false
hood. He signed the confession upon
promise from Mr.. Bulen which was not
Mr.. Bulen by. sort of hocus pocus by
which the latter was put for the
purpose OF diseharging him, in
if you as Christian man sanction
that sort of thing, at least to that
extent that when the man so played upon
can show as clean a bill as Mr.. Burton
You will not move to do him justice?
Yet once more have been asking some
questions on my own hook The pot from
Irlmemorial has been accustomed to call
the kettle black. But when others stand
by and support the pot in this declara-
ton and sustain it in abusing the kettle
and injuring its future it appears to me
as bad a case of pharisee work as any
xx-l,j jon ic rf.h <ad N a o.
I base my appeal in my other letter on
the first part of what have written here.
A man has sinned. He has repented and
amended What is our Christian duty
toward MIN? 1t seems to me that such a
question ought to be very simple one to
answer. If Mr.. Burton has played false
with me IL viii soon come out. If not
shall in simple justice be compelled to
push The matter If I have to see a
Thousand people and if it takes ten years
to finish the work.
Yours sincerely,
T., L. STODDARD.
Mr.. Cowles replied to this. dating his
letter + ebruary Ia. He wrote
Rev. E. L. Stoddard:-
My Dear Sir-your letter of the 9th
was duly received and / have been SO
busy that / have hardly had time to read
it until now. You say that Mr.. Burton
asserts two facts, naming them, and on
these questionable premises you say ''let
1
not mis- accuser or Judge and / have no
occasion to investigate his past life. /
have no objections to your doing all you
wish in that direction, but | have other
matters on which to spend my time and
energies. Mr. Burton left the employ OF
the company several years ago and have
but little knowledge of his relations to
the other company or the particulars of
his discharge The pot and kettle fable
quoted by you hardly fits this case. Here
the kettle starts out by admitting that It
in black and then tries to whiten itself
by saying You're another
Yours respectfully,
ELIJAH S. COWLES.
To this DR.. Stoddard replies in sar-
castle vein as follows:-
Jersey City Heights. Feb Il. 1897.
Dear Sir-I only troubled you in this
matter because, first, Mr.. Buien told me
that you are president Of the General
Company. Second, because | understood oss
therefore, disposed to apply Christian
principles to your conduct. Third, be-
cause as lawyer ! thought you impair
see that have made great mistake IN
appealing to you. Please forgive me and
ls cusation on Of iI this 81 man nan in my house and
your treatment of him. Your persistent
ignoring of and twisting the main point
in my letters / understand not to be due
to any lack of intelligence.
E. L. STODDARD.
Mr. Cowles reply to this was short.
1t concluded the correspondence between
them:-
New York, Feb. 8, 1897.
Rev E. L. Stoddard:-
Dear Sir-Your letter of the 18th is re-
ceived. l reported to you confidentially
the matter of Mr.. Burton for the sole
purpose. as I then told you, of assisting
In protecting the reputation of innocent
persons who were members of your
church. l am not in the habit of lin
vestigating' every dirty quarrel or COM
plant that comes to my ears and do not
feel called upon to have anything to do
with this one. Mr.. Burton called on me
and / listened respectfully to his story
and heard all he had to say. suggested
some of my conclusions to you in my
letter of the 9Th, but you evidently paid
no attention to them. have not under
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