Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1898-09-30

Proposed For Debate Charge Grimes |
and Sfisdemeanors Under the Laws !
of the Commonwealth, and That the |
Proper Place to Deal with Them Is
the:CrimlnaI Court, where IL Is
Swallows Duty to Present Them.
Especial Correspondence.)
Philadelphia, Sept 26.-The two sig
nlfcant events Of the week. politically,
aside from the satisfactory consumma-
tion of the Republican harmony pro-
gram In Philadelphia upon the lines
predicted some weeks ago in this cor
respondence, were John Wanamaker's
avoidance Of a Joint debate with state
Chairman Elkin in Media on Saturday
and Colonel Stones crushing rejoinder
to Swallow.
The crank candidate for governor is
sued a public challenge to the Repub-
lican candidate to hold several de-
bates with him on a carefully prepared
list Of charges. In the main they are
the same old charges which he pub
lished in his newspaper last winter,
for which publication he was convicted
Of criminal libel and is now awaiting
sentence.
He was then unable to produce any
evidence In support Of them, even
enough to acquit him of malicious in
tent in publishing them, and Colonel
Stone promptly turned his letter over
to the district attorney of Dauphin
county, properly holding that if the
charges were true the only effect Of a
public debate, with an exhibition of
the testimony, would be to give warn
Ing to the defendants in advance of ar
rest and enable them to escape JUS
tice. Following is Colonel Stones let
ter:
Philadelphia, Sept. 20, 1898.
Rev. S. c. Swallow:
My Dear Sir: My attention has been
called to a published letter dated Sept
| 21 and addressed to me in which you
challenge joint discussion upon what
| you claim to be the issues in this cam
paign. / am not surprised that you
have omitted prohibition as an issue,
| but am surprised that the Prohibition
party which nominated you upon that
| issue should so soon forget the pur-
poses and objects of their organiza-
| tion and follow you in a crusade which
entirely ignores prohibition. You chal-
lenge me to discuss II declarations, OF
charges upon the stump. All Of your
~ declarations charge crimes and mis-
demeanors which may be severely pun
ished under the laws of the state.
You do not name the offenders nor
| the time when these crimes and mis-
demeanors were committed, but claim
l l. 20 .I,eko o,ft OF
| / have no such knowledge. except your
unsupported statements which you
have heretofore made, but have been
unable to sustain in the courts. If
you have such knowledge of crimes
committed, and have such evidence, 1t
is your duty, not only as a good citizen,
but as a Christian minister, to lay
the evidence before the grand jury of
your county. The witnesses which you
propose to call in joint debate Will be
sufficient to obtain an indictment If
they are sufficient to convince an in
telligent audience of the truth of your
charges.
That is the proper tribunal to hear
| and determine the truth of these
charges, and that is the proper course
for you to pursue, instead of under
taking on the stump to prejudice the
people against candidates whom you
do not charge with committing the
crimes or with knowledge of them.
have, therefore, taken the liberty to
refer your letter to the district attorney
of Dauphin county, where you reside,
for such action as he may take in
the matter, assuring you that If am
elected governor of Pennsylvania I
will heartily cooperate iii all cases to
bring guilty parties to justice and
punish all crimes against the state.
Truly yours,
WILLIAM A. STONE.
The care with which Mr.. wanamaker
avoids public cross examination upon
the reckless assertions he has been
making since he missed the United
States senatorship and the guberna-
torial nomination is succinctly set forth
in the following report Of the commit
tee which sought to arrange joint de-
bate on Saturday:
William L. Mathues, Esq, Chairman
Republican Executive Committee Of
Delaware County, Media, Pa
Dear Sir: At meeting Of your exec
utive committee, held in the court
house, Media, on the evening of the
s1st inst, the following resolution was
unanimously adopted:
Whereas, 1t has come to the know
ledge of this committee that an inde-
pendent meeting has been advertised
20 take place at the courthouse, Media,
Pa, on Saturday evening, Sept. "a, at
which the Hon. John Wanamaker has
been invited to speak and discuss the
issues of the campaign; and
Whereas, There are questions at is
sue in this campaign in which all are
interested; therefore, be 1t
Resolved, That the chairman ap-
point a committee of three (S) to confer
with the committee in charge Of said
meeting, and also with the Hon. John
Wanamaker and the Hon. John p. Ell
kin, chairman of the Republican state
committee, and arrange, if possible, to
have both gentlemen appear at said
meeting and discuss the issues OF the
campaign in a joint debate In order
that the people may have an oppor-
tunity Of hearing both Sides"
The undersigned were appointed in
pursuance OF the above resolution as a
committee to wait upon Mr.. Wana-
maker and Mr.. Ellxin and arrange for
the joint discussion at the time stated
On Thursday morning. the 22d inst.
your committee went to the city OF
Philadelphia and called at the Office OF
Mr.. Wanamaker. He was absent and
It was reported that we could not see
him until Friday morning. On Friday
morning, at 10 o'clock. We again
called on Mr.. WanamalSer at his Of
flee. We found him in and made
known to him the wishes OF the Re
publicans OF Delaware county In the