The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-07-16
LETTER THIRD TO DIR. KILGO.


your attack upon me in the May num-
Der Of Kilgo's Spitfre and do not re-
call distinctly what was said as to the
tobacco trust. My impression is that
my opposition to the poisonous cigar
cite attracted comment and showed
what I Said. I read it but one but
distinctly the impression is that in
what vas said your disapprobation
was expressed in some way. There
was no lying, Intentional or 9TH
erwise, as you were kind and religious
enough to tell my friend referred to in
another letter that I was guilty OF: II
say sir, Kingsbury is a liar m knows
when he lies" That is a fine character
this imported South Carolinian is Civ
ing to an old man. You are not char
liable enough to suppose I misrepre-
scented or rae forgotten your language,
but I am a deliberate liar. In your
last mental p~yrotechnical display
say this:
And The Educator again protested,
and asked DR.. Kingsbury why he did
not oppose the Masons, the Friends,
the Presbyterians, the mission boards,
the town of Durham, the graded schools
Of Durham, the p~arsonages, etc., for
accepting gifts, from these gentle
men? Why centre On Trinity, ignoring
all others, unless it was a spirit against
Trinfty?"
This plainly shows you were dis
rJaoudJ - ruylok .o;I ~. - %Lx~ D,,r,o
gifts and Trinity the recipient. Why
did you protest" if I had not antag-
onized you and the Dukes? I believe
sincerely that the two chief
grounds of your vindictive assaults
upon me conducted in such a spIenetic
captious and insulting way, are sim
ply two-fOld:
1. My sustaining the university n
opposing your Jealous, unwise, reckless
attack upon it.
2. My condemnation of the great CT
garette company, and the is
which it's money is made. If 7 were for
as against the university and hurrah-
ed with you in the Duke bestowments
the president OF Trinity college would
thing me a very proper fellow with
some mental parts, and not the ignobse
ass he described me as being not long
since. Doctor, I begin to fear you are
a rather small sort of a fellow gangren-
ed at heart and with your hillary
ducts" overlooking with gall and bit
~terness. It is a harsh thing, a. cruel
thin N tosco y, .of n NV poor-of q ~ ola IN ~
especially-that he is a liar, a fraud
and a hypocrite. If true it is an occa-
sion for your sympathy and prayer. If
false the slanderer ought to he dealt
with by a fair, just, discerning public.
The Duke trust has been on trial in
New York quite recently for violating
the laws of that state. It escaped by
a very close shave a verdict Of guilty.
Two jucymen voted for the trust and
ten against it. Sharp, able lawyers,
were employed for the defense. One
received a great fee. The two jurors
were probably bought. The trust is a
tremendous engine of oppression as the
trial revealed. I have stated and can
give h name thai a man I have
known since 1870, told me recently in
him from three North Carolina towns
in which he had attempted to engage
in the cigarette manufacture. In this
connection I will reproduce from the
able Reidsville Weekly, the newspaper
| that has been our teacher mainly in
what we know now Of h cigarette
business in North Carolina-that all.
~devouring trust. In h Issue Of July
LIST the editor, Colonel John r. Web.
ster, ma another ringing editoria.
aimed at the nefarious and awful trust
and heads it, us there no Remedy
We propose to copy at some length
here. He says. quoting from Senate,
Hoar, of Massachusetts,:
80 We have the admission of this
able republican senator, who is per-
haps the most leaned man the re.
publicans have in congress-, certain
ly the ablest senator they have from
New England, that trusts are a men.
ace to the republic-not to trade only
but to the life of the it.
self-yet he does not know how to hi
Them"
/ He then addresses this strong, point.
ed e to the magnitude of the greco
Of the constituencies cigarette trust
We quote:
In all the history of trusts there
has never been such a greedy, grasp.
ing, constituencies combination as tht
American Tobacco Company. Its greed
Is Unsuitable. AS a rule trusts are form.
ed to prey pom the consumer, and il
the Duke combination raised the price
OF cigarettes it would not be an un-
mixed evil, since the consumption OF
the deadly poison would be lessened
and many of its victims might get q
new hold on life as a result Of their
inability to buy cigarettes. The Duke
trust differs from all others in not be-
: ing content to rob the consumer, blu,